“Don’t Come at Me With Your…”
by Adena M’lynn and the millions of other survivors of childhood sexual trauma Rape is never okay. Don’t come at me with your “But what was she wearing?” I swear on every god that’s ever grieved, the hemline of my skirt was not an invitation to your violence. Don’t come at me with “Boys will be boys” unless you’re ready to explain why your definition of boyhood includes bruises on my thighs and silence stitched into my throat. Don’t come at me with your locker room logic, your courtroom gaslight, your Bible verse bent like a noose around my body. And don’t you dare stand in a position of power— behind a podium, in a pulpit, on the marble floors of justice— while holding your penis in your hand under your desk, undressing me with the same hand that grades papers signs bills and contracts and GAG orders. You, in your tailored suit, with your MBA, Manipulation, Bullying & Abuse and, your handshake that feels like a trapdoor— you think power means entitlement, me...