Personal Narrative: Survivor Of Sexual Assault

The fight against sexism is not a new fight. Women have been fighting for equal rights, as well as fighting for their lives, culture, and values to be just as important as men's. On August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote; but this was only the beginning. From then to now, the role of women in society has significantly changed due to women standing up for their rights at protests and rallies, as well as on social media. While “The Good Wife’s Guide” focused on the promotion of the traditional gender role of women and defined appropriate emotions for women, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, represents the start of the resistance of the traditional gender role of women that we see in society today.

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

Shaping my sexual behavior was generally influenced by my mom. I learned to be dependent on men and use safe sex through media. Gender sex roles also placed me to be secretive with my sex life and nurturing. My body image makes me insecure when it comes to intimacy. There were no specific sexual guidelines that my family made me follow. I was raised in a family where I was able to explore and have my own opinions about sexual situations. Not having guidelines or a path made me lost and confused once I obtained sexual behaviors. My experiences from friends, my mom, religion, and media influenced the development of my sexuality.

Throughout our lives, every person encounters hardships that put a strain on other aspects of our lives. The biggest hardship that I have faced was taking care of my wife after she suffered a severe head injury while at work. The injury was the result of a salad fridge door falling and striking the back of her head, causing her to receive a severe concussion that lead to post-concussion syndrome. As a result, she became completely dependent on me. Some of the major hardships that we faced during these times are finances, helping her cope with her injury while she recovered, and maintaining my 4.0 GPA.

True story - my grandmother said this to me when revealing that my mother had an affair with her step father (grandmother's second husband) -"It ain't abuse if you are on top". My mother told everyone the narrative that she was sexually abused by her step father. I asked my grandmother about this horrible thing and was promptly set straight about the reality. My grandmother walked in on her daughter and husband with the daughter on

I spent nearly five years getting rid of the shadows that I have experienced sexual assault. This incident occurred in the winter when I was a five-grade student in primary school. However, until now, I still remember it.

Most of my drumming moves was OK, but I wanted to get even better. I was pretty excited when my instructor showed up at 430. "Hey, professor, I'm so glad you came to learn me to play!" I said. He got to the point. "Lets see how you play now, and then we'll improve it," he said. I played Tapper's Suite Better than ever, but my skill went unnoticed. "First," he said, "You must set the drum at elbow level. Then we'll worked on your arms and hands." We positioned the drum, and I played again. "Your left hand your weaker is lagging," he said, "and, what's worse, your holding the stock wrong." He made me hold my elbows in grip the stick securely, and straight with the same force from each hand. I was happier before I knew how worse I was

My relationship with violence has not really been too direct. One of my best friends was raped in high school and hit/choked by another boyfriend. This definitely made me very angry and I wanted to help and protect her. Her rapist did not get the punishment he deserved and she was harassed at school to the point that she had to move to another school an hour and a half away. This was probably the beginning of my awareness of patriarchal control and systematic misogyny. Domestic violence, in particular, triggers me since the aggressor probably loved their partner at one point. The incident with my friend’s ex-boyfriend occurred after her rape as well. I felt so defeated because I couldn’t do anything at all for her besides just being there for

I am going to talk about my trouble . I was not outgoing when I was a child . I was not nice to strangers . I was unable to leave their but my mother was trying to make me outgoing person . She was taking me to park to play with children , but I was crying when approaching me one . Then i was entered school and my mother was to go with me in the first days . Then let me go alone

My mom never really talked to me about sex until I got into my first serious relationship. All she told me was to use protection every time if we have sex. I learned most of what I knew about sex through the news, shows, and through books. I distinctly remember finding a human anatomy book in third grade that

Mary Calderone, a physician and public health advocate for sexual education, said, “Before the child ever gets to school it will have received crucial, almost irrevocable sex education and this will have been taught by the parents, who are not aware of what they are doing.” Under our interpretation, this means that children, even if their parents are wrong or even unaware of what they are doing, will default to what was taught to them by their parents. As a result, it would be a costly, in regards to time, mistake to leave the teaching of sexual education in the hands of school officials. That being said, Parents and guardians should be the primary sexual educator(s) of their children.

What isn’t so funny is the fact many adolescents learn about sex from everybody else apart from their parents. I’m quickly reminded of back then when I was just approaching puberty, I was a ‘late bloomer’ as many would call it. This obviously came along with it’s pros and cons. On one hand, I oftenly got teased for being a baby but on the other hand, I got the first hand information from my friends about the changes they were experiencing. Imagine my shock when one of the girls told me that her mum had informed her that if she let any boy touch her then she would become pregnant, best believe she never went close to any boy until she got to high school. This statement might have come from a place of love with the intent to protect her little girl but the reality is it was very ,misleading.

Since society has gone through a social revolution in the past 30-40 years in which the way that people express their sexual identities, my parents realized the importance of educating me about being safe but I don’t think they knew just quite how to do that. My parents are older than most people’s parents my age, my mother had me at 42 years of age. Therefore, when she was young it was frowned upon if a young lady talked about sex or even showed an interest in the topic. Sheltered under my parent’s wing as a girl, I was not given the opportunity to explore my sexuality. My parents did their best to mold me into an image and didn’t allow for much choice or room for growth.

My sex education started with misleading statements from my dad, who was only trying to be funny with a sensitive topic, when I was a little girl. I was five when my mom had my little brother. I asked my dad where babies come from and he told me cabbage patches, I believed him because when I was born, I was less than 4 pounds and so little that preemie baby clothes and diapers did not fit me. So my parents put cabbage patch doll clothes and cloth diapers on me. Even to this day as a 25 year old married woman I jokingly asked my dad where babies come from and he still says cabbage patches. My mom would answer any question I had about sexual education, but as a teen I was not interested in talking with my mom about sex because I felt like I would be in trouble for asking. In school, we had sexual education starting in fourth grade boys and girls were separated. We watched a video then talked about how girls menstruate, why and what to do. I don 't recall all the details, but do remember that my teacher went through a lot of ways to be discreet about the situation we would have to deal with as young women. She showed us how to hid

Parents must also play a leading role in sex education. It must go beyond the doors of the school, and into the homes of the children. Since parents are the main educators in a child's life, they need to discuss the topic of sex education in home as well. (Sex Education in Schools; 1999) Children who have never had a talk about sex with their parents feel more uncomfortable when they have to talk about it in front of their classmates. In some cases, some students may even feel more comfortable to talk to their teacher, rather than their parents. A very important idea for parents to remember is, although talking about sex can be difficult, it makes it helpful on a child to hear about the facts of life from their parents at first. (4.Woznicki, Katrina. Smarter Teens Likely to Delay Sex; 2000) This also makes it easier when they attend the sex education classes so they can understand the full impact of