#Why I Didn't Report; #Me Too

When I was 13 in the post-Woodstock era, I was a teen runaway in the East Village. I stayed at a crash pad in an abandoned building next door to the Hell's Angel's headquarters. An older man approached me. "Wanna get me off?" he said. Confused, I nodded. He went at me and for ten minutes I screamed at the top of my lungs because the pain was so bad. The next night, a 36-year-old dock worker had me; he was gentler. I was 36 before I realized that what happened was rape, child rape, and not my fault. If a victim delays in reporting her assault, it is because rape culture is powerful, pervasive, and poisonous.