Trigger warning: Sexual Abuse, Post Traumatic Stress, Depression

With Trump and Brock Turner taking over our social media and even just the news, rape culture is becoming such a prominent topic and more and more stories are rising to the surface. More and more stories are being uncovered to show the true face of toxicity, and has often been swept away in the shadows of elsewhere.

We were 15, lo and behold: the true face of the summer before high school relationship. It started off as innocent as a kiss. It escalated as he tried to get under my shirt and farther than that. This is not the first and sadly not the last story to be told of something happening to a person without consent. This is not a gender issue, this is not a victim and perpetrator issue, but an education issue and the fact that in schools and at home, we are not being told not to cause people harm, yet we are being told not to get hurt. The fact people like me are being asked "what were you wearing and how much did you drink?" when we talk about these things is more astounding because why do those things matter? Why can't I have fun and not have to be scared of getting raped or otherwise sexually assaulted or violated?

Later, I learned that the person who took advantage of me was taken advantage of; I heard his stories about having someone get him drunk and take advantage of him, and it hurts and my heart aches for him and for what he went through. One often says that everyone makes mistakes; but keep in mind that mistakes are sometimes the most lethal of weapons. Mistakes still hold value and pain and are not worth nothing. With that, revenge and anger can build up, and it is not always about forgiving them, because hell, forgiving them is hard. But, the most important person to forgive is yourself, because society has made us believe that it is our faults.