I was a timid girl in a high school drumline — the student leader of my section told the other boys that if they wanted to get me to play louder all they had to do is slap or grab my ass. And he would demonstrate — for two years I quietly let this happen. He was bigger then me, older then me, in a place of power over me and one of my best friends’ brothers — I didn’t feel I could fight back without repercussions. I can talk just as dirty as any guy can — sometimes worse but never ever would I feel I had the right to touch them — I think he thought that because I acted like “one of the guys” that meant I was an “anything goes” type of girl.
After he graduated, he came back to help run the section. But by then, I was best friends with the other guys in the section — they wouldn’t let him near me but didn’t treat me like a wounded animal either. To this day, although he became a joke to my friends and I, it still makes me sick that I didn’t do something to stop it earlier. I’ve taught my daughter better!
