Trump's admission of guilt and the video that prompted it - which he now is trying to rescind - started women thinking about the times they were harassed in a sexual manner by what appears to be mostly rich, old, white men - although I suspect that men of color have been guilty too (other than Bill Cosby.) Said women, I imagine, decided that telling about the harassment would now be the right thing to do, even though they didn't report it to authorities when it happened. There is safety in numbers, after all.
Have you been sexually harassed? Did you tell anyone when it happened? NO? I didn't either, for fear that I would be held responsible somehow, by my actions, or the way I dress or something I said. That these things happened when I was a teenager/young woman is beside the point. Of course, the men who harassed me were not famous, so reporting it now would have no consequences for them. Several of them may be deceased anyway.
Three times before I turned 24, men exposed themselves in my presence. Each time, I was alone and had no way to report them. I was scared to scream, for fear of what might happen. Afterward, I could not describe any of them, so reporting them didn't matter.
While a student in high school, I was sent to a teacher's office with a message during class. He chased me around his desk twice before I escaped. I can't remember his name now, but his father was well-known in Methodist circles and the teacher also had a Sunday school class at my church. I never reported that to the principal or dean of women, for fear I'd be adjudged the cause of it, or had welcomed it - which was certainly not the case.
It would not do any good to report these incidents now, since the first 3 men are unknown and the 4th is most probably deceased by now.
The 5th incident happened on a first date. The guy was determined to get me in a position to be attacked, and had it not been for my ability to pray and curse at the same time, I might have been raped. He started laughing and that, of course, meant he "lost the mood". He took me home, unharmed. Reporting him now would be useless, as he may be deceased too, and nothing really happened - although at the time I was convinced it would have, had I not fought back, both physically and verbally.
Three times before I turned 24, men exposed themselves in my presence. Each time, I was alone and had no way to report them. I was scared to scream, for fear of what might happen. Afterward, I could not describe any of them, so reporting them didn't matter.
While a student in high school, I was sent to a teacher's office with a message during class. He chased me around his desk twice before I escaped. I can't remember his name now, but his father was well-known in Methodist circles and the teacher also had a Sunday school class at my church. I never reported that to the principal or dean of women, for fear I'd be adjudged the cause of it, or had welcomed it - which was certainly not the case.
It would not do any good to report these incidents now, since the first 3 men are unknown and the 4th is most probably deceased by now.
The 5th incident happened on a first date. The guy was determined to get me in a position to be attacked, and had it not been for my ability to pray and curse at the same time, I might have been raped. He started laughing and that, of course, meant he "lost the mood". He took me home, unharmed. Reporting him now would be useless, as he may be deceased too, and nothing really happened - although at the time I was convinced it would have, had I not fought back, both physically and verbally.
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