MeToo

#MeToo

I keep starting to write this, then stop. I minimize what happened to me, because it wasn't major, but it stuck with me all these years.

Lee was the cool guy in the neighborhood. All the moms liked him, the dads did too. He was cool and he drove a conversion van, back when they were cool.

I was a young teen, maybe just on the cusp, 12, maybe 13 years old. We were hanging out somewhere with a group of people.

Lee suddenly grabbed me and held me on his lap. He groped my chest and said he was checking to see if had any boobs yet. I did, they were just starting to grow, and they hurt when pawed at.

I tried to get away but he held me close in his lap.

There were other people around that did nothing. I don't know who they were at this point, but I assume they were neighborhood friends.

I fought him, pushing and yelling for him to let me go. He was hurting me and he was humiliating me. But he was bigger and stronger and there was nothing I could do until he let me go.

It was the first time I understood that I didn't completely own my own body autonomy. If some man wanted to grab me and restrain me, there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

That was all he did and it wasn't terribly traumatic, but it has stuck with me.