Member-only story
People say they care about women being raped
But do they really?
When I was in college, there was a guy in my dorm that tried to rape me. He didn’t succeed. I fought back and I got away.
At the time, I didn’t even realize he was trying to rape me. Yes, I was that naive. It was a good thing though. Because I didn’t really realize what he was trying to do, I wasn’t paralyzed by fear.
You see, I thought he was just wrestling. I grew up with a brother and had plenty of guy friends. I was used to roughhousing. The issue with this particular guy was that he was getting too rough.
Most of my guy friends in college understood that I was not as strong as they were and so when we roughhoused, they’d pull their punches, so to speak. That way we’d both have a good time and no one got hurt.
This particular guy didn’t play nice. He had me in a headlock and was pushing me down on his bed. I said, loud and clear, “Stop it! That hurts!”
My expectation — he’d immediately let go of me. Because I trusted that he was my friend and friends don’t hurt each other.
He didn’t let go of me, though.
So I said, in a louder voice, “Let go of me!”
Again, he didn’t.
