Dear Silence Breakers,
I am writing this letter to you as I sit in the library on my college campus.
In my twenty years on this earth, I have dealt with different forms of harassment.
For most of my life, it was harassment from my peers that came in the form of bullying.
As I got older and moved into college, however, I began to notice small instances of a form of harassment that I had yet to experience in my life.
What began as vulgar glances and snide comments thrown my way turned into occurrences that made me fearful of being in public. I got to the point of having anxiety attacks at the thought of walking around a store by myself.
These occurrences marked the beginning of my own personal understanding of the reality of sexual harassment.
While in my sophomore year of college, I was put into a situation that I naively thought would never happen to me. I was left behind with someone that I had only just met late at night, without my car. That night, I learned the meaning of the word helpless. I was not raped that night, but I learned many lessons.
I learned what real fear and abandonment feel like.
I learned what helplessness feels like.
I learned what sexual harassment feels like.
I think in today's society, so many people are made to feel ashamed and embarrassed when they experience these situations, which leads to silence from many victims. I know that it is because of this exact reason that I am only speaking up now.
As a society, we have grown accustomed to blaming victims of sexual harassment and assault and making excuses for the perpetrators. We have been trained to think that women who speak up about sexual harassment are just "exaggerating," or that they are being too sensitive. We have come to a point, as a society, where we go so far as to tell women that they probably encouraged the behavior of their harasser; we imply that they asked for the harassment or that they want attention.
I think it is time we stop treating this as if it is not a problem.
It is a problem that women are being targeted with sexual advances every where they go.
It is a problem that women cannot feel safe in public places.
It is a problem that women feel silenced by not only their harassers but also society as whole, other women included.
It is a problem that because a woman felt too powerless to get herself out of a bad situation she is blamed for what happened to her.
This is a problem that we need to address. It is a problem that needs to no longer be ignored.
This is why when I heard on the radio this morning that Time Magazine has chosen the Silence Breakers as their people of the year, my heart delighted.
These women, The Silence Breakers, deserve so much thanks and praise.
The women who are being classified as the silence breakers have given a voice to so many voiceless victims who were afraid to speak up.
They have proven that though we may get knocked down, we will not stay down.
We will get up to fight alongside every other woman who has ever been made a victim. We will fight until we see a change in this world. We will fight until we no longer have to be afraid.
To any woman out there who has been victimized, you are not alone. Whether your's is a story that will be shared or kept secret, we are here for you.
Finally, I have the courage to say #MeToo.
