I was 16 when I learned that you could say no and still not be heard. I was assaulted every day in a high school gym, in a public school, surrounded by students, surrounded by people who could have seen, could have heard, could have said something, but nobody did. Later it was the backseat of my car in the school parking lot. I drove to school every day knowing what was waiting for me, and a place that was supposed to make me feel safe became a place I feared.

What stays with me is not just what one person did. It is how many chances there were for adults and systems to step in before the damage got worse. Someone finally reported us from my car, but the response focused on what was visible on school property, not on the fact that I was saying no, not on the fact that I was afraid, not on the fact that I was a teenage girl being assaulted. They only stopped us from staying in my car when I got to school. But the harm didn’t stop. It continued in the gym, in the same place, with the same people around, and still nobody said anything. That is a failure no student should have to survive.

I was assaulted by a different man a year later, after I got away from the man in the gym. I was leaning on him, sleeping, on a bus ride at night. I woke up with his hand under my shirt on my chest. I froze. I didn’t report this or say anything for a year, until he attempted to do the same to my friend. We reported our experiences together, but nothing was done about it. The staff only asked me,  why didn’t you say no? Why didn’t you push him off? Why didn’t you yell at him?

I am calling on school leaders to require a real sexual abuse response plan in every school: clear reporting channels for students, mandatory staff action when warning signs appear, trauma-informed investigation protocols, private support for students who come forward, and accountability when reports are ignored. Schools cannot wait for the situation to become publicly visible or embarrassing before they act. If a student is afraid, if a student is being pressured, if a student says no, that should be enough to trigger protection.  Students who come forward deserve to be believed and trusted and protected. Not ignored, pushed away, or accused of lying. 

I am sharing this because I know I am not the only one. Nobody has a right to your body, and no student should have to beg to be believed before adults do their job. Stand with Jane Doe and with every survivor who was left unprotected. Please sign this petition and demand that schools protect us when we need them most.