Lola’s Story: A Mean Cycle
I just lied on the stairs, shaking and silent. James hugged me tightly and the other two went to tell the chief. A few weeks later, nothing wound up happening and he left on a plane to his next duty station.
Anonymous Story: We were together almost 5 years.
There were so many times I'd cry out, with tears streaming down my face and he wouldn't stop. He never stopped. He went harder and faster so he could finish.
Anonymous Story: As if I committed a crime
I love my husband but I can finally admit that I agreed to get married so I could change my last name and have a baby so I could be discharged from the military so he couldn't find me.
Me Too: A Poem
For the girl on the bus using her headphones to drown out the advancements of the man as well as his disgusting words and tones For the woman walking late at night With her keys spread as a weapon
Melissa’s Story: ‘I didn’t’ changed to ‘I was too drunk to know what I was doing’
I just sat in my friend’s room naked crying until he came back. He came in and asked where my clothes were and I explained I didn’t know what happened but that someone was in the room with me and left as soon as I figured out what was going on.
Anonymous Story: “J Said You Were…”
I was 16 and had never kissed a guy. I was an awkward goth kid and he was an athlete. We worked together. He drove me home one night, but suggested we stop somewhere quiet. I thought he was going
Anonymous Story: Not Even One Adult In My Life Knows About This
As you can read by the title, not even my parents know this. No adults in my life know this. I’m a 17 years old, and this happens when I was around 3-4. I just moved to another kindergarten. I
Rawley’s Story: I Never Had Many Male Friends
i never had many male friends but you are flamboyant and easy to talk to you feel like a brother it’s always film talk and laughter we make dirty jokes and talk about the women we lust after. and then
Gem’s Story: The Year Of 2009
Growing up was hard. I used to attend a catholic pre-school from the age of three to around five years old. Every Friday a priest who we had to call ‘father’ would come every Friday for prayers and he would
Anonymous Story: Lifetime shame
I had a fear of my mom catching us because Z emphasized not to tell anyone or else we’d get in a lot of trouble.
Anonymous Story: My Death
Have you ever walked into a room and had every single person stare at you? Have you ever had to walk past them with your eyes glued to the floor because the stares were so intense? Have you ever had
Anonymous Story: Zion. Year 11.
I keep seeing him around college and around town and every time I see him I get tight in my chest and want to throw up, even though I'm not sure if it was even rape or assault or if it was just two teens under a bridge.
Monica’s Story: 8th grade hotel hell
After a long silence, I decided he was asleep until I heard him say "You're like a woman my age trapped in a little girl's body". I didn't know if that was a weird compliment or how to respond. Before I could say anything more, he was on top of me.
Anonymous Story: Apparently not all victims matter
It wasn't until the Hastag #metoo surfaced, when i realized… that what had happened was not ok. I did not provoke her into thinking Sex would be OK and what i wanted.
I didn't kiss her back because i was horny, but because i was scared.
Anonymous Story: I Thought He Was A Family Friend
I have known him for a long time since I was 3 lets say. I lived with him for 1 year I don’t remember anything but smiles from him. He visited my family one year and asked me if I
Sophie’s Story: “Love?”
It takes a long time to deal with the feelings of shame and hurt inside your mind. I have spent the last few years working on myself, and I’ve become closer to my 16 year old self. Despite what happened to her, she was positive, curious and creative. I wasn’t always as kind as I should have been. My first instinct was to fight back, and push away others, something I couldn’t do to my abuser. I was not a bad person, I was hurt. I needed help, not hate.
Anonymous Story: My rape story first time being publicly said clearly
I have to be nice to my brother. He raped me. I live with him. I see him everyday. Nothing has changed, I still sleep in the same room and our privacy tree is now gone cut by the neighbors.
Anonymous Story: I can’t keep quiet anymore
I was 14 and he was probably in his early 40s. He was and is my uncle. Growing up in such a toxic environment as my father’s family has proven to be, it’s really simple and easy to just regard anything that occurred in that family as “normal.”
Anonymous Story: I took the power away.
I washed my hands furiously to try to rid myself of this overwhelming feeling of being dirty.
At age fifteen, I didn’t know this was a crime. I didn’t know what sexual assault was. I just knew that what happened was not okay.
Anonymous Story: Me Too…
I spoke up at 4….my mother didn't believe me.
I spoke up at 13….my mother told me it was my fault for being friendly and open
I spoke up at 16….my mother told me that all women go through this and that is our lot in life
Anonymous Story: “Me, too”
It was until two hours passed we out of the room and ran to my grandmother. We tried telling her what he did to us but she kept saying not my [S] not my [S] he would never do that. So when my mother arrived I decided that I was going to tell her but keep out the details but that he was just touching us I don’t truly remember her reaction that day.
