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April 22nd, 2019

Swept under the carpet

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I was 8 years old and my Mam always brought me supermarket shopping with my grandparents every Saturday. It was always the same, same shop, same car, same smell, I hated it! My grandfather always bought me an ice cream, a really expensive one, once bought and back in the...
July 3rd, 2020

The pain that was never mine to...

1
I was a freshman in college. It was first semester and I was there for maybe about a month. One night my friends and I went to a party. As we were there, I started talking to a guy and eventually went back to his appt.  Once we were in...
December 23rd, 2022

When school isn’t safe. (Australia)

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I was in year 9. I endured over 6 months of sexual harassment, intimidation and violence every day during school times. The teachers were aware of this, but their only concern was the length of my skirt. Whether I was “asking for it”. Being “overdramatic”. The boys who did it...
May 7th, 2020

3 Different Times

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The first time I ever experienced sexual assault or anything sexually was when I was around the ages of 7-9 and I was in the sea. I know it might sound crazy. But I was in the sea. I remember it was a man, he didn’t look old, but he...
June 11th, 2025

Just Words

4
Just words. You have trouble talking about these things. You realize you have trouble talking about a lot of things. You remember being excited about your first job at Dairy Queen. One of your friends works there and you know a lot of people work there as a summer job....
April 1st, 2021

Sex doll

1
After work one night I was drugged by a co-worker. I woke up in his bed naked. He was not in the room. I felt 2 emotions very heavily and immediately. Shame and wrong. I remember looking around for my clothes in a panic. I don’t remember how I got...
August 22nd, 2022

Fraternity gang rape

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This is something I have never shared online before only with close family and my current partner. When I was freshly 19 I moved to Eastern Washington University to start school as a freshman. I had just gotten out of a long term relationship and would be attending school with...
August 24th, 2020

He Was a Family Friend

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Trejo molested me when i was 8 years old. We lived on 548 Calle cinco de mayo in Juarez Mexico. He was one of my step dad’s “Carnales” and offered to let him stay with us while him and his wife looked for a new house. The house we lived...
October 15th, 2022

Male dancer

1
Hello my Name is Tj. This happen about 4 years ago I was 19 years old at very young age I always tried to see the good in people. I was always happy and felt nothing could break me down went threw cancer as a baby lost my brother and...
December 21st, 2020

My Journey as a Rape survivor from...

1
I was first sexually assaulted when I was 16 years old, by my cousin. He was currently living at my grandparents house. I spent a lot of time there all of my childhood because of the horses. My grandparents had horses, and I had a horse of my own that...
November 27th, 2024

I know when I see a rapist...

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The stalking, gaslighting, victimizing, and of course sexual abuse, were never okay with me. But you just don’t get that because you’re a predator.
December 9th, 2023

i was a child.

3
i was 6, i lived with my dad. I remember when he would get mad he would punch me, kick me, hit me over the head with any chance he got. When i was 6 he sexually assaulted me. I was sitting on the lounge and he started touching me....
March 5th, 2024

My step dad raped me

2
I would have never imagined the person who I praised and idolised could have ever hurt me this much. An individual who I adored more than I could have anyone. A parent is a person whose sole purpose is to provide, care for and show love to their child. A...
December 5th, 2020

Constant fear

2
Does he know he destroyed me? Does he know that have a “normal relationship” for 2 years because of him? Does he know that he made me lose weed little confidence I had? Or that I still have nightmares of what you did to me? Does he know that even...
October 29th, 2021

Former partner would berate me

1
Super thankful to have this safe space to share my story. It’s been really tough dealing with the level of guilt I’ve felt because I feel I was betrayed by not only my former partner but the girl he left me for (good riddance). As someone who identifies as trans,...
July 8th, 2021

Dad Raped Me

1
1) this man “casually” crossed my boundaries. When I told him to stop, he did, but throughout the encounter he continued to ask me if I would like it if he did the thing that I told him explicitly he could not do. I never mentioned this interaction being poor...
April 30th, 2022

Manipulation

1
I was thirteen. I was dating this kid from another school, we had been seeing each other for about five months before the assault had occured. i had always noticed him getting violent with me or getting manipulative when he wanted me to do something i wasnt comfortable but i...
December 26th, 2019

Ms.

