Let her speak her story.
It takes a whole new level of courage to speak about our harassment stories. It’s hard to talk about how we were harassed and asked not to talk about it to anyone. Some were below the age to understand anything that was happening to them. Some turned numb, or some were too scared to talk against it at that time. Some are realizing now that this happened to them as well. So please, whenever any woman speaks about her story, do not tag her with “Why now?”
You say you understand her suffering, everything she’s going through, but you don’t understand it. You don’t. There are so many times she’s trying to move on and forget about everything that happened to her. She tries to make peace with her horrifying past, but she fails. She struggles very hard. She cries and cries out. She feels that this world is not for her. She thinks dying is a lot easier than that of living. She even tries to commit suicide, but she stops, saying one more time.
One last time, perhaps.
She has this scenario played 1000s of times in her head, and she attacks herself with every possible reaction and questions she will have to face right after sharing about her harassment story loud. So you see, she’s standing here with so many broken bits inside her with sharp edges that hurt her, bruises her, bleeds her every time you raise a question on her character. Days that were sunny and bright for you, the same days were dark and hard for her. So give all your ear when she is talking about it. Don’t tell her what she could have done that time but tell her she is now not alone in this. Never ruin with “not all men” craps because when she is saying men are shit, understand that she considers you one of the good ones and is not endangering your rights. She is just speaking for herself, the oppression she’s faced and, she’s facing.
Let her speak her story. Let your daughter know she isn’t living in a safe country if she has to talk to parents/someone while returning alone on a bus or a taxi. Let her be prepared to fight against this cruelty. And raise your son in such a way that the daughters of this country feel safe around him.