Anonymous Story: Me Too
The last time it happened was on a Saturday morning, TMNT was on Fox kids when he walked into the room and rubbed my breast and said, “DON’T TELL I WILL BUY YOU A NEW PLAYSTATION 2 IF YOU DON’T TELL”
He kisses my neck and leaves me in the room
Anonymous Story: Why I Can’t Write “Me Too” But I Need To
In my mind, I needed to justify this. Needed to prove to myself that they liked me at all and I didn’t totally just ruin my life. I kept spending time with them. Even to the point that rumors swirled at school. I lost all my friends at school and only depended on the guys more.
Charlotte’s Story: I am no longer angry at 13 year old me, she wasn’t to blame for the abuse. He was.
I was 13 years old, he was 33. I thought it was love. It was anything but. It was the exploitation of a naive 13 year old girl who wanted attention, who desperately wanted someone to love her. He took advantage of that and caused more damage than I ever realised one person could cause.
Anonymous Story: “Is it really sexual assault?” I ask . . .
I kept my mouth shut and I tried to angle myself so that he couldn't touch me that way. It was the longest seven minutes of my life. The car barely even made a stop and I jumped out and ran as quickly as I could into my apartment.
Me Too
I’m crying for all my friends and family, and perfect strangers, who are bravely standing up to say “me too” today. And for those who aren’t in a place where they can speak up, we are here for you too.
Ophelia’s Story: Lack of consent.
I'm a virgin, I do not think at all that J might want sex. Soon however he is touching me all over. I am less comfortable. This is not really what I want. I go along with it, afraid and embarrassed to stop something that I feel I am partly responsible for. I've led him on. Suddenly, things quite literally get out of hand. He's pushing his penis in to me and it's agony.
She took my advice, and for that I am ashamed.
She told me what happened and that she was thinking of reporting the man who was harassing her. I believed her, and I told her so. I gave her the names of some people at the firm who had been supportive of me.
And I told her not to report it.
I told her it was pointless, that the firm would not support her and the only outcome would be a damaged career.
She took my advice, and for that I am ashamed.
Anonymous Story: I’m afraid people won’t believe me.
Did you plan to rape me? For me, when it happened, the world moved so fast but it also stopped. Every touch was painful and unasked for. Every reaction was stiff and unwilling. Was that good for you? Did that make you hot for me? Taking power over me… did that help you gain power in your life? Did it make you feel like you had control?
Anonymous Story: I fell asleep
I had so much to drink that night I didn't feel him touching me or attempting to undress me. I went outside where they had him and hit him repeatedly until they pulled me away.
Anonymous Story: A lifetime of triggers
I hate that I hold a deep fear of men that gnaws at the back of my mind whenever I walk alone. A lifetime of hate and fear because of one person decided to that he had the right to use my body without my consent.
C’s Story: I did everything wrong
I didn't really know that it "counted" as rape. He cuddled up to me after raping me, and that hurts so much when I remember that. How dare he? It hurt me for so long. It is hard to tell people, especially when they tell me to move on, or be stronger.
Anonymous Story: How my life long addiction began.
I got noticed but by the wrong eyes not my parents but by family the ones that had those hunters eyes greedy stealing perverted eyes monster eyes.
Anonymous Story: Incomplete Thoughts
For the past year I had began to have very complex nightmares. Not the kind where you’re riding a rollercoaster and you fall out or some shit like that. Like surreal ideas that someone I thought would protect me and never harm me did just that.
Follow up to a Story: There is no perfect healing
I always imagined trauma was like being followed. Every once in a while you'll pull far enough ahead of the lights, just to see them catch up again. Except in this case, I feel that when it's really close, I'm splayed out on the pavement, the high beams blinding me with those gnarly details again.
Jess’s Story: Is He Right, Was It Just A Misunderstanding?
I'm epileptic & in certain situations where I get stressed I can have a seizure, this happened & before i knew it i was coming to on his sofa but felt him pulling my underwear down when he was laying behind me…
Anonymous Story: I remember now
I went 4 years without remembering. When I turned 23 it all came back to me suddenly through nightmares and flash backs. I cannot even hear anyone talk about rape without becoming upset.
ReeRee’s Story: Brother Raped me at 7 years old everyday for 4 years. I’m now 21. And need advice.
I've just lost myself. I've got no shoulder to cry on, I have nobody and having no family and friends at 21 years old is so unusual.
Bianca’s Story: He Doesn’t Believe He Did It.
He said it wasn't rape because there's no such thing as boundaries for someone like me. He said I should have known what I was in for hanging out with him.
Nicole Tracii’s Story: It Starts with ‘No” and Ends with a Shirt
For once I didn’t care if anyone said “I believe you” it only matter that I could say “I’m not ashamed and you can’t hurt me anymore”. This was what people meant when they said victims become survivors. It’s about more than just living through something, it’s about identifying strength over trauma but recognizing that this trauma is why you have strength.