Students share experiences with sexual assault
BY: OLIVER PULCHER
Staff Writer
Since early 2017, a movement to bring about awareness of, and justice for, sexual assault has taken off in the United States. The movement, coined #MeToo, is a social media-based movement wherein sexual assault victims post their experiences and come forward about what happened to them while using the hashtag #MeToo. The movement has sparked heated debates worldwide.
With these events being widespread, many Americans have begun to take a step back and wonder whether people close to them have also been victims of sexual assault. Three of Meramec’s own students came forward with their sexual assault stories; however, two out of the three asked to remain anonymous.
Cat Manes-Boyer, wished to reveal herself. “I was molested a couple hundred times by someone who was supposed to be my grandfather when I was younger,” she said. “Because of this, when a guy began to flirt with me, I couldn’t tell he was flirting with me.
Boyer said she is still learning how to react to men because of her childhood experiences. “One day, when we were hanging out he told me to come to the back because he had built this skateboard ramp; I said, ‘Sure.’ He took me to the back where he said he had built the skateboard ramp, and he pulled out his genitals; and then he essentially coerced me into having sex with him.”
Another Meramec student, who requested to remain anonymous, said, “There was this one cook at the restaurant I used to work at – he was especially creepy from the minute I started working there. He used to say things like, ‘Too bad you’re sixteen,’ she said. “One time, he waited outside in a corner outside my work doors for me. Sometimes, I would be in the back getting bread and he would grab my hips; but the worst time anything happened, thank God I didn’t get hurt, he followed me into the takeout closet, and he closed the door behind us, then he asked, ‘Are you afraid of me?’” She said he then got in her face and said “You should be.”
Another Meramec student, who requested to remain anonymous said her assault happened while she was attending Lindenwood University.
The third student, who also wished to remain anonymous, said, “Last year was when I was assaulted, me and my fiancé were on a break.” She
said that she was at a party where there was drinking. “I fell asleep on a bed in the house and I woke up to him grabbing at me. It was very uncomfortable and he continued to try and get me to have sex with him,” she said.
Many public organizations, businesses, and schools have begun to implement new policies and reinforce old ones to prevent and help those who may be victims of sexual assault. St. Louis Community College as a whole, and Meramec itself, have readily made available the most recent security report which lists the total amount of sexual assault cases filed as well as the definitions for the various different kinds of sexual assault, the fines for anyone who commits such crimes, and the punishments for anyone who does so as well. Meramec has also posted fliers around campus with resources and people to talk to on campus who can help in any sexual assault situations in an effort to help any person who may need it.
Students who have been victims of sexual assault are encouraged to report the incident to campus police and seek out the resources available from the Meramec Counseling Department.
