Dear Woman of the World,

I don’t know you, but I feel on some level we can relate to one another in this current climate. The heightened discussion around sexual harassment in and out of the work place, the cases of R Kelly, Harvey Weinstein, Aziz Ansari – they are all making us feel something. Some of us will feel pain, while some of us have been fortunate enough to avoid experiencing an unwanted sexual confrontation.

For me, it has brought up some distressing memories. Like the feeling I had when a man first objectified me. It was a sharp sting, as if I had been struck by lightning and all the colour and wonder was shot out of me. I became see through. Nothing but a pair of breasts and a vagina. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I want to be gawked at, I want to feel sexy. But when I am at work, and my boobs are being ogled in a business meeting, a little sliver of my confidence slides away. I feel like I might as well be stood there naked, slightly terrified and angry. It is not OK.

An open letter to all sexual assault survivors