EDITORIAL

By asha W. ‘23

I was once asked in a crowd of other women if any of us had a #MeToo story. There was a momentary pause of reflection or hesitance, and then suddenly hands belonging to friends, strangers, and myself rose. I remember thinking: how many of us are there? 

In recent months, the Instagram account @survivorsoftrischools has posted anonymous accounts of sexual assault. These stories, written by members of the Trischool and beyond, are chilling and represent a striking sort of bravery. Stories on the account outline events of rape, assault, harrassment, and pain in many different languages, showing that these stories are a lot more common than most people think. According to the World Health Organization 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, and 1 in 6 women have been a victim of rape. Reading those statistics as a high schooler is terrifying. When I start thinking of such numbers, I can’t help but look around a classroom and wonder: how many are there? 

The story from the account that consistently runs through my mind happened a few years ago, and for many of us currently at Bryn Mawr, it’s a story we’ve all heard before. In 2016, a group of Gilman seniors pretended to have sex with a blow-up sex doll. Videos taken by some of the boys were posted to social media, and later someone had photoshopped a Bryn Mawr girl's face onto the doll. The story made it onto a local news station and Gilman issued a statement saying that they were well aware of the situation and were treating it seriously. A recent alumnae remeber the incident vididly: “At that moment I thought that it was disgusting but I knew that the rape culture at Gilman was known for being less than desirable and so I just shook my head and sat with it. I didn’t think anything would come of it because it never did in the past so why would this incident be any different?” The stories on the account @survivorsoftrischools show us that the issue of sexual harassment has not gone away for all members of the Trischool.  

This is not an issue exclusive to Bryn Mawr and RPCS. From the recent reports of sexual abuse in March, it is clear that some students from Gilman face simliar issues. If rape culture is affecting the whole of the Trischool community and disproportionately affecting nonmale students, why is nothing being done about it? What should we be doing?

The account @survivorsoftrischools, though currently deactivated, provided survivors with an anonymous yet strong support system. I believe that the Trischool can finally address the issue of rape culture, and this Instagram account is just a start. As a community, we need to continue sharing stories, creating a support system, and starting healthy conversation about sexual violence. We have to address the problem to begin fixing it. That is essentially what the @survivorsoftrischools account did. By sharing stories, you can show survivors that they are not alone. If enough voices speak about what is happening in the Trischool community, maybe we have a shot of finding a solution. 

The account leaves the Trischool community with a lingering question: what are we going to do about this? The first step is sharing our stories. The more people that talk about sexual violence the closer we are to finding a solution in which all students feel safe to go to school free of harrassment. There is power in the community, we just need to utilize it.