#metoo
Some of you may be aware of the #metoo movement started by female activist Tarana Burke. If you haven’t heard of it, I recommend you check it out. Search the #metoo movement online. Post your story. Stand up for what is right.
Women and children all over the world are tired of being sexually harassed and abused by men, even boys. I have my own tales to tell of abuse and sexual harassment. It’s not just one, it’s several and I want to stand up and say, it’s not ok for women or men to feel afraid to walk into public without being eye-raped, touched inappropriately and/or talked to like a sexual object.
My first encounter with this phenomenon was when I was 3 years old. Yeah, I remember it because it traumatized my mind. I can still see where I was standing and hear the words that were spoken. Either a friend of my dad’s or a friend of my mom’s told my mom that I was going to be a heartbreaker when I grew up and as my mom went in the kitchen, the guy stood there with me and said to me “I’m going to marry you when you grow up”. It scared me. Obviously it scared me so much that I still remember it at age 41.
My second encounter happened just a few years later when I was 7. A boy in my class thought it was ok to rub my thigh and tell me I had nice legs when I had a dress on. Mild as it may seem… I still picture the sun peeking through the window and me sitting in a chair across from him as he rubbed his hand up and down my leg. I hated him for making me feel so uncomfortable.
I was barely even 7 and I had already had two encounters that have forever made a bad impression on me. However, the one that took the cake and scarred me for life is being sexually abused by a step-father, my mom’s second husband. I endured 7 years of the abuse, starting at age 9. But the abuse and harassment didn’t stop there.
At age 10, a boy from class found me in my neighborhood walking home and grabbed me from behind and pretended to “dry hump” me from behind. I also did everything I could to avoid him and where I knew he would be.
At age 16, I had a guy in high school grab me fully on my rear and underside as I was passing him in the hallway. It shocked me and totally angered me. Out of rage, I turned and punched him as hard as I could….. I don’t know what happened to him from there, only that I avoided him at all costs. That same year another upper class-man walked by me and told me that I didn’t have “the tits” to wear the t-shirt I was wearing. For side information, it was a crop top that hit me at the top of the belt. So, it wasn’t revealing. Other guys would say, “hey, you have a nice ass”. Where do men/boys learn that it’s ok to talk to women/girls like that?
At age 33, I had a boss who was married and consistently propositioned other women, whether at the office or over the internet. He would talk about sex toys at the office and asked what I and another woman at the office used. He told me I was “a geek who was good looking” and constantly asked about my love life. He asked to squeeze my breasts at one point and had come in on me fixing the Christmas tree, stating “nice view” while staring at my rear.
Where does it stop? Wolf calls as I walk down the street, men staring at me like I am a piece of meat. Do men realize that it is so demeaning and that these types of actions make women view them as dogs? It’s disrespectful of personal space. These acts leave lasting impressions in a girl’s and woman’s mind. Look at how many times I, as one woman, have encountered the disgusting and harmful effects of these actions. It has to stop!
Folks, it’s not only women that have this problem. Sexual harassment and abuse knows no age boundary and gender is not exclusive. The abuse or harassment is sometimes mild in manner but the lasting effects are still harmful and can be devastating. Have you been abused or harassed? Was it mild? and if it was, what was the effect it had on you? Was your abuse severe? How have you overcome it? Have you not overcome? Comment and let me know. Join the #metoo movement and fight this epidemic.