2
I was raped by a co-worker when I was in my mid-20’s. We were at a work function, we were all drinking, then about 10 of us went to his place to continue the party. He grabbed me on my way out of the washroom and dragged me into his...
April 3rd, 2015

5th Grade

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I was in 5th grade the first time I was raped. I know the name of this man, but I prefer to not say. Let’s call him Number6 and his friend Number5. After school, one day we got on the bus because I had to go to the Middle School...
March 17th, 2023

Indigo

I returned to fine art in 1990 when I took at class in indigo dyeing at San Francisco State University. I was lucky that the instructor, Yoshiko Wada, and another student from her class, were in the East Bay so that we could carpool together. We would talk textiles on our weekly journey across the Bay Bridge to the Campus. The other student was an accomplished Quilter named Linda MacDonald. Linda lived in Willits near the famous Mendocino Art Center, but traveled to Berkeley to attend this class once a week. The Indigo vat was made in a 32-gallon garbage can and had to be kept covered between dyeing sessions. Indigo is a unique rich blue dye that develops with an oxidization process when exposed to air. Dipping the fabric several times, and allowing the natural fiber to oxidize before dipping it again, creates darker shades of blue. The dye in the vat is created from a mixture of indigo pigment, various chemicals and a reducing agent to remove oxygen from the dye. It is a rich green color while in the vat, which shows up on the fabric before it is fully exposed to the air. The smell emitted from the dye is unusual, a musky odor in my mind. I like to think that it smells like the color blue. The vat needs to be carefully stirred and maintained between dyeing sessions. There is a “bloom” on the top of the vat created by oxidized indigo, making a bubbly and shiny ball of material reminiscent of a flower. The “bloom” gets moved to the side before entry of the pre-wetted fabric. The process reminds me of baking bread or making yogurt where the steps need to be carefully followed to achieve the desired results. In the process of bread and yogurt making, there are living cultures involved in order to create the product, and with the creation and dyeing process of indigo, it has that same feeling of being alive. In order to create interesting patterns, my classmates and I would use resist techniques on the fabric like pastes, stitching and clamping. Simple household items like clothespins could be used to create patterns by folding and then placing the pins at intervals along the fold lines. Beautiful and surprising results were achieved using these methods. Image of Indigo dye on fabric during the oxidization process. My dream of being a professional artist, all started in early childhood, and the first memories of my creations go back to Nursery School. I loved playing with all kinds of materials, like paint, clay, and crayons, just to name a few examples. Mel (Melanie), painting at Jack and Jill Nursery School, Walnut Creek, California, 1960. In 1974, a neighbor in Marin where I was living at the time and studying art at College of Marin told me about an Art School in Mexico. I ended up sending off slides of my work with an application to the Instituto Allende, and was delighted to hear that I was accepted. I began my journey to study there in San Miguel de Allende by flying to Mexico City in January of 1975. A bus ride completed that journey. When I first arrived, I moved in with a family who had two small children, including a newborn. It seemed like a safe living situation for a 19-year-old woman, but that shortly proved to not be true when the husband started coming on to me. I ended up finding my own place on the other side of town. It was a spacious abode with a wall that was shared with a weaving factory next door. There were 2 adjoined bedrooms, a bathroom, a large living/kitchen area and a small concrete patio out the back door. There was no hot water, refrigerator or a telephone. When I needed hot water for dishes, I would boil some on the stove. For showers, I had to build a fire in a box below a water tank outside to get hot water. I felt much more secure living there and walking a further distance to the Instituto on the other side of town than living with the husband who had made me feel so unsafe. There was the Central Plaza, which was called the “Jardin” that was in the middle of town, and I would pass through it on my walk quite frequently. This was the site of fireworks and festivals, like the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The streets were cobblestone and many