It also occurred to be that despite the fact that I have participated in art therapy for years, and turned other turmatic parts of my life into art I have not done so with my rape. So this project gave me the little push to do so, Alexia ( my therapist ) is going to be so proud.
I was raped by an ex boyfriend when I was 23 years old, we ran into eachother at a bar after years of healing from said relationship. I was incredibly drunk and he wasn’t. I got into the car with him and the night would end with him on top of me while I crying my eyes out saying “ please get off of me, you are raping me” and he replied “I’m not raping you”. I replay this experience in my head all the time. There was of course a time in my life in which me and this person did have consensual sex, but this does not mean he got a life time pass to my body, as he assumed. I try to tell my story as often as I can so other women know they are not alone. Almost every women I have told this story to has a very similar experience.
All these women have experience with men who assume that just because she wanted it at one point that she will always want it from him, this is far from the truth. Per the CDC “more than 1 in 3 women (35.6%) • and more than 1 in 4 men (28.5%) in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.” It is enranging, and more than likely to happen to you or someone you know in love within your lifetime.
My body is not an amusement park where you can buy a season pass to and come back to time after time again. You have to buy a ticket every time.
A relationship does not equal consent.
