hear us

Recently, spurred by Harvey Weinstein, women have been posting #metoo online to show how widespread sexual assault and harassment is.

I have not been assaulted, but I know so many women who have been.

I have been harassed, I guess you’d call it, but only with words.

Once, by my boss when I closed down the bar. I went into the office and said, “anything else you need me to do before I leave?” and he spun around in his swivel chair, his bald head shining under the florescent light and said, “you can suck my dick.” Wordlessly, I left.

Another time, a co-worker from the Olive Garden came to my apartment between lunch and dinner shifts and while I was filling up Tucker’s dog bowl, he said, “are we gonna have sex or what?” and when I looked up, his pants and his sailboat boxers were around his ankles, his arms outstretched. I chose the “or what” and drove him back to work. I never saw him again.

Both times, the men were not aggressive and I had an escape. I am one of the lucky ones.

I know from my friends who have been physically assaulted that the pain is deep and doesn’t go away. I know that they feel they can’t say anything or shouldn’t. I know they feel like it’s their fault even though it isn’t. I know they feel helpless and afraid to ask for help.

I know I feel helpless, knowing this happens so often to so many. 

So what I’ll do is everything I can to keep my boys from turning into demonic men who see women only as sexual objects. I will teach my boys that women are people with the same rights and liberties they have, with brains and humor and ambition. I will teach my boys to appreciate girls for who they are, not what they can offer. I will teach my boys to never use a position of power as a manipulation. I will teach my boys to be gentlemen, not depraved goons.

To the women who haven’t had it as good as I have: every day you have been brave and courageous. You are beauty in the world, making it despite the ugliness.

To the women who have had it as good as I have: we are lucky and relatively unscathed but don’t let that blind you to what is happening around us. Let us raise our sons to be better. Let us rally around women who haven’t had it so easy. Let us teach our daughters they have a voice and we want to hear them.

We are women, hear us roar, howl, wail, and growl.