charming shops and galleries were located downtown. The School itself was on a beautiful campus with large ornate doors in front that were closed when school was not in session. Photo of the closed front doors of the Instituto Allende I had heard about you and what you had done to other women before you appeared in my main living space one sunny spring afternoon pointing a gun at me. You had a bandana wrapped around your face and tied behind your head. I had heard you first, in the bathroom. Dressed in a long polyester dress with colorful psychedelic patterns. I wasn’t wearing any underwear or shoes. I walked through the 2 bedrooms and turned left when I saw you standing there. I screamed and shouted, “help me,” thinking that workers at the Weaving Factory would hear me and come rescue me. Nobody came. You said to me “Coyote” which I later learned meant to be quiet or to shut up. You grabbed my shoulders and dragged me out the unlocked back door onto the concrete patio. The tops of my feet got scraped. I gave up. I knew you were going to rape me. I just wanted you to finish as quickly as possible. You took off your belt and put down your gun. Somehow I managed to pick up your gun and threw it over the wall embedded with glass on the top, into the alleyway. The same wall you had climbed over to get into my place through the unlocked back door. Towards the end of this ordeal, I heard a knock on my door. You left, climbing back over the wall. I answered the door. My friend Rhonda had come by to visit me. I told her what had happened and we walked to the Police Station nearby. I had your belt with me. The one you left behind. I went to the front counter, telling the officers behind the counter what had happened to me. They were laughing and playing cards at the time. I showed them your belt. They told me to bring you in if I saw you again. I left with Rhonda and took a bath at the where place she lived. We didn’t talk about what happened. We moved in together shortly after that. I sent a telegram to my father and stepmother about what had happened to me. Nobody came to help me. Rhonda helped me when I got hepatitis A and could no longer go to school. I was on my own when it came to figuring out how to return to the Bay Area. I moved in with my father and stepmother. They didn’t talk to me about what happened to me. They sent me to a doctor who diagnosed me with type 1 diabetes. He showed me how to give myself insulin injections. He told me to practice by injecting oranges with empty syringes. My mother told me years later that “You were never the same again” after what you did to me. I survived. I gave up art for 15 years before realizing that I wanted to go back to art school. In those years, I became so disturbed that I had panic attacks, deep depression and needed to move in with my mother at age 30. I started therapy after becoming self destructive in my 20’s. Depression also called “the blues” has been my long time companion. It has taken me a lifetime to heal. My iPhone predicts the words, depression, PTSD and C-PTSD for my text messages. After my Indigo dyeing class at San Francisco State, I enrolled in the Textiles Fine Art program at California College of Arts and Crafts (now known as California College of the Arts) in Oakland. I was married at the time and had become pregnant with our daughter Emily right before classes started in September. Emily was born on May 13, 1991. By the Fall of 1992, I was a single mom and an art student. An inheritance from my mother who died in 1995, allowed me to graduate and to buy my first home. I continued to work with indigo dyeing and created a large textile piece about my experience in Mexico. After many years of therapy and other healing modalities, I recently started painting on canvas. Part of that process has been a Soul Retrieval session to bring back my 4 year old self who loved to paint. I am feeling uplifted and encouraged after many years of recurring periods of severe emotional pain. Stay tuned for more details about my new work. One of my final pieces was a textile called “Out of the Blues.”
1
I returned to fine art in 1990 when I took at class in indigo dyeing at San Francisco State University. I was lucky that the instructor, Yoshiko Wada, and another student from her class, were in the East Bay so that we could carpool together. We would talk textiles on...
October 12th, 2023

Workplace Sexual Harassment

1
As I write this story to you, please note that this sexual harassment case is still in progress. It began in December of 2022 when I worked as a contractor for a company named TEKsystems. I do IT work for Nutrien Ag Solutions. The first week I was there, I...
July 3rd, 2020

The pain that was never mine to...

