#metoo

Dear Readers,

Many of you have seen and re-posted this metoo tag online and some of you might still wonder what it is about. Media is covering it as well and it is a tag highlighting just how many women (online) around the world have experienced sexual harassment or rape.

Sadly I kind of feel it is a tag trend as well. Because the real tragedy is that  the online women might talk about the sexual harassment and rape as adults online, yet there is a little girl going to school right now getting harassed or raped and the teachers, adults and friends around her is turning their chin away. They all pretend it is not happening. Whether or not this is because it scares them or because they freeze just like that little girl I am not sure.

My story is one of those where the teacher turned away and so did peers for many odd years. It has affected me greatly and due to this and other circumstances as well  I struggle to trust and confide in people. It is easier on a sheet of paper or on a page I will not lie. I still remember the first time I experienced sexual harassment like it was yesterday, even without the hashtag I see the faces of the guys which put bets on who dared touch my boobs and ass. Dark haired, ginger and blonde... I remember how angry I got and how the shame just flushed over me because everybody saw what they did to me in the schoolyard! I kind of wished no one saw as silly as that sounds, it would have been less of a betrayal and maybe I would have still had some faith in friends and family. But no such luxury and result is a person who does not trust anyone entirely. I often landed myself in fights due to some arse of a boy touching me or making me look like something dirty. First time I must have been 13 years and the worst part was that girls thought these guys were cool and at times they even copied the lads that were harassing me. My exterior self showed an angry and feisty lass, but the school toilets showed many suppressed tears and anxiety attacks. #Metoo means people talk  about and highlight sexual harassment and that I suppose is good, but the damage is already done. Yet I ask you.... today if you suspect that a kid is being harassed  or touched at school in such a nasty way...what will you do? Or if you look out the window as you are eating your lunch and you see a girl from your class punching a lad in the face because he just grabbed her from behind...for a 10Eur note or a cigarette from the rest of the crowd...WHAT will you do?? Will you speak out? Even if you have issues on your own? Will you truly? #MeToo , will it change the way we deal with uncomfortable or inconvenient truths? Or will we continue to chew and swallow the lunch and hope someone else dares to speak out? A hashtag will not change how it feels when you are let down or shamed I can tell you that right now. A hashtag is not  the rescue the young kids needs, a hashtag is just a hashtag , it is another trend or a result of something that should have never happened in the first place and I know it will never change the scars I am left with. It will never change the statistics I am now a part of. Yet I hope the stories behind it in some way or form will motivate you to take a break from your lunch and look out the window in a new light and stand up for that girl or boy. Tell the bullies that this is not something anyone deserves. The harassed might be strong but that does not mean they do not need your voice to help them.

xo

Viking