Blake Lively? Do you mean Boobs Legsly? Because that’s all she seems to bring to the screen.
I wouldn't call that irrational though.
12-Groped in the hallway by a popular boy. I didn’t report because I knew nobody would believe me.
Because after he slammed my head into my car door, fracturing my skull, and threatened to slit my throat with his flick knife, he and his girlfriend showed up to my workplace to “make sure there were no visible bruises.” I was 20, and I’ve just moved back to the town where it happened, 17 years ago.
It’s exhausting. I don’t know what we are supposed to do. Which is exactly why some of us join them, because having no power can defeat a person.
Because I was 5 when it started and my brother threatened me, he told me I’d be an orphan.
Then when I was grown I went to my mother and she said I was a whore and if I told the police about my brother, she would tell them I was a liar and a whore.
When a family friend repeatedly molested me, I tried to tell my parents. They laughed it off saying, “Oh, he’s just a dirty old man. He didn’t mean anything.” Their friend continued to abuse me for years leaving me confused, scared, ashamed, angry, ultimately traumatized and unable to trust many people.
Because I was 18 and conditioned to believe that it was something that happened in a dark alley from a stranger. I had been drinking and at a party, and showing off my newly aquired flirting skills. I assumed I didn't fight back hard enough. To this day I still believe that it is my fault.
Oh yeah, and because I was ashamed and felt dirty and didn’t want anyone else to know that about me. And I knew my parents would be hurt knowing that happened to me and I wanted to shield them.
Because it was a non-US citizen on federal land and I wasn’t strong enough to deal with the legal nightmare that would have created. Because I didn’t realize it still counts as rape even though he only used his fingers. Because I was fat and people would have said I wanted it and regretted it after, and I should have…
I was 8-12 and repeatedly raped, tied up, winched in chains meant to pull the boats out of the water at my extended family lake house. I didn’t report because I wanted to be included in the big kids cousin group not the little kids. Because it felt nice at first, until it didn’t. Because I didn’t want to hurt my…
Because I asked if I could share his bed after a party. We were all drunk, and all the other beds and couches had been claimed. This was before the days of Lyft/Uber, and we were in a town over an hour away from my own. I genuinely just wanted a place to sleep. I completely froze when he did what he did. I never felt…
Fuck off Trump. You are an admitted sexual predator. Women don’t come forward because of men like you. It took ten years to even tell my mum what had happened to me. He was my boss, a millionaire and I got him off me before he actually penetrated me. So no DNA evidence if I’d had a rape kit. It would have been he…
Because I was abused by a close family member and it went on for years into my teens. And because I’m male and “real men don’t let themselves be victimized”. It took 15 years of battling depression\PTSD\anxiety disorder and a suicide attempt for me to even begin therapy, then nearly two years more before I could bring…
I was so ashamed. I was 15. I agreed to be in his car with him. I lied to my parents about where I was. I was afraid that my parents would think I was a slut. I was afraid they wouldn’t love me anymore.
I wish I could hug each and every one of you.
I did report, and when nothing was done, I kept reporting several times a year. For 6 years. He was promoted. My files kept “getting lost” in the HR system. I changed jobs and moved states and lost income and progress in my career.
Because I wasn’t sure 40 years ago when I was 7, and I’m still not sure today if it was sexual, abuse, harassment, or any combination of or none of these things. Because he was a longtime family friend. He was the priest who performed my parents’ wedding ceremony.