Stairwell

Here’s a story that some of even my closest friends don’t know but in light of what is going on with the Brock Turner case and thousands of other cases we don’t hear about I feel like I want to share it… I was assaulted in college. Thankfully not even close to as horrifically as the young woman in this case because I started to yell and he let go and I got away before anything too invasive could happen but it was still very traumatic. He had followed me out of a party and had me pinned against a wall in a stairwell. The police were involved and a restraining order was put into place so this male student was not allowed near me on campus. I had to speak to several different people about the ordeal… Not fun! Then I later was thanked by one of the administrative employees that was dealing with my situation because after I had stepped forward about what happened with this individual apparently SEVERAL other women came forward about similar incidents about the same individual! He remained at the school for the rest of our time there and received his bachelors degree. At the time I had lost all my self-confidence but thankfully over time I have built myself back up again through travel and meeting new people (I tried counseling but I could never openly speak about the incident)… However, I still have high anxiety, I hate traveling alone, I hate being on the subway, I am paranoid when people are walking behind me, I hold my key in between two fingers if I am walking alone just in case I need to use it as a weapon against an attacker… So yea, Brock Turner went to prison for a short time and isn’t allowed back at Stanford and isn’t on their swim team and I have seen pictures of the minor injuries he also sustained that night… But that poor girl will carry around what happened to her for the rest of her life and nothing about the way she views herself or the world will ever be the same again!

— Katie, age 29