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January 5th, 2022

Bus Ride

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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...
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.”
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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...
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😭😭...
May 28th, 2021

06.05.2006

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We were in the office room of my parents house. Both of my parents were out that evening, or maybe it was late afternoon. There had been an incident the week before in my room where we had almost had sex, but I held back at the last minute; starting...
July 19th, 2021

Child sexual abuse

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My child’s father has been sexually abusing her since she was 3 months old.
October 22nd, 2019

Choose healing over silence

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Ke Mosadi gare ga Basadi (This will be the name of the foundation) Choose healing over silence “I was raped by a stranger at the age of 14. Twenty three years ago my life changed. What started off as a fun occasion turned into the biggest nightmare. Like every other...
October 2nd, 2019

A Letter to Survivors

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March 15th, 2021

Home invasion, wife saved daughter

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A little back story, The wife and I had a daughter, we live in a fantastic old farm house outside of town with vary few out her houses around . We keep to our selves, we grow our own food and home school our kid . Let’s get to our...
October 15th, 2022

Male dancer

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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...
April 21st, 2021

A respectable collegue

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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...
February 13th, 2020

Start of grooming at 15

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When I was around 11 years old my parents and I moved to a new house. It was a lovely time. A neighbour of ours who was very friendly with the rest of our neighbourhood as first was kind. People always said he was very charming. Walking home from school...
December 30th, 2020

Miss

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I got raped nearly 14 years ago now, it never gets easier over time im constantly numb, painless and confused. I’ve never felt what it is to be normal I always feel unwanted, scared and betrayed. The police never did anything, didn’t arrest him, didn’t question him they said they...
June 11th, 2025

Just Words

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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....
July 10th, 2019

So drunk I can’t remember

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I was turning 18. I was partying like any teen would. I drank a lot. I threw up, sat down. They picked me up and put me in their car. They said “don’t worry we’ll take care of you. You won’t miss the bus”. I remember lying on the bed...
April 25th, 2017

Was it rape? Or my fault?

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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...
May 26th, 2020

My Last Party

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It was my first year of college. I was the type that hated parties since high school so I barely go out. But our midterms were finished and my friend insisted we should go. So I decided to call my boyfriend too. I remember the party was too loud and...
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...
April 12th, 2017

The abuser

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When I was 4 my mum married the most aggressive man. When I was 6 he started touching me and making me watch him touch himself and was told to never to tell anyone. Of course I never because I was terrified it kept happening until I was about 15,...
April 27th, 2019

Everyone Else Likes You, Too

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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...
May 18th, 2021

I Don’t Know My Story

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I don’t know my story.. of all of the pain that I’ve been through.. I couldn’t feel my pain at times.. but what I had to go through to get here.. I’ll never understand my praise.. I don’t try to figure it out.. because my worship my worship is for...
May 8th, 2019

Spoke out and was blamed

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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...
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...
September 2nd, 2020

This Is Me, my fight song

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College has started, around this time I was a college freshman fully moved in and Saying bye to my parents. I felt so cool living on my own in my own place, doing my own thing and the best part was, I was playing soccer. It was everything and more....
April 1st, 2021

Sex doll

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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...
May 21st, 2019

raped by my own brother

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I was maybe 11 or 12 when i got raped by my brother. He would put me in his room and take off his pants and tell me to touch his penis and I was so scared i did. then he would take off my pants and touck my private...
April 14th, 2021

3x

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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...
August 10th, 2019

Surviving Sexual Abuse: A Childhood Story

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I am a Xavier Stagg and I faced a many traumatic events in my life as a child. One of the worst traumatic events that occured in my life were sexual abuse by my own father! The abuse happened the ages of 7-12 twice a week sometimes it would be...
June 26th, 2022

My survival story

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When I was 15 I knew I had to get out of home. My father had been abusing my mum and siblings for as long as I could remember, both physically and verbally, and it was getting worse by the day. So at 15 I decided to break up with...
May 6th, 2022

My Ongoing Journey

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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....
April 20th, 2022

So long, I’ll be seeing you everywhere

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He was my boyfriend. I thought he saw us as equals – after all, we used to be members of progressive parties in our country. But I was wrong. One night, I told him that I do not want to have sex that time because I might get pregnant. He...
June 7th, 2016

Was It My Fault?

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My experience has left me confused so I would really appreciate it if someone could help me understand this. First off I was 19 when this happened & I’m 20 now. This happened back in September of 2015. I was in a sexual relationship with a Marine & I had...
July 3rd, 2020

The pain that was never mine to...

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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 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...
February 24th, 2023

I can’t remember before it started

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I knew something was wrong but I figured everyone else was like that. My earliest memory is of being violated. Of pain and an indiscribable feeling of loss. If I were to lay it all out it wouldn’t make for a very readable story. There are only so many things...
July 17th, 2019

Boyfriend Forcefully Sodomized Me

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I had been with my (still current) boyfriend for about a year the night that it happened. We had been staying out of town in the mountains, having a great time. That night, we had a few drinks at a bar across the street from the hotel we were staying...
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.
April 25th, 2024

Another kid raped me

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When I was in kindergarten there was a girl that everyone hated, she would pin other younger kind down and rape them but to us it just looked like punching and stuff like that. That wasn’t OK but we were scared that she would punch us if we told the...
December 23rd, 2014

Blaming Myself

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I am 20 years old and it happened when I was 17. I was at a party, the kind with drugs and alcohol. I got too drunk and passed out in the basement. When I came to the boy I had been flirting with all night was on top of...
February 18th, 2021

Feeling weak

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Ι was at a concert 3 years ago and someone can very close to me and slide his finger under my dress and into me. I don’t know if this count as rape or if I am just being dramatic but I cant stop thinking about it I feel violated....
April 15th, 2019

raped as a lone solidier in israeli...

