quietly re:drawing lines. . .
affirming Love has No Borders
and Love has Healthy Boundaries
applying that note to myself
and saying Yes, Me Too.
•no matter how many+years pass,
i haven’t forgotten.
when the need for self-destruction
pulls itself from the Deep
catching me UnSure ~
what is worth my self-preservation?
to control the way i hurt myself
because i could not control
the way Someone-Else
decided to hurt me.
•i have been hurt by people
no, not strangers.
only people with access to intimacy
has hurt me.
the ones that mattered, anyway.
antagonists in the form of fri.end.s
people i trusted then got close+enough
to hurt+the vulnerability i exposed.
•i was raped when i was 16.
he was a “friend.” we met often -
i showed him+my artwork,
which included nudes.
he took that+to mean
i was “interested in him” and later on,
he took that to mean that
i consented “sex” with+him,
which i clearly did not.
because in a “friendly” moment
he used his wrestling moves
to hold me down.
and he used his verbal brilliance
to confuse me.
he was smart for a jock.
but i never wanted anything sexual.
just a friendship.
i pretty much showed everyone who
was interested back then my artwork
and no+one misinterpreted that to
mean i was interested in them sexually.
No One. just him.
and HE chose to RAPE me.
•(a person’s emotional manipulation
has always struck me awkwardly -
my truth-knowing+gut waiting for
the person’s words to match their action.s -
so i become silent, waiting…
being older now+with more fortitude
in my inter=Actions with people,
i do not hesitate to be Brutally Honest
to those who Lie,
and be Refreshingly Candid to those who
are willing see to see who i am - and who they are.)
when i was raped
i told two friends, intimate with my heart :
one of them believed me and quietly consoled me.
one of them chose to make light of it and teased me
about how once i was alone in the back seat of a car
with+him -
and i screamed in my head,
’’THAT’S BECAUSE YOU GUYS
THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO LEAVE
ME ALONE WITH HIM!
I DIDN’T WANT TO BE THERE
I DIDN’T WANT TO BE THERE
I DIDN’T WANT TO BE - !”
i quietly drew a line where i would not
confide in this friend such sensitive matters
of my soul anymore…
and i did so every time someone displayed
how tone deaf they were in a social situation.
i did to another guy fri.end. that questioned me
showing “those kinds of drawings anyway”
to my rapist - how sick i felt+that he was finding
a reason that “getting raped” was my fault.
and how i would silently block outhis fri.end.
when it came to my worries - but i would
stay & listen to his -
and how my last encounter with almost
being raped again when i was 20
was not shared with said fri.end.
because that line i drew cemented-
years later, i no longer have to worry about him
blaming me for someonelse’s
deplorable behavior.
•some people just can’t accept
what NO means.
and most people don’t
even know what
CONSENTUAL SEX means.
and they confuse RAPE
with “unwanted sex.”
i’ve screamed this a thousand times
across pages and to uncomprehending minds:
RAPE IS NOT SEX.
RAPE IS VIOLENCE.
RAPE IS ASSAULT.
RAPISTS USE SEX AS A WEAPON.
Consentual Sex involves people of age
saying Yes, Me Too - in the most positive way.
they are saying Yes, I find you attractive -
whether that be mind, body, and soul -
Yes, I Want To Too.
•and this last guy i was almost raped by?
he worked at the art gallery and he had an 8 year old daughter - divorced, and older than my dad.
he tried to manipulate me into running away with him-
to Russia of all places because he was part Russian.
he tried to woo me about how he’ll take care of me.
all that talk because i would visit the art gallery often
and make good conversation and watch his daughter
while he worked.
i don’t know what kind of Asian girl he thought i was
but i was no longer that frightened 16 year old
and i am no fucking mail-order bride.
oh yeah, AND I’M A LESBIAN.
i saw him walking drunk on the street one day
and i offered to hold him so he could walk.
he said his place was down the street
so i walked him to his studio.
i had to use the bathroom and i did at his place.
when i came out of the bathroom, he was shirtless
and told me to sit with him on his bed…
i refused and said if he wanted to talk,
i would sit on the couch. he did…
wanted to do more than talk -
he must’ve been acting drunk.
although his breath reeked of beer
he seemed in control.
before i knew it, he turned off the lamp lights
and pounced on me in the dark-
i punched his chest until he recoiled from
getting hit and i shot up, feeling for the front door-
he locked it when i went to the bathroom-
that made my blood boil.
not knowing how close he was to me as i
unlocked the door in the dark,
i yelled,
STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!
i made my way out
and just ran.
then he began to stalk me at work.
the library of all places.
my manager noticed that i always
hid when i saw him and said he would ask for me.
if there ever was a badass librarian manager,
that would be her.
her frame is slim, her voice quiet, her tone sharp
and her aura terrifying.
i observed being quiet and deadly from her~
she’s good at reading people too.
she promptly told him to stop coming to the
library if he was only there to harrass me. she even offered to
call the police if he didn’t listen.
i told her & my co-worker Friend what happened.
expletives left my manager’s mouth
and my co-worker Friend engulfed me in a hug.
that was the first and lastime i ever shed tears
in a work place…
•and there have been more
experiences with guy fri.end.s that have
sexually harassed me because
they don’t know what NO means.
they also don’t understand
what LESBIAN means obviously.
they are lucky i haven’t Chun Li kicked
their nuts - i’ve given them
the gift of Ignoring their Existence
completely instead.
•i don’t have to like people to help them-
that’s the younger me.
now, i just have to really see that you’re
truly a good person for *you* to
stay in my life.
i didn’t have to spend time with those
guys who i thought were Friends.
but in their time of need,
i was there.
because that’s the kind of person i am.
now i construct boundaries on solid ground.
if you are always giving kindness and
not receiving kindness back,
something is wrong.
when i say NO, it’s my RIGHT.
NO, you can’t feel my tits.
NO, you can’t just kiss me.
NO, i don’t want+to “try” to see if i “like it.”
i KNOW+what & who i like.
in whatever way that is.
i don’t care if you’re a “friend.”
i don’t owe you “compliment sex.”
once that boundary has been crossed
it’s sexual harrassment.
touch me in any unwanted way & that’s assault.
•so to those fri.end.s who’ve sided with
my abusers -
that’s the difference.
Rape is Not Sex.
hurting someone intentionally is A Choice.
and Healthy Love has Boundaries.
•i can make those boundaries as much as i want.
because #MeToo ,
i got raped and society sees
Unwanted Sexual Advances
(Sexual Harrassment)
as “normal”
shouldn’t be acceptable.
•and i no longer accept
staying hurt by you
to be
my norm.
•Day 294. RedYinFireRooster
•••
*note* i’ve also had female fri.end.s only wanting sex.
this+is not a post bashing men.
it’s a post about my experiences with people
who’ve violated my boundaries and revealed
their ugliness inside,
and they also happen to be male.
i’ve said No to women before, but they did not
hold me down and rape me.
Saying No to a woman in my experience has been
soft, with the women understanding my Refusal.
however, we are not true friends because they
only wanted one thing that i was not willing to
give them.
LOVE HAS NO BORDERS IN THE SENSE OF TIME, CONSENTUAL AGE, RACE, OR GENDER - BUT STRONG BOUNDARIES REVEALS REAL LOVE.
REAL +LOVE IS BUILT ON HEALTHY BOUNDARIES.