With the accusations in the media, you’re probably sick of reading about sexual assault and rape. Sure, I know I am. But for different reasons. All of these accusations have created people to feel comfortable enough to stand up and use their voices. They feel like they won’t be swept under the rug like it has happened in the years before. Justice might actually be done.

I’ve learned with politics, strikes, and marches there is a voice in numbers. I’m personally learning that in life too. These accusations, of course, make my stomach drop. But I have this pride too. Women who have been hurt, taken advantage of, and careers that have been taken out of their hands feel strong enough to stand up for themselves.

I hope to be that strong one day. I want my children to grow up with these people to look up to. Strong people, who are fighting for their right… initially their freedom. To feel safe again. To take their lives back into their own hands.

This topic needs to be talked about. It needs to stop being swept under the rug. It’s a topic I didn’t like talking about. It’s a topic that physically hurts as someone who has been personally affected by it. But people need to know what consent means.

People need to know that their actions don’t make them powerful – it ruins people’s lives.

Going to school it was always a fear in the back of my head. Going to parties was scary. And now are scarier than they were before. I need a little bit of liquid courage. Don’t you dare start with “that’s why you got attacked” or “You’re putting yourself in that scenario.”

I should be able to go out as a twenty-one-year-old and enjoy my time in college. I should be able to go out and enjoy my time with my friends and be filled with fear of being attacked again.

We need to stop ignoring these. Schools need to look into sexual assault cases. They need to actually stand up for the victim. The victim shouldn’t have to transfer schools because they don’t feel safe because their school didn’t do anything.

I don’t care if it is our star athlete at school. I don’t care if it’s a professor or a superior figure. They took something that didn’t belong them. They ruined a life. They ruined something that is supposed to be the best years of our life.

I’m tired of greedy people taking what doesn’t belong to them. Thinking they can get a girl drunk and they will sleep with you. I’m tired of professors and people in the media thinking they can dangle this above our heads. This is our life.

We need to stand and use our voices. This is our chance to change the world. To stand up for ourselves, our friends, and our future children.