1
I was a freshman in college. It was first semester and I was there for maybe about a month. One night my friends and I went to a party. As we were there, I started talking to a guy and eventually went back to his appt.  Once we were in...
April 21st, 2021

A respectable collegue

1
The next day I walked down the stairs to the hotel, aware that he was sitting at the table having breakfast. Some things you think would never happen to you, you think that working externally with a colleague (married and with children) is not dangerous. But then in a moment...
June 24th, 2020

Too naïve

3
I was 16. I had my first job, a lifeguard. I was so excited. I have been a swimmer since I was 5 so this was a very fitting job for me. I was the youngest person working there by far. Most of the kids were in college and one...
September 5th, 2019

Spoke out and got fired

2
My name is Vanessa. I served in the United States Army from 2012 to 2016. In my four years of active duty service I encountered 15 cases of sexual assault/harassment/rape/gang rape and then retaliation for reporting. That cost me my military career after reporting. The sexual assaults started when I...
July 16th, 2019

Robbery

1
One night when I was 24 years old, I was returning home after a dinner with friends and two guys approach me two blocks from my building. The took all my money and things, and raped me there on the street. A month later the police caught the guys, and...
September 28th, 2019

I Didn’t Know I Was Raped

2
Grass stains on my back and blood in my jeans I gain consciousness while my body is jerked like a rag doll My eyes focus on the hazy streetlights as I try to make sense of my surroundings I hear his zipper as he’s walking away So, I pull up...
May 6th, 2022

My Ongoing Journey

2
When I finally decided to switch my major to psychology and now pursue my career as a therapist, I got a lot of questions. Things like, why do you want to be a therapist? I got this from family, friends, and even strangers back in the time I served tables....
July 18th, 2019

His name was Kenneth

3
I was 13. He was 25. I had just came out the closet. I had met him on MySpace, back when that was popular and it seemed like we clicked. I thought I was ready to be in a relationship with a grown men, but like most teenagers I didnt...
August 26th, 2020

Molested

1
I would like to share my story. When I was six years of age my cousin that was 20 years older than me would molest me and my sister. My cousin used to live with us for about 3 years so it would be constantly when ever he had the...
April 5th, 2009

Thank you

0
Thank you for your voice and for your strength.
April 25th, 2017

Was it rape? Or my fault?

4
I am not sure if what happen is even considered rape… but I am really hoping someone can help me figure this out. It all started when I was 17 years old I was going through a break up and I was not the best version of myself. My brothers...
September 18th, 2019

Raped in the Air Force

2
My first duty stationed 28 years ago, i was sexually assaulted by my first supervisor and violently raped by an officer in my unit. The violence of that raped, ruined me for a long time. Suffer from severe PTSD and after 31 years i am being forced out of the...
August 17th, 2019

My/our German “Weinstein” Case

6
My name is Jany Tempel. I live both in Germany and Thailand. I turned public now, to end the big silence of our country. Almost twenty years ago I had already written a novel about my arduous life. The book wasn’t published back then, mainly because I reported on crimes...
April 14th, 2021

3x

1
My freshman year of college I attended a party that ended with my friends leaving me and me getting assaulted by a group of men. Since then, I’ve struggled with my safety and my self worth. The second case was a friend who took advantage of me when I was...
April 16th, 2020

3 years on

2
I don’t know why I’m writing this out. Maybe so I don’t feel alone, or maybe to just have it in writing, I don’t know. 3 years ago on the 19th I was raped. I can say that now, not that I’m proud of that but I can say it....
June 25th, 2024

i was pulling my shorts up

1
i had this boyfriend from 15-16 and he was always bad to me. he told me he was ‘protective’ over me because he cares & i never thought it was escalate to this. i lost my virginity to him and had consensual sex with him many times before he raped...
June 20th, 2021

Your truth will change someones’ life.