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Hi Linor I was raped by the חובש on my base in the army. Unitl today – almost daily I think about it. At the age of 18 I was a young naive virgin from Australia. I moved to Israel by myself. The guy that raped me, ALL the girls...
June 24th, 2020

Too naïve

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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...
August 17th, 2019

My/our German “Weinstein” Case

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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...
February 4th, 2021

Raped at the Air Force Academy

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In 2002 I was appointed to the Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs, CO. The prep school was a sort of booster school for people who wanted to be at the Academy but fell short of their appointment. It could have been due to grades, SAT/ACT scores, athletics,...
March 14th, 2015

Broken Trust

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I had a friend who I quickly became very close with. I was very depressed at the time and he was too so I spent all my time with him and went to his house everyday. However, when I started falling asleep there, he would touch me and I would...
October 17th, 2025

I should have STOPPED

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It is with great shame that I confess here. I was a silent enabler of abuse. I had been molested as a girl my an older boy in grade school, and should have been less of a coward. I finally turned in my husband and ended his incestuous abuse of...
July 18th, 2024

I was just 9.

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All I wanted was a father figure, and you were there for me. I always thought it was weird how you would accuse me or now shower and ask to smell my privates just to know if I did, but I was just a child and I didn’t know better....
May 4th, 2019

To my best friend who raped me

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To my best friend who raped me, I am so torn between feeling love for you and feeling hate for what you have done; what you have taken away from me is irreplaceable. On the first of May, I lost hope for all living things to live and breathe and...
December 26th, 2019

Ms.

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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...
September 8th, 2021

Raped by ex boyfriend

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This is really hard hard for me because I haven’t really explained this to anyone but here I go. I was raped by a guy I knew when I was 14. I don’t remember much because we drank a lot one day and I only remember getting dropped off home....
January 18th, 2021

Finally Arrested

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https://myfox8.com/news/lexington-man-charged-with-indecent-liberties-with-a-minor/ One if the men who molested me was finally arrested… I never told on him but one strong child did! Thank you child, I am sorry I didn’t report this when I should have. You are brave!
November 3rd, 2020

Ex Boyfriend

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I dated a boy for about 6 months. He was 17 I was 15. He seemed to care about me but there were so many red flags that I ignored. I’ve never told anybody this, but he raped me. The next day and I told my friends that I lost...
September 18th, 2019

Raped in the Air Force

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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...
March 25th, 2022

Marital Rape

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My husband raped me through the night of February 7th 2020. I was unconscious due to prescription medication taken after being in a car accident two months prior. Police arrested my husband. He posted 25k bail and got out the very next day. Bruises on my stomach and my hips....
November 15th, 2020

J’avais 13 ans

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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...
May 25th, 2019

I need some advice

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My name is Aleksandra and I am from Macedonia, Europe. I am almost 20 years old. On February 12, 2018 I was raped by 3 men. It was terrible, rape taking place in the woods, being virgin and taking several hours. I managed hardly to get home, being physically and...
February 26th, 2022

Why was it my fault?

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The sexual abuse started when i was in 1st grade. My cousin would babysit me and my siblings and then take turns molesting us. We were to scared to say anything for a few years. (That is how long it lasted.) When we finally had the courage to tell our...
January 26th, 2024

Parasite

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Where do I begin? I was around kindergarten age and my abuser was an older brother of mine. Only he wasn’t my blood brother, but my brother via my adoption. My birth parents were addicted to drugs and couldn’t afford to care for me so they made the choice to...
June 30th, 2019

Need advice

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I posted my story here in the past about how i was raped by a stranger when i was extremely drunk, however I am in need of advice, unfortunately I have to see the person who raped me every now and then in public in my town and it almost...
December 11th, 2020

Letter to…

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To all the boys who watched porn and grew up thinking that’s how women deserve to be treated To the parents, teachers, adults who should know better, who never taught us about consent or that women are equal partners in sex To the society that made me feel like sex...
July 30th, 2023

Raped By My Biological Father

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Last April my parents had split up. My father was over working away one the mines at the time and my mother was at home looking after us taking us to school and everything. My mum eventually ended things with my father I was so confused and upset. My father...
July 3rd, 2020

The pain that was never mine to...

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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...
July 8th, 2021

Dad Raped Me

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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 20th, 2019

At 17yr old was raped by my...

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I became pregnant at age 16, forced to marry months later at 17, I went through domestic violence, physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse by him, my husband and my family did nothing to help me out of the nightmare! After 2 yrs I got out with the help of...
October 9th, 2022

When My Body Wasn’t Mine.

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I remember the times where my body wasn’t mine. When you grabbed my barely developing body forcefully. And my small body with little to no strength could not fight back. Could not take away your hands from places that were supposed to be private. Places that were supposed to be...
March 18th, 2015

Playing House

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My name is Sydney. I’m 13 years old. When I was 7, my mom was on drugs, and I knew she was using. We used to go to this lady’s house, and she and my mom would go to a room and smoke and sniff…etc. One day, I was downstairs...
January 2nd, 2016

It Was the Second

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This story may not be relevant. But when I was 11 yrs old, I was almost raped by my aunt’s, husbands, uncle. I had such an uncomfortable feeling when I was around him…. well, I’ll just get to the point. He was a guest, so my aunt asked me to...
July 18th, 2024

SA in school

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When I was 13 I met I was playing in the school orchestra and I didn’t talk to anybody, I was very shy. So this 15 year old boy keeps talking to me. At first I didn’t feel bad actually it was good company for a while but at the...
October 12th, 2023

Workplace Sexual Harassment

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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...
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...