before I start I just want to say that
the talk discusses the theme of sexual
assault so I want to die a martyr for
every woman who refused to smile or
didn’t just keep walking or used her
pepper spray or fought back or made sure
catcalls were met with claws I want to
tell every woman that her voice is her
most powerful weapon use it I want girls
to write war hymns and paint their nails
with the blood of boys who are just
being boys
I want accountability and retribution
and for men to stop asking for
forgiveness and start asking for
permission for silence to mean no for
I’m tired to me no for slowdown to me no
for know to finally mean no and not
convince me Brock Turner got six months
in prison served three for raping an
unconscious girl because the judge
didn’t want two minutes of bad judgment
to ruin his life and his swimming career
meanwhile his victim is drowning rape
used to be punishable by death and now
it is punished with an Oscar an
inauguration a Superbowl ring
rape culture singing along to blurred
lines I know you want it rape culture is
using women’s bodies to sell Bud Light
erase know from your vocabulary rape
culture is calling assault a sex scandal
we would never call murder a death
debacle but we are ready to be heard we
demand to be heard men call it a witch
hunt while girls are afraid for their
lives
Jenice Jackson was only 14 when she was
killed for turning a man down 14 also
the number of women who were murdered
last year for saying no 14 when we
should be dotting our eyes with hearts
14 when we should be wearing strawberry
lip gloss 14 when the only knives that
should be on our minds are backstabbing
teenagers and not the
on the street corner 1408
cherry-flavored fun dip until my teeth
turned red at the time the only symbol I
could attach to that image was slightly
sour candy not curious what the
Undertaker would think of me if I would
remind her of her children
trick-or-treating on Halloween the only
ghouls and goblins we are afraid of are
the monsters that have found their way
from under our beds and into our homes
and our classrooms and our churches and
the White House I want to put beware of
girl signs on every front lawn because
maybe that will teach men that intruders
get bitten every voice has power my
voice has power your voice has power I
know it doesn’t always seem that way
some days it feels as though you will
never be heard I have been told my whole
life that if I wanted to make a real
difference I had to become somebody that
is to say I had to be recognizable I had
to be known no one would listen to an
unnamed voice let alone that of a
teenage girl as girls we are taught from
the time we are little to be polite and
quiet and accommodating especially to
adults especially to men for example
today as a 17 year old girl I am NOT a
hugger and as a 17 year old that’s
usually enough to keep people from
hugging me but as a child you don’t get
the option to not be a hugger you are
told it is rude to rebuff the advances
of someone that has been presented to
you as harmless you are told to hug them
back smile to be polite you are being
told I was being told that our voices
did not matter I know you’re probably
thinking it’s just a hug get over it and
you might be right but what about when
it isn’t just a hug over 150 then girls
now women were told that former USA
Gymnastics dr. Larry Nassar was
less that he was just doing his job that
he was an adult and was to be respected
while he used his power to sexually
assault and molest the girls under his
care for decades under the guise of
medical treatment
these girls carried with them the ideas
that had been drilled into them in
childhood do not say no to adults don’t
make a scene
be polite all of these things are the
same as saying you do not have a voice
in addition to the sentiments we hear on
loop as young girls these women all
women grow up and into a culture
inundated with locker room talk and what
was she wearing and why did you lead him
on and how could you let this happen
all of these words translate to you do
not have a voice nevertheless each of
these women these survivors despite
every roadblock put in front of them
spoke up
they spoke up and spoke up until they
were heard and they were heard Larry
Nasser has been sentenced to a total of
three hundred and sixty-one years in
prison for the crimes he committed
against his brave and unbreakable women
the president of Michigan State and the
members of the USA Gymnastics Board have
stepped down their voices made this
happen their relentless quest for
justice made this happen they ignored
every person telling them that they did
not have a voice in the Veii one but
these women accomplished is proof that
your voice and your story no matter who
you are have power and perhaps more
importantly it is a testament to the
power of no although these women as is
the case with many survivors did not
feel as though they were able to say no
at the time these women are saying no
more no more but he’s a respected doctor
no more do you really want to ruin his
career no more it’s better to just keep
quiet you don’t want to cause problems
no more a less isolated example of the
power of our voices and stories has been
seen within the times up and me two
movements that have been making their
way through Hollywood Washington DC and
social media the past few months that
rose out of allegations of sexual
misconduct and abuse by Hollywood elites
the inundation of these stories of
abuses and assaults by powerful men have
been extraordinarily difficult for many
survivors to hear and in many cases has
forced them to relive their own traumas
but have also been so empowering because
for the first time people want to hear
our stories people are listening to
women people are listening to each other
people of all genders from every walk of
life are coming forward with their
stories they are saying me too they are
saying enough they have created a
movement that is the power of your story
one in three women and one in sixteen
men are sexually assaulted in their
lifetime
the me2 movement puts faces names and
stories to those statistics it is the
power of the voices of these survivors
that started an avalanche their stories
broke the silence
they said no more I say no more we are
forced to navigate a culture where a
rapist with a talent does not lose any
fans but a victim who speaks up does we
teach our daughters that boys are
pulling their hair or pushing them down
on the playground because we like them
because they like them and we expect our
sons not to take these same sentiments
into the world with them we have easy
access to media that degrades and
devalues women and the female body we
are a culture with a category of
pornography called rape fantasy the only
thing we have to combat this culture
this way of living is our voice it is
the power of our story is it is the
power of no thank you [Applause]
