Welcome to the SpeakOut! Blog

Break the silence that surrounds sexual assault, sexual harassment, interpersonal violence, relationship abuse, stalking, hate crimes, and identity-based violence. Share your story here on our anonymous blog.

To speak about an experience with any form of interpersonal violence is difficult, but it is also empowering. Breaking the silence reduces shame and helps others to speak out about their own experiences.

End the shame. Be empowered. Speak Out!

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We are holding our spring Speak Out! on April 16th, 2018 from 7-9 pm in The Pit. For more information, check our Facebook page.

Because this blog features stories of interpersonal and sexual violence, we offer this *content warning* as a way of caution. We also ask that you do not reproduce any of the content below, as the authors of these personal stories are anonymous, and cannot give consent for their stories to appear anywhere other than this blog or at a Project Dinah-led SpeakOut event.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

It was going to be a fun night. Some drinking, some dancing, nothing out of the ordinary. I'm not typically one to drink liquor, but it felt like a special occasion, celebrating the end to a long week of exams, so why not, right? The night started fine, I was very drunk, my friend and I killed a fifth, but I was still functioning. Later in the night, I ran into a mutual friend who I started to talk to. He handed me a few beers, seemed like a nice gesture. We aren't close but having overlapping circles of friends, we've definitely talked a decent amount at quite a few parties prior to this, so this was nothing unusual. Following some dancing, making out, I don't remember anything. Nothing. We then must have left together. I have no recollection of going to this person's house, no recollection of going to the bedroom. I must have been very obviously drunk, at least I thought. Some other friend I spoke to the next day commented on my drunkeness, apparently we had ran into each other that night, of course I didn't know that. Then it happened. The next thing I faintly remember is one of my friends coming into this bedroom helping me put on clothes on my naked body while I vomit off to the side. This person had called a friend to come get me. Unable to be moved, I ended up sleeping there and he disappeared. When I woke up to leave I was wearing a shirt and pants my friend had helped put on me, but no underwear, no bra. I could feel that slight tenderness down there and begin to panic. What the hell happened. I still don't know. Whatever did happen, I had no way of consenting to anything. I feel guilt. I was THAT girl, blackout drunk, it's my fault, I can't remember, I probably didn't say no, making me sick to my stomach. But when in that drunk of a state there's no possible way of giving consent, I have to remember this. But I am still confused. I am in a perpetual state of nausea. It's consuming all of my thoughts. You hear the statistics about sexual assaults on college campuses so many times: "1 in 4 women, usually someone you already know"..... okay, I know that this stuff happens. The hardest thing is realizing I am apart of that statistic.

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