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#MeToo movement is heartening

The first time I was sexually molested, I spoke out.

I was a kindergartner and the resulting reactions to my "telling on" our elderly neighbor were traumatic - adults shouting at one another, the police questioning me, a doctor probing me, with my parents instilling in me a lifelong mistrust of men.

I kept quiet when it happened again. I was in third grade and the predator was a family friend whose complicit wife, an elementary school teacher, averted her gaze and failed to come to my rescue. I was fearful that somehow I'd done something wrong and that I was to blame.

I kept it to myself when I was date-raped in high school. The predator was a popular athlete from the other high school in our town and I figured no one would believe me. I later learned he was a serial rapist, confident of the silence of his victims, he continued preying on young women until he died an early death in a car accident.

When I was 24, a leader in our state legislature ripped my favorite dress in his zeal to molest me. Under the guise of offering me a job, this local attorney and political star took advantage of a young woman who would not be believed in a situation of "she said-he said." I kept quiet.

Throughout my working career I endured sexual harassment and never spoke out because the male-dominated corporate culture tolerated such behavior and my job might have been threatened.

For those skeptical of the women who are finally speaking out against their sexual predators, please know that the cards have always been stacked against us and keeping quiet seemed to be the better option. The #MeToo movement is tremendously heartening to this senior citizen woman. #MeToo

Jane Cox

Wheaton

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