It's the big elephant in the room. No one wants to talk about it, and victims, most especially, are often terrified to share their story. They are terrified of the consequences and repercussions that they might face if they were to open their mouth.
What if someone let you know that they fell victim to this tragedy? It could happen to anyone. It could be someone you went to school with, the kid that sits by them-self underneath the tree with their nose buried in a book. It could be someone you spend eight hours a day at work with, the one that can run circles around every body, working doubles every day just to pay for rent. It could be someone on your sports team, the leader on the field or on the court who looks like they could do no wrong. It could even be someone who you don't like, that by some minor altercation you've since held a grudge against. In some cases, however, it could be someone you saw in passing, someone who gave you a little smile, quietly wishing for you to have a great day.
What if they thought they were in for a pretty normal, yet fun filled day or night? No one ever wakes up in the morning and thinks that they're going to have a shitty day. Okay, maybe when it's the end of the semester and everything is due at midnight and you've only managed to type the introduction of your 12 to 15-page literary analysis. No one goes to a party they were invited to and expects things to go south. What if you saw someone, whose judgement was horribly tainted by alcohol, stalk away from the party, just to lie down in a quiet room to take a nap? What if the last thing they remember was the mere intent to just close their eyes and rest, only to be awoken by gestures of sex? It might be 8:30 pm, as the party is just getting started, when the pre-game hit their system like a train, or 2:18 in the morning, when everyone has left and only those who promised to spend the night stayed. "No, stop that," you hear from their mouth as you pass the room they were sleeping in. And, after minutes of bickering, all falls silent. Then, half an hour, maybe an hour later, you hear the same plea of "no, I don't want to." Then it stops, and then what seems like only a few seconds later, you hear those same cries again.
What if they tried to speak up and tell someone, and all people said to them was "they only tried to have sex with you?" It's loud and hard to hear, and in passing, you hear them sobbing relentlessly to their friend. Through the loud speaker, their friend says those exact words of "they love you, they really just wanted to have sex with you." That person looks up at you, tears running down their cheeks, eyes calling out to you asking for help. You stand there, knees locked, not knowing what to do, your gaze fixated on the face of this broken down human being, who only wants solace from the people they thought they could talk to.
What if the victim was attacked by someone they trusted? Who would it be? A friend? A study partner? The older sibling of someone they baby-sat? A significant other? Victims of sexual assault do not necessarily have to be attacked by strangers. It could be someone who they've known for six months, or six years. It could be someone who they've told their entire lives to, who knows their darkest secrets and their happiest memories. It could be someone who told them that they loved them. 13% of women and 6% of men reported that they have experienced sexual coercion at some point in their lives.
What if I told you that I'm a part of this statistic?
