Ten years old is pretty young for a young boy to experience the cruelty of real life. Most people assume sexual assault is a male on female phenomenon, but I beseech you to think beyond that construct. It took 8 years for me to tell people about what he did, but it seems emotional suppression was unsustainable. Under the moonlit sky filled with stars, embracing the sand of the Negev dessert, with my entire senior class including my calculus teacher around me, I calmly explained that it happened. I was sexually assaulted at age 10 my male 18-year-old babysitter I often played Mario Kart with on Saturday nights while my parents were at the movies and my older brother was at a party. It scares me, but I have seen the mountaintop. He did not win. Everyone has a dark side, can you love me, can you love mine?

​Author: Anonymous Middlebury College Student

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