So You've Been Slut-shamed

Description

I almost died from shame.I was assaulted, stalked, psychologically abused and publicly humiliated. When I tried to fight back, I was put on trial for being a slut. The harasser sent 40 lascivious pictures of me to my friends, family, and classmates. He wrote letters and emails telling everyone all the ways in which I was a total whore. The stress from this trauma kept me in a prison of fear and self-criticism so debilitating, I wanted to be dead.Daily life did not feel doable. I hated what I saw in the mirror. I was constantly afraid of being “found out” and constantly afraid someone was trying to hurt me. Normal tasks like going to the grocery store felt intolerable.The cognitive load of carrying a secret kept me from truly engaging with people around me. PTSD made me an irritable lunatic. I was barely living.When I couldn’t find a book to help me with my problem, I began writing my own advice. I wrote about how not to care what people thought of you. I wrote about falling