My Experience as a Woman

TW: sexual harassment 

I love being a woman. I love doing my hair, wearing pretty outfits, the way being a woman and being confident in my sexuality makes me feel— but being a woman comes with struggles nobody prepares us for. Most women are faced with discrimination for their gender, harassment, or assault. People even get killed just for being a woman and our rights are always threatened. My experience cannot even compare to the hardships and life-altering experiences other women have faced, but this is my story. 

In 2017 my nudes were leaked. A boy I thought was my friend had manipulated and lied to me to get me to send them. He told me he was dying. Now one might ask, “how could you ever fall for that?”. The thing is I never really even believed him. He sent me pictures at the doctor and pictures of his medication and even said his family vacation was his “last wish”. He told me that since he was “ugly” all of his friends made fun of him for not “getting girls” and their nudes. He didn’t want to die a loser. After three months of begging me for nudes, I finally did it— but he was at a party. Nobody told me what had happened until the damage was done.

When I finally found out that all of my guy friends had seen me naked I was crushed and humiliated. All my friends tormented me for the rest of my high school experience and I knew every guy I tried to be friends with would have that image of me as their first impression. That year at my birthday party the guys I invited pulled up the picture to laugh at me about it. Throughout my time at high school, I was humiliated again and again by something I did out of pity and pressure. 

What happened to me happens to so many other women. I have been cat-called. I have been touched and kissed nonconsensually. People constantly underestimate me and make crude comments based on just the fact that I am a woman. These experiences made me stronger. To me, being a woman is so important.We have the power to rise up against  this struggle we go through together. I will always admire women and it’s time more people do. We are resilient and together we can help each other through sharing our experiences and standing up to those who hurt us.

• empowerment