Wonderful Women

Last week I started to write about Trump and his openness to sexual assault. Writing about it however made me so angry, and so I stopped for a breather, which lasted over a week. In that time I focused on other aspects that had come out after Trump’s words surfaced. That is what I want to focus on, all the wonderful women in this world who are standing up for women all around the world and are not letting stupid people have the last word. We all know what was said was not “locker room talk”; it was simply outrageous and demeaning against women. As a sexual assault survivor I do not take what was said too lightly and I sincerely do not think anyone should, assault survivor or not.

 

One of the highlights of this was watching Michelle Obama’s heart felt speech in New Hampshire that genuinely sent chills down my spine and tears to my eyes. Her words struck so many chords on so many levels, the fact that women have come so far and yet we are still not ‘there yet’. Women before us have paved the way in order for us now to have stronger voices, to have a equal say in this world, but it seems that even though we have come so far, it’s still not far enough. (?) The words and actions of men abusing women in such a way just sets women back decades.

 

You can watch the full speech here, it’s truly inspiring (Hillary supporter or not, this is bigger then that right now)

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2016/oct/14/michelle-obama-full-speech-trump-video

 

After this sexual assault bragging video and audio came out a plethora of women have come forward “claiming” they have been sexual assaulted by this same man running for President.

 

Firstly, I would just like to say, when the media puts, “Another woman claims to have been sexually assaulted…etc” when the word ‘claims’ comes into play it drives me insane. A lot of the reason women do not report rape or any kind of sexual assault is because you get instantly shamed. Instantly denied what happened to you as truth and factual because there is not evidence or actual proof. With my assault the fact that the nurses helping me had to tell me I had been raped because I was in such heavy denial, the kit that they did clearly stated that. The scratches and bruises I had on my body was a clear sign that I had been raped. The way my body reacted, the way I cried every single day for two years, clearly shows I had been raped. But my “claim” to the police was not strong enough because I had no “proof” (other than the hospital examinations and tests showing I had been assaulted), my word and the test results were not enough. I was a broke, struggling acting student studying for a Masters in an accredited drama school in London. The guy was an investment banker in the City. My word as a young aspiring actress was vetoed by the man in a powerful job, the U.S equivalent I guess would be a college student being raped by a football player. The

 

Secondly if you are going to brag about sexually assaulting women what example are you paving for the future generation of boys who will see and hear this type of “locker room talk” and then think this is OK and how men are supposed to act. Again, making it harder for women of all ages to try to leave their stamps on this world.

The amount of amazing women who have been speaking up about this has been truly overwhelming and even though no one wants to be reliving their experiences over and over again, the more they do, the more it actually helps other women.

 

Rose McGowan has been a big interest to me for a very long time, as I just love her outspokenness, openness, and willingness to not be shut down or shut up. Like I said McGowan’s work in advocating for women has always been an interest however this week McGowan has taken it to a whole new level of woman power and I am simply loving her voice. McGowan has been using the #WhyWomenDontReport on twitter after stating she has been raped however has been told that she cannot do anything about it due to her work in previous films.

I would highly recommend following McGowan if you want to be surrounded by empowerment.

https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan

Again the “silly actress” and the big business man syndrome or the “silly drunk college girl” and the sports star. It’s the same bullshit cycle, the same stories over and over again for all of us. We as women seem to have no voice in this world has far as reporting rapes and assaults because we get shut down. We get asked the same questions by the police, “what were you wearing, how much had you had to drink, was you flirting?.” These questions anger me to my very core.

 

Women get shamed by reporting sexual assault and another prime example of this shaming is by the one and only Trump (of course). After another woman came forward to report her assault from Trump, Trump said in front of an entire rally, “Look at her…I don’t think so.” So not only is he denying what happened to her but he is also saying, because she is not pretty enough why would he sexually assault her? Two massive negations right there, which are unacceptable.

 

Even though all of this outrages me, truly outrages me, I want to sign out with this. Women are strong, powerful beings, more then others gives us credit for. The more we support other women the more we are supporting ourselves. 

Tweeted by another kick arse woman, Lea DeLaira. 

https://twitter.com/realleadelaria

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