the talk discusses the theme of sexual
assault so I want to die a martyr for
every woman who refused to smile or
didn’t just keep walking or used her
pepper spray or fought back or made sure
catcalls were met with claws I want to
tell every woman that her voice is her
most powerful weapon use it I want girls
to write war hymns and paint their nails
with the blood of boys who are just
being boys
I want accountability and retribution
and for men to stop asking for
forgiveness and start asking for
permission for silence to mean no for
I’m tired to me no for slowdown to me no
for know to finally mean no and not
convince me Brock Turner got six months
in prison served three for raping an
unconscious girl because the judge
didn’t want two minutes of bad judgment
to ruin his life and his swimming career
meanwhile his victim is drowning rape
used to be punishable by death and now
it is punished with an Oscar an
inauguration a Superbowl ring
rape culture singing along to blurred
lines I know you want it rape culture is
using women’s bodies to sell Bud Light
erase know from your vocabulary rape
culture is calling assault a sex scandal
we would never call murder a death
debacle but we are ready to be heard we
demand to be heard men call it a witch
hunt while girls are afraid for their
lives
Jenice Jackson was only 14 when she was
killed for turning a man down 14 also
the number of women who were murdered
last year for saying no 14 when we
should be dotting our eyes with hearts
14 when we should be wearing strawberry
lip gloss 14 when the only knives that
should be on our minds are backstabbing
teenagers and not the
on the street corner 1408
cherry-flavored fun dip until my teeth
turned red at the time the only symbol I
could attach to that image was slightly
sour candy not curious what the
Undertaker would think of me if I would
remind her of her children
trick-or-treating on Halloween the only
ghouls and goblins we are afraid of are
the monsters that have found their way
from under our beds and into our homes
and our classrooms and our churches and
the White House I want to put beware of
girl signs on every front lawn because
maybe that will teach men that intruders
get bitten every voice has power my
voice has power your voice has power I
know it doesn’t always seem that way
some days it feels as though you will
never be heard I have been told my whole
life that if I wanted to make a real
difference I had to become somebody that
is to say I had to be recognizable I had
to be known no one would listen to an
unnamed voice let alone that of a
teenage girl as girls we are taught from
the time we are little to be polite and
quiet and accommodating especially to
adults especially to men for example
today as a 17 year old girl I am NOT a
hugger and as a 17 year old that’s
usually enough to keep people from
hugging me but as a child you don’t get
the option to not be a hugger you are
told it is rude to rebuff the advances
of someone that has been presented to
you as harmless you are told to hug them
back smile to be polite you are being
told I was being told that our voices
did not matter I know you’re probably
thinking it’s just a hug get over it and
you might be right but what about when
it isn’t just a hug over 150 then girls
now women were told that former USA
Gymnastics dr. Larry Nassar was
less that he was just doing his job that
he was an adult and was to be respected
while he used his power to sexually
assault and molest the girls under his
care for decades under the guise of
medical treatment
these girls carried with them the ideas
that had been drilled into them in
childhood do not say no to adults don’t
make a scene
be polite all of these things are the
same as saying you do not have a voice
in addition to the sentiments we hear on
loop as young girls these women all
women grow up and into a culture
inundated with locker room talk and what
was she wearing and why did you lead him
on and how could you let this happen
all of these words translate to you do
not have a voice nevertheless each of
these women these survivors despite
every roadblock put in front of them
spoke up
they spoke up and spoke up until they
were heard and they were heard Larry
Nasser has been sentenced to a total of
three hundred and sixty-one years in
prison for the crimes he committed
against his brave and unbreakable women
the president of Michigan State and the
members of the USA Gymnastics Board have
stepped down their voices made this
happen their relentless quest for
justice made this happen they ignored
every person telling them that they did
not have a voice in the Veii one but
these women accomplished is proof that
your voice and your story no matter who
you are have power and perhaps more
importantly it is a testament to the
power of no although these women as is
the case with many survivors did not
feel as though they were able to say no
at the time these women are saying no
more no more but he’s a respected doctor
no more do you really want to ruin his
career no more it’s better to just keep
quiet you don’t want to cause problems
no more a less isolated example of the
power of our voices and stories has been
seen within the times up and me two
movements that have been making their
way through Hollywood Washington DC and
social media the past few months that
rose out of allegations of sexual
misconduct and abuse by Hollywood elites
the inundation of these stories of
abuses and assaults by powerful men have
been extraordinarily difficult for many
survivors to hear and in many cases has
forced them to relive their own traumas
but have also been so empowering because
for the first time people want to hear
our stories people are listening to
women people are listening to each other
people of all genders from every walk of
life are coming forward with their
stories they are saying me too they are
saying enough they have created a
movement that is the power of your story
one in three women and one in sixteen
men are sexually assaulted in their
lifetime
the me2 movement puts faces names and
stories to those statistics it is the
power of the voices of these survivors
that started an avalanche their stories
broke the silence
they said no more I say no more we are
forced to navigate a culture where a
rapist with a talent does not lose any
fans but a victim who speaks up does we
teach our daughters that boys are
pulling their hair or pushing them down
on the playground because we like them
because they like them and we expect our
sons not to take these same sentiments
into the world with them we have easy
access to media that degrades and
devalues women and the female body we
are a culture with a category of
pornography called rape fantasy the only
thing we have to combat this culture
this way of living is our voice it is
the power of our story is it is the
power of no thank you [Applause]
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