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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI was sexually assaulted and thought it was my fault. It's past time for a 1980s reckoning.
CNN political analyst, Kirsten Powers, wrote in USA Today that Christine Blasey Fords testimony compelled her to tell about being assaulted at age 15.
When I was 15 years old, I passed out at a party after being fed all sorts of alcoholic concoctions by older boys I knew and idolized, but who in hindsight were eager to get me drunk.
I awoke with a popular senior basketball player on top of me, and my shirt off. Dizzy and confused, I could barely remember anything about the night before. I asked what had happened and the boy told me we had just snuggled, but he couldnt explain why my shirt was off.
A few days later, a male classmate I was close to exited the boys locker room visibly shaken. He told me this boy had bragged in the locker room that he had molested me when I was passed out. (Molested is my word. For his part, this boy chose to gleefully describe in salacious detail what he did to me while I was unconscious.)
My face burned with shame. I begged my friend not to tell anyone else, and as far as I know he didnt. I feared that if more people in my small Jesuit high school found out about it, I would be viewed as a slut or damaged goods.
Read the whole Op-Ed here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2018/10/02/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-sexual-assault-reckoning-column/1485754002/
I awoke with a popular senior basketball player on top of me, and my shirt off. Dizzy and confused, I could barely remember anything about the night before. I asked what had happened and the boy told me we had just snuggled, but he couldnt explain why my shirt was off.
A few days later, a male classmate I was close to exited the boys locker room visibly shaken. He told me this boy had bragged in the locker room that he had molested me when I was passed out. (Molested is my word. For his part, this boy chose to gleefully describe in salacious detail what he did to me while I was unconscious.)
My face burned with shame. I begged my friend not to tell anyone else, and as far as I know he didnt. I feared that if more people in my small Jesuit high school found out about it, I would be viewed as a slut or damaged goods.
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I was sexually assaulted and thought it was my fault. It's past time for a 1980s reckoning. (Original Post)
DesertRat
Oct 2018
OP
JohnnyLib2
(11,212 posts)1. Wise comments on not having the understanding or language to describe ....
sexual assault, in the 1980s. That really rings true and was absolutely so prior to the last 20 years or so.
Otherwise, this is yet another poignant story coming forth. There will be more and more.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)3. This part really struck a chord with me
I can hear the doubters: Why now? Why didnt you tell anyone? Why didnt you report him?
Liar.
The answer is simple: While I knew something terrible had happened, I didnt think I had been sexually assaulted. In the early 1980s, we didnt possess the vocabulary to make such declarations. I thought I had done something stupid and paid a price for it.
I thought it was my fault.
The memory of this event came flooding back last week with Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Brett Kavanaugh. Many people have focused on the fact that she didnt mention the event to anyone until 2012. As a former teenage girl in the early 1980s, this does not seem remarkable to me. In fact, the first time I spoke of the incident chronicled here was last week. And yet I have zero doubt of what happened and who did it to me.
Liar.
The answer is simple: While I knew something terrible had happened, I didnt think I had been sexually assaulted. In the early 1980s, we didnt possess the vocabulary to make such declarations. I thought I had done something stupid and paid a price for it.
I thought it was my fault.
The memory of this event came flooding back last week with Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Brett Kavanaugh. Many people have focused on the fact that she didnt mention the event to anyone until 2012. As a former teenage girl in the early 1980s, this does not seem remarkable to me. In fact, the first time I spoke of the incident chronicled here was last week. And yet I have zero doubt of what happened and who did it to me.
handmade34
(22,757 posts)2. Rep. Eric Swalwell tweet...