Stand Up

I was raped.

I was raped, and I am standing up. I am standing up for my grandmother who was nearly assaulted by her neighbor, for my friend who was molested on the train by a stranger, and for my sister who hears catcalls when she walks past construction sites. I am standing up because it just takes one person to start a movement.

I am tired of being treated like it was my fault. It was my fault for wearing makeup and dressing nicely and drinking beer. It was my fault for having nice hair and pretty eyes. It was my fault for having breasts and a vagina.

I have the right to dress as I please and drink what I want and dance to 80's one-hit wonders. But who gave rapists the right to decide that if they want something, they can take it? No one gave them the right to assault a woman or man or child.

In this world, rape survivors are stigmatized. We're sorry it happened, but, you know, maybe they should have done something a little differently?

What could I have done differently? What could my friends have done differently? It doesn't matter. Rape doesn't single out the drunk nympho from the poor side of town. Any number of my friends could have been assaulted, and 1 in 3 of them will be by the time they leave college. Most won't report it, because reporting a rape or assault is humiliating. I would know.

So stand up. Stand up for your sisters and mothers and brothers and sons. Stand up until our world changes the way it looks at assault survivors. We're not outcasts, suffering from some horrible disease that if you get too close, you'll catch it. We're your neighbors, your friends, your family members. Stand up for us, because the worst thing you can do is pretend it doesn't happen.

This entry will be open for at least a week. Link it, repost it, whatever. I won't friendlock it for a while.

Resources:
http://rainn.org
http://ncvc.org
http://pointswithpurpose.com