Photo illustration courtesy of actionstation.medium.com 

  Following the recent events of the murder of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman from South London, people all around the world, including those of San Luis Obispo High School, are becoming more and more aware of the sexual assault of women. As this horrific news as entered the media, #97% has become popular on the social media, TikTok, making the realization of sexual harassment grow.

  On a survey taken by over one thousand women, it has come to light that only three percent of women have not experienced any sort of sexual harassment, assault, or rape. This leaves the other 97 percent of women and girls having had some sort of experience relating towards sexual assault, and the number is likely rising in today’s society.

  “I used to consider myself a part of the three percent, that was until I actually sat down and realized ‘no, I’m actually not.’ I never realized that so many things that are normalized are actually not okay at all and are completely unacceptable. I’ve gone through the past few years of my life getting comments about my body and the way I look from people who I thought I could trust and even someone who I would consider a father-figure to me. I never really realized what it all meant until I actually thought about it and about how truly awful it makes me feel. It makes you feel like it’s your fault for being female and for wanting to dress the way you want, but then being scared of leaving your house 50% of the time. It’s really dehumanizing and devalidating,” said anonymous. 

   Four percent of the women from the survey said that they reported the incident, 45 percent saying they didn’t believe reporting would help change anything.

  “There’s this sort of shame around it which was the strangest thing to me because I felt like it was the guy who did it ot be who should be ashamed not me and that I’m glad to see its getting more and more talked about, but that doesn’t necessarily take away the stigmas and that’s my biggest issue with rape culture,” said anonymous. 

  As #97% is coming out TikTok, more and more young women are coming out with their stories and their experiences with sexual assault.

“I really love how the TikTok trend is actually gaining attention because it was really inspiring to see other girls and women talk about their experiences and it made me feel less alone. There was so much stigma around sexual assault and how it was the girls fault, that’s one of the main reasons I never said anything, because I always thought it was something I did. I know now that it wasn’t my fault and never will be,” said anonymous.

  While sexual assault, harassment, and rape may be difficult topics to talk about, it is important people stay educated and stop the stigma.

Source: www.unwomenuk.org, www.theatlantic.com