Recently an Odyssey article was brought to my attention and I must say I was shocked about it for several reasons. Reasons that I feel need to be discussed with the author, with Odyssey HQ who shared the article on their Facebook page, and with those who left comments on the post. I am trying so hard not to come from a place of anger, but I will be coming from a place of passion. This passion stems from my own experience in the grey area of sexual assault, which I have written about before, and my passion for education on the topics of sexual assault.

I want to start by saying how dare you use rape as clickbait. I write for Odyssey too, and I have been creating content for sources ranging from mission organizations to book blogs and I know how to create a clickable title, too. What you won't see me doing it using the word RAPE in order to garner attention. Sure, topics of sexual assault and rape should be discussed and clickbait titles can drive more viewers to see a post that truly needs to be seen. But you did not educate (I will get more into this later) and your title is using the accusation of a female raping a male (something I will also get into later) in order to garner page views. Further, I would also like to say how dare Odyssey Headquarters cater to this need for shares and page views by sharing this article on their main page (though they have now removed it). Did the person in charge of sharing articles even read this first? Or is it just customary to share what you know people will click on?

Let me move on to why I think this article should not get attention. It does not educate anyone! Therefore, your use of clickbait is harming the education of consent and sexual assault. What you did to your boyfriend is called sexual coercion. In all of your sexual assault education you brag about, were you taught about that? Do you have any idea how irresponsible it is to educate on something that you have not fully informed yourself on? To think this topic is solely to educate on the need for consent in relationships is thinking too small. It bypasses the actual wrong in the relationship (you using coercion to sexually assault your boyfriend) and blames it on consent.

You need to educate yourself on what you actually did and not label yourself a rapist for the sake of an article title. There are real people going through this. Do you want to see how serious this situation is? Repost this article as a male and admit to raping an ex-girlfriend. This isn't a joke, this isn't for page views. Either admit what you did and truly EDUCATE and not just blame lack of consensual conversation, or stay away. And for reference, if you want to be taken seriously in an article about sexual assault, you can start by not calling it "fucking." I mean honestly, this is serious and you chose to use the most degrading word for sex out there. Secondly, what is this?

Half of this article honestly had me thinking you had some sort of sleep disorder that made you have sex with your boyfriend without knowing it. That doesn't feel like someone taking rape seriously. What it feels like is someone using the fact that they know a woman has a really hard time being convicted of rape of a man and can just claim ignorance in order to post it on the internet.

And then there are the commenters. It is always advisable to stay away from the comment sections on posts, because it is literally Satan's butthole, but I went there and I am angry. Now because Odyssey HQ removed the post from their Facebook as I am writing this, I will have to go from memory on what I read. Still it is important to discuss.

There were too many comments saying that she could not have raped her boyfriend or that he was being vindictive by telling her she raped him because he never reported it. Women are shamed and blamed when they are raped, but men have just as hard of a time if they claim rape. Men are supposed to be strong enough to fight off a woman, they are supposed to be "manly enough" to want to have sex all day, everyday, and are made to feel humiliated if they say no. The male body reacts noticeably when aroused, but arousal is not consent no matter what anyone wants to say. Men can be raped by women, and coercion is the exact same no matter who is being coerced. We can not expect to stand up to rape and sexual assault until we recognize it in all forms and situations.

I am so glad that Odyssey took the article off of their page, but the damage is done. A rapist was given a platform to speak. A rapist who claimed ignorance and used the fact that she is a female and can get away with it. A rapist who used rape for clickbait. To the author, you could have educated, really educated, instead you chose to half-ass your "lesson learned" and use something that is so serious as a way to serve yourself.