I didn’t mean to abandon this blog. Truthfully, I think the incident on the bus affected me more than I thought. It probably didn’t help that the general reaction when I told people what had happened was that I was “making a big deal out of nothing.” It was suggested that “he was probably just trying to be friendly”, that I was “over reacting”, and that it really was "no big deal."
With the grace of time and distance let me just state one thing: A strange man covered me with a blanket and worked his hand up my thigh while I was sleeping. This is sexual assault and it is not okay. The hashtag #yesallwomen was started, in part, because women like me faced reactions like the ones I got. It’s purpose was the bring awareness and to illustrate the prevalence of everyday sexism against women. I am fully aware that in the spectrum of sexual assault, I was lucky. I was not physically harmed nor was I raped. But this doesn’t make what happened okay. A stranger is not entitled to access to my body, ever. Being upset over sexual harassment and assault is NOT an over reaction.
With that said, I would like to try and finish this blog.
So over the next few weeks, it is my intent to wrap everything up, finish posting about various aspects of the trip, and archive this blog. Stay tuned. (Keeping in mind I'm in a new country and starting a new job!)
With the grace of time and distance let me just state one thing: A strange man covered me with a blanket and worked his hand up my thigh while I was sleeping. This is sexual assault and it is not okay. The hashtag #yesallwomen was started, in part, because women like me faced reactions like the ones I got. It’s purpose was the bring awareness and to illustrate the prevalence of everyday sexism against women. I am fully aware that in the spectrum of sexual assault, I was lucky. I was not physically harmed nor was I raped. But this doesn’t make what happened okay. A stranger is not entitled to access to my body, ever. Being upset over sexual harassment and assault is NOT an over reaction.
With that said, I would like to try and finish this blog.
So over the next few weeks, it is my intent to wrap everything up, finish posting about various aspects of the trip, and archive this blog. Stay tuned. (Keeping in mind I'm in a new country and starting a new job!)