Frequency of sexual assault

[janetmendoza]

Are there any women at all who have never been sexually assaulted? Even in the uk at this point in history I think it is absolutely rife. I have only just started thinking about this and I would have said previously that I had never been assaulted, but thinking about it now I definitely have.
I think I have got off lightly but I can still list
Aged about 8 a man on a beach said he would teach me to swim and put his hand inside my bather as he was pretending to hold me in the water. My dad stormed over and hit him. I had no idea what was going on.
Aged about 14 a man with learning disabilities put his hand up my dress. My Mum told him off.
Aged about 20 a man managed to undo my bra on a bus in Italy and tried a bit of a grope. I got off the bus
Aged about 22 a man knocked me to the ground in a dark street and I think he intended to rape me. Luckily passers by arrived and he fled. I didn't report it.
So that's just me with my very sheltered life. I am interested to see if there is anyone at all who can say it has never happened to them. Is it something that can ever be eliminated?

It would be interesting to bring this conversation up.with any late transing M to F person ...another example of the gulf between female and male experiences in life that would inform why women have at the very least reservations about allowing transwomen into female only spaces . I doubt any man growing up has had anything like these experiences and doesnt have the wariness of men that most women rightly do .

Yes, I have been sexually assaulted, including rape, more times than I would like to recall.

No, I am not going to give details.

On the definition aspect, I personally do not include inappropriate “hand on knee” incidents in adulthood that were swiftly repelled with a forceful smack and a loud “Hands off!”. They always know it’s wrong and if they are prepared to try their luck like that then I very much doubt that a polite request would be respected - and they don’t deserve to be dealt with politely.

BrassicaRabbit - ” I wish there was a record of it all somewhere that women could point to, to say look, this is what we deal with. We're not even even asking for justice at this point. Just scrabbling around trying to piece together our tattered rights.”

Have you seen “The Everyday Sexism Project”? There are a lot of accounts of sexual assault.

The Everyday Sexism Project exists to catalogue instances of sexism experienced on a day to day basis. They might be serious or minor, outrageously offensive or so niggling and normalised that you don’t even feel able to protest. Say as much or as little as you like, use your real name or a pseudonym – it’s up to you. By sharing your story you’re showing the world that sexism does exist, it is faced by women everyday and it is a valid problem to discuss.

If you prefer to e-mail me at [email protected] I can upload your story for you instead. Follow us on Twitter (and submit entries by tweet) at @/EverydaySexism.

everydaysexism.com/