Dear readers, You are so much more than someone glancing at a page or screen. You are witnesses. You are allies. You are the reason […] Read More
“Everywhere I look, survivors are talking back.”
“Pushing past the breathlessness, I couldn’t stop until his memory gave up and disappeared.”
“I think the adrenaline of being in the play had meant that I hadn’t fully processed what had happened and so I just got on with it.”
“Then came defeat. I’d heard far too many stories of women with similar experiences who were never taken seriously, who never got the justice they deserved. I couldn’t get the whole world to believe me, nor could I realistically make this man’s life a living hell in the way I so desperately wanted to. Now I know that there are people who know about what he did to me, who have turned a blind eye. Now I know that others who have been accused of assault have not had their pristine “BNOC” reputations tarnished. Now I know that colleges won’t hesitate to completely overlook these allegations in order to preserve their public image. Rapists are in our universities, in our workplaces, even running our countries – what would stop him from doing the same?”
“Roughly 50 photos. A fraction of a year really yet so representative of everything in it.”
“I refused. Despite the flashbacks, the panic attacks, the ridiculous exhaustion, I fucking refused.”
“They’re playing on your sports teams, and they’re at the crewdates after. They’re getting elected to your JCR, and they’re president of your student society of choice.”
“What happened does not define your worth, it is not your fault, and no matter what stage of recovery you are in, I am so proud of you. You have all my love.”
“To any other twenty-something old guy out there who has gone through something similar, I have felt your shame, I have known your confusion and I have shared in your pain.”