2
Brave Miss World is the first time I knew someone understands the gravity and the depth of what sexual violence does to the souls of the victims but their families. The battle to reclaim my soul’s back is the hardest work I will ever face. The internal growth is where...
January 5th, 2022

Bus Ride

1
I woke up that day and got ready for school. I was particualy happy because I had thought my life was getting better. My school friends were great, I had friends I could walk home with after the school bus, including a guy. I’ll call him A, who was 1...
May 8th, 2019

Spoke out and was blamed

3
I am the only girl at a job of 4 men. I am also 20 while these men are 40+. One worker would grab me from behind when I would walk in the back to the bathroom. This would happen often. One day all my coworkers had to go outside...
July 18th, 2024

Not normal

1
Molested from age 2-14 then raped by adopted father. I ran away stayed in the system till I got married to high school sweetheart.
June 23rd, 2021

Obsessed Abusive Ex

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I gave an friend a place to stay out of the kindness of my heart after their life went to shambles. My family helped them and gave them support. I became pregnant and their family became close again bc that reason then they flipped the script over time and made...
June 8th, 2023

Unethical or illegal?

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Last year my partner and I worked for the same business. It was a small business near a small town and it had no management or HR of any sort – only one man owned and ran it, even though it served thousands of people each year. I hit it...
November 4th, 2019

I don’t know anymore

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My high school ends at 10th grade. So you basically start college at 16. As for me, I decided to go abroad and come to the US for college so definitely the rest of the college students were all older than me. I didn’t really fit in. Then one day,...
August 18th, 2019

Abusée par un voisin de mes grands...

2
Bonjour chère Linor, Je suis en train de regarder Brave Miss World. Merci! Je témoigne car j’en ai peu parlé dans ma vie. J’avais 4 ou 5 ans. Je vivais avec mes grands-parents et ils me posaient parfois le samedi chez la voisine qui me gardait pour aller à un...
June 14th, 2019

A not so perfect family exposed to...

2
When I told my story no one cared, my dad who had raped me hundreds of times was never charged, my mom who watched was never punished and my brother who wasn’t exactly innocent or guilty in the matter is the only one charged. I was told by police that...
December 5th, 2020

Summer 2019

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I got my first job working at a lovely Mediterranean restaurant/cafe one summer because my teacher said she knew the man who ran the place and put in a reference for me. I was 15. He was in his 60s. Two days after I started, the groping began. Only he...
July 7th, 2019

@ years of rape and being drugged

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I was repeatedly raped by someone I will call D.C. He was my 2nd boyfriend at the time who lied to me about his age. He was in his 20s I was 16. Within the 1st year the so called relationship became something vicious like a nightmare that I could...
April 20th, 2019

“raped” by my long time bf

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One night we were out to bars with friends to get drinks, including my bf of 7 years. After drinking we went to a hostel room. Everything started as usual, then he wanted to have anal sex, which I refused cause it hurts, he answered with “I don’t care” and...
May 24th, 2019

The Statistics that Changed Me

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2 sexual assaults and 1 rape… the statistics of my story. I can’t promise that this story is pleasant, but I can tell you that power and growth comes with telling it. So sincerely, thank you for hearing me out. October 2017 I was in Chebut, Argentina(a part of the...
April 27th, 2019

Everyone Else Likes You, Too

2
I had never been to a bar before. Sure, I’d gone out to Applebees with other coworkers where they’d serve me drinks. But I was 19, and had to drive home. I had never been drunk before, and didn’t push my limits. I went to the bar to see him...
February 27th, 2020

Was it rape?

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I was 21. I’m a Christian and as taught in my circle we are to be virgins until marriage and I was trying to uphold that, but I was curious about sex and flirting with sex. I went to a Baptist university where being alone with a guy wasn’t even...
March 29th, 2015

Rape

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When I was 14 (1 year ago) me and my friends had agreed to go to a party on a Friday night. About a week before the party someone mad an Instagram account and started saying mean things to us like “I’m gonna rape you” and “go die” then the...
May 3rd, 2019

Nearly 50 years later

2
In an odd way, I am a “victim” of sexual abuse, even though I have never met the abuser. Her is my father, but he is also either my grandfather or my uncle. I was adopted as an infant, and my mom and dad always told me I was adopted....
May 31st, 2023

