TW: Sexual Harassment, Rape, suicide
When arriving on my campus, I noticed that there were a lot more men than woman. I wasn't too worried at first, I grew up with men. I always got along better with guys, and orientation was no exception. Looking back on orientation now, there was one orientation leader who was way too friendly. So much so that my orientation leader wouldn't leave me alone with him. Not that I wanted to be near him anyway, he was acting very unusual.
My second semester I started a dance class. It all went well, there was this one guy who was super attentive and flirty. At first, I was flattered and amused. Flirting is hilarious to me, so I would laugh. Did you know that can be taken as flirting back? I was unaware. He also started to put his hands places where he shouldn't of. It wasn't necessary for the dance, which I only know because my teacher had to keep moving his hands.
The last day of classes was when it all came to a head. He came on hard, placed his hands places he shouldn't while making comments I did not feel comfortable with. It got to the point where I was afraid he might try and rape me. I had never felt that way about a man before, that he could and would hurt me. I did throw a punch, he dodged it and backed right off. After class he left like his pants were on fire.
To this day I am still bothered by it. I can't walk to my car at night anymore without my heart racing. What if he's there? What if I can't get away this time? When walking near the frats, I find myself walking a little faster with my eyes on the ground. Hoping that if he does happen to be there, he won't recognize me.
I was angry for days afterward. I couldn't get over it. I even wrote out a "note" and than deleted it from my computer.
My class recently had a sexual harassment talk. I think they are necessary, but why are we giving this presentation to the girls? I don't need to be told that it's wrong, I am well aware. I don't need to be reminded how to stay alert, I never stopped. We need to give these talks to our young men so these situations don't happen. And we need to teach them how to intervene if they see something happening.
Maybe everyone needs these talks, but I think the way we go about doing them is a bit off.
When arriving on my campus, I noticed that there were a lot more men than woman. I wasn't too worried at first, I grew up with men. I always got along better with guys, and orientation was no exception. Looking back on orientation now, there was one orientation leader who was way too friendly. So much so that my orientation leader wouldn't leave me alone with him. Not that I wanted to be near him anyway, he was acting very unusual.
My second semester I started a dance class. It all went well, there was this one guy who was super attentive and flirty. At first, I was flattered and amused. Flirting is hilarious to me, so I would laugh. Did you know that can be taken as flirting back? I was unaware. He also started to put his hands places where he shouldn't of. It wasn't necessary for the dance, which I only know because my teacher had to keep moving his hands.
The last day of classes was when it all came to a head. He came on hard, placed his hands places he shouldn't while making comments I did not feel comfortable with. It got to the point where I was afraid he might try and rape me. I had never felt that way about a man before, that he could and would hurt me. I did throw a punch, he dodged it and backed right off. After class he left like his pants were on fire.
To this day I am still bothered by it. I can't walk to my car at night anymore without my heart racing. What if he's there? What if I can't get away this time? When walking near the frats, I find myself walking a little faster with my eyes on the ground. Hoping that if he does happen to be there, he won't recognize me.
I was angry for days afterward. I couldn't get over it. I even wrote out a "note" and than deleted it from my computer.
My class recently had a sexual harassment talk. I think they are necessary, but why are we giving this presentation to the girls? I don't need to be told that it's wrong, I am well aware. I don't need to be reminded how to stay alert, I never stopped. We need to give these talks to our young men so these situations don't happen. And we need to teach them how to intervene if they see something happening.
Maybe everyone needs these talks, but I think the way we go about doing them is a bit off.
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