Editor’s note: This piece is a part of ‘In This Together,’ which seeks to raise awareness about the complex issues of sexual violence. We asked the Iowa State community to share perspectives in various mediums as survivors, bystanders and allies. The initiative is a partnership between the Iowa State Daily, Green Dot and the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center. 

It happens way too often, to so many around us

With people we don’t know or people that we trust

So many gymnasts on that team

So many actresses with a dream

A student behind a dumpster

A young girl and her abductor

The time has run out

For the abuse, the blaming, the doubt

For the sake of the children, the women, the men

Time is up for the abusers, for all of them

When you get that email, a regulatory notification of a crime

To you it’s just an email, to someone it brings them back to that time

A time they’re probably working to overcome, to decipher

When they were a victim, no, when they were a survivor

I think of that night, after a high school dance

He’s cute and he likes you, maybe you like him too

But you tell him no, not here, not now, not with you

Tries to pull you upstairs, He can’t take the cue

You’re with someone else and you’re drunk too

But he doesn’t stop, not till he’s through

And then when you’re sleeping, asks his friend to join too

On a couch full of people, somehow nobody knew

It happens too often, this is not new

It could happen to anyone, Hashtag Me Too