#NotMeToo: I Am Not A Victim

As well-intentioned as it is, I will not be signing the #MeToo campaign: I will not be “outing myself” as a victim of sexual assault or…

As well-intentioned as it is, I will not be signing the #MeToo campaign: I will not be “outing myself” as a victim of sexual assault or harassment in a public declaration.

Why?

Because my sex life, much like my body, is my business. Ergo my sexual experiences — positive and negative, solicited and unsolicited, meaningful and meaningless— are also my business.

Perhaps ironically, framing female sexuality in these terms is apt in and of itself; sex sells, and the body — too often regarded as a ‘thing’ to be used (and abused) rather than something attached to a real, live human being with (gasp!) feelings — is a commodity. This is not new. This is also not exclusively female; our obsession with image and the need to live up to others’ expectations is systemic — at the heart of how we understand ourselves as human beings in the Western world.

This affects us all.

There is solace in solidarity, but there is also power in it. It is for this reason that, wary of the way in which power corrupts an…