Member-only story
One reason women achieve less
Sexual trauma is… traumatic
Some friends and I shared last night. No alcohol was involved, yet we opened up to each other.
I learned things I didn’t really want to know. Not because I don’t care, or want to be close to them, but because I didn’t want to feel angry and sad. Because they shared stories of sexual abuse.
One woman described how she left a PhD program in science from a top 10 school because she’d been raped. After the incident, she couldn’t focus anymore. Her research was in a ground-breaking field.
“That’s why he raped you,” said another woman. “You were a threat. Some men can’t take the competition, so they rape you to destroy you.”
In this case, if that was his goal, he succeeded. She was broken. Her dreams became ashes. She is doing fine now, 10 years later, but she can’t wind the clock back and get back the time she lost.
What could she have accomplished if she wasn’t raped?
Another woman shared how sexual assault when she was 16 changed her life. She was an A student who planned to go to college. Then her step-brother raped her. In her own bedroom. She didn’t feel safe at home anymore, so she ran away.
Friends let her sleep on their couches. She was grateful, but it wasn’t a long…
