To One of the Strongest Women I Have Ever Heard of:

You don’t know me, but like millions of Americans, I have become familiar with your case as it has been plastered all over the news for quite some time now. I can’t even imagine how it feels to be constantly barraged with the portrait of a man who violated you in every sense of the word. I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing his weasely smiling face at the top of every article describing how much of a coward and criminal he truly is. And that is why I say to every news outlet and media source: enough. We have had enough of hearing about his stellar swimming record or his ludicrous pledge to eliminate the drinking culture and sexual promiscuity on college campuses. None of this negates the fact that he is a monster, albeit he is a monster who could have had a bright future if he hadn’t chosen to dehumanize you.

I want to know about your bright future. I want to read about your talents and promise instead of his. What are your dreams and ambitions? What is something that could never fail to take away the smile on your face even when it feels like the end of the world? I’m done reading news articles that only paint you as his “unconscious victim” because I know you are so much more than that. He was the one who sought to dehumanize you, so it is simply superfluous that the media continues to do the same. You are so much more than his victim because you are a victor.

After I read your powerful letter to the perpetrator, I was immediately overcome with an onrush of various emotions. I was indignant toward the people aiming to see you fail, but I was also ecstatic that you chose to rise above this situation, even though you did not receive so much as an apology. At this moment, there is so much wrong in the world (and the outcome of this case has alluded to that), but you are a light in the darkness. You truly are a lighthouse shining through the fog and the mist, beckoning to lost boats, providing hope that the safety of land is near. I would imagine that at one point, you were a lost boat treading water and fearful that the waves might overturn you. But, you did not give up or lose faith that you could manage to ultimately find the shore. I’m not sure if you had a lighthouse to guide you, but I know without a doubt that you created the light all on your own.

I do not know your real name, but I know that you are a heroine to me and to all girls because you erased the name of “unconscious victim” from articles everywhere and became a victor who will not be silenced by a monster, by his attorney, or by the rape culture prevalent in our society.