I loved my job

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We were on a work conference. I was sleeping. You climbed onto me and touched me. I woke up as soon as your hands touched my bare skin, my pyjamas pushed out of the way. Your girlfriend’s necklace – I had mentioned the night before to deflect your advances, it...
October 30th, 2020

Raped

1
I met this man online and after we went out to eat he took me back to his place and after me telling him no I didn’t want to perform any type of sex he proceeded to penetrate me until I started to bleed and he didn’t stop until I...
May 19th, 2019

I Wanted to See the Aquarium

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The first person that ever saw my bare chest was Jimmy. We were both 12 at the time. It started off as playful kissing and after saying no a few times, he forced my shirt up so he could see my chest. I laughed and ran away. Jimmy was the...
June 21st, 2021

Drugged raped and failed by justice

3
On March 31st, 2017, I planned an early evening out wanting to catch up with my good friend Wendy, 35, a teacher for the Santa Clara County Juvenile Detention Center. We went to a place in Downtown Willow Glen. Wendy picked me up from my home about 8 pm. We...
August 30th, 2019

My story growing up with a secret

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I’m a black South African, I’m 40 years old now, and my son it 20 years old… loved, taught but I still can never live him alone with my nieces as I was left alone and violeted💔💔😭😭 I have spoken about this, but I hate putting this down in writting😭😭...
September 22nd, 2020

My mom’s boyfriend assaulted me and my...

1
I was assaulted multiple times ! I was assaulted by my mom’s boyfriend when I was 13. My parents got divorced then my mom and her boyfriend found an apartment with just one bedroom so the 3 of us had to sleep together. At night when my mom would fall...
March 16th, 2021

I just realized this today.

1
I am an educated 37 year old social worker. I am married with two kids, 2 dogs, and 3 chickens. Over the last few months I’ve been having a profound experience where things I didn’t even know I had been holding to have surfaced. Today, while sitting in the car...
November 27th, 2019

Jules story

2
I was a size 8 and into sports and very athletic. I enjoyed sports and enjoyed being healthy, and I am also a lesbian. I was raped by a man who felt he had the right to destroy my life because he thought he could, and he did. After the...
April 8th, 2025

Her first job

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I started my first job as soon as I was 16 in a familiar workforce. My mum, my stepdad and my aunt works there I felt safe and comfortable. My first job with my mum and it was our 2nd shift as a bus conductor doing late night rail replacement....
January 3rd, 2024

lucky

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this is my second post and i’m retelling my story better. i’m 15 and i’ve been struggling with substance abuse since 13, including hard drugs. my anxiety and jealousy in my new relationship has caused me to struggle a lot recently and i ended up going to my guy friends...
March 15th, 2024

I’m a Survivor because I am a...

0
My ex husband wanted to get rid of me and my family because he had a new girlfriend so he started bringing the Neighbors in to rape me and his girlfriends to cut my hair and burn me nothing has been done I went to a woman and children’s battered...
June 18th, 2019

My best friends dad

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April 27th 2018. Two weeks prior to this incident I was in Longleaf psychiatric facility. I took over 300 pills cuz I didn’t want to be alive anymore but little did I know the worst was yet to come. Ironically when I decided to take all the pills I called...
August 17th, 2019

My/our German “Weinstein” Case

6
My name is Jany Tempel. I live both in Germany and Thailand. I turned public now, to end the big silence of our country. Almost twenty years ago I had already written a novel about my arduous life. The book wasn’t published back then, mainly because I reported on crimes...
November 15th, 2020

J’avais 13 ans

1
J’avais 13 ans j’étais allé avec mon amie chez un gars pour la soirée ils étaient trois gars et c’etait la première fois que je buvais de l’alcool et ce gars qui s’appelle pascal m’a agressé. Je ne l’ai dis a personne et j’ai fait comme si rien ne s’était...
September 8th, 2019

Frozen in fear

2
I thank you for your story. I have kept silent about all my traumas for most of my life. In the last 2 years I have started my healing journey and still have a hard time sharing with anyone but my therapist. I mostly have shamed myself because of how...