An Open Letter to Trump Supporters and What Your Vote Means to Victims of Sexual Abuse
[Trigger Warning: The following discusses sexual assault]
Like many others, it’s challenging for me to discuss uncomfortable and personal subject matters publicly. I’m a poet, but poetry is different, as I can shroud my experiences in the abstract. However, today I posted publicly on Facebook about my feelings as a survivor of sexual assault, after receiving an upsetting email from a Trump supporting family member. I needed this family member to know what their vote means to me and to so many others. Now, to further empower myself and to help others who have endured abuse or are faced with hateful rhetoric of any kind, I want to share with you all the same letter I shared on Facebook.
I must make you privy to parts of my life I wasn’t prepared to do yet. In your email, you denounce victims of all kinds, and support those who would never call themselves one.
Two years ago I was raped. I was raped by someone I knew, which complicated the situation. I remained silent. Why? Because nothing from past history in this world guaranteed that my side and my voice would be heard. Further, due to my upbringing with a mentally unstable and abusive parent, I had already learned the meaning of “staying quiet.” I became hopeless.
Imagine feeling like there is absolutely nowhere safe for you to go, and that the concept of trust is illusive. That is how I felt. Thanks to my PTSD, that is how I often still feel. And that is how countless others feel – and not just victims of abuse: millions of Americans of different race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion feel this way on a daily basis.
I know you would never have wished this violence for me, nor would you wish for the hopelessness I felt. Yet, half of the nation decided on Tuesday to elect a man who said, “Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.” A man many women have come out of silence against to share their own stories of his violence toward them. This is only one example of his inhumanity. Whether you intended to or not, you supported the hateful actions he has done, supports and promises still to do.
Your stance against victimhood perpetuates the very feelings I felt: that the situation was hopeless. That no one would believe me. That some may believe me and yet STILL be against me. Your stance suggests that people who have suffered and endured violence of any kind are weak.
But we are not, and I can no longer remain silent.
Your email suggests that words like victim, disenfranchised, marginalized and voiceless are buzzwords. I am a victim and a survivor. These words describe millions of people. We are not faceless; and to call these words buzzwords ignores and belittles my experience and the experience of countless others.
I share this letter publicly in hopes that if others share your viewpoint that I may somehow dissuade them from continuing down a road of hate. If this letter makes you uncomfortable: good. Magnify that feeling a thousand times and you may begin to feel as millions of people do.
To those who have been abused: we are in this together.
Our voices can and will be heard.
izzy806
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