Open Letter: Sexualized Violence and How to Transform this into A Renewed Global Community

Here is an open letter I wrote awhile back- it is relevant now for obvious reasons:

Read this if you wish to be a part of the sea change this country is getting going, the sea changes us, we change the sea.

One of the times I was assaulted by a person who abused his power led me to write this:

People have been asking me how they can support me.
I tell people they should do everything in their power to transform rape culture.

Transforming this means you must be a strong ally to people who are sharing stories about sexual abuse. It also means paying close attention in any community you are in. You can never assume your area is safe, sorry to say.

Thinking it is safe is living in an illusion. What you can do is refuse to take in media that handles rape and other violations insensitively.

Change what you watch, change what you listen to. Notice the behavior of people around you and ask direct questions. The worst that can happen is that you are wrong about someone being hurt and the source of the problem is something else. There is usually a good reason you suspected something.

I gave many, many signs during the month I was being abused, I even told a person a little about what was going on. I was protecting the person who was violating me because he would lose his job and for a certain time I cared about that. He had come into my private bedroom when I was not there, without asking me.

What spurred me to action was the distress of a young woman I noticed, when I asked her a question, her anguish poured out to me. It was then that she and I reported the abuse and got the man fired.
I urge all of you to be more vigilant, and much more pro active as we move forward.

This one person is sick but that does not really convey how rape culture in this country and in other places is of epidemic proportions!!

Examine your own sincere actions and feelings about this. Be AUTHENTIC.

Express anger, express sadness.

And do EVERYTHING in your power to break the silence that breeds complicity.

Do this, and more, and we will eventually overcome the roadblocks to true justice and a transformed global culture.