With everything over the last couple years with the #metoo movement and all the conversation surrounding it, I haven’t shared my story. I’ve kept quiet. But today I’m done, and I’m not straying silent anymore. This is #whyididntreportit (1/7)
Because I woke up on a bathroom floor with a stranger on top of me, and I assumed I had consented and just hadn’t remembered. Because I didn’t understand that’s not how consent works (2/7)
Because it wasn’t until a few months later that someone sat me down and told me that what happened to me wasn’t ok. (3/7)
Because the counselor I eventually saw told me I was likely drugged, and that’s why I only remember few second intervals of time throughout that night. (4/7)
And because when I finally saw a doctor, a female gynecologist, to get tested for STIs, the first thing I got was a lecture on not consuming alcohol. (5/7)
First I chose to block out what had happened. It was easy at first because I couldn’t remember most of it. But then it sunk in, and my first response was to blame myself. And if I blamed myself, then wouldn’t everyone else, too? (6/7)
Sexual harassment, assault, rape, and any sex based crime is not okay. It’s never been okay, and those of us who can must scream from the rooftops that it will NEVER be okay. Those of us who can must not stay silent. (7/7)
