Every 90 seconds someone in the U.S is sexually assaulted-
there are about 86,400 seconds in the day
which means 960 PEOPLE, not just women-
nine hundred and sixty PEOPLE are sexually assaulted per day.
293,000 people are reported getting ****** assaulted a year-
but 32% of those people don't report their ****** assault.
38% of ****** are someone they know
98% of rapists will never spend a single night in jail or in prison.
9 out of every 10 **** victims are female. 90%.
But don't forget about the 10% never forget about the 10%-

This is not the start of the poem-
just eight facts two show, how it only takes one.
B: We were both one. This is the start of the poem.
R: I was 15
A: I was 7
B: We weren't intoxicated, we weren't asking for it.
R: I was in sweatpants
A: I was in baggy jeans, a t-shirt and light up sketchers
R: I wasn't in a parking lot, or an alley.
A: We both thought we were safe, surrounded by four walls and bedsheets that seemed like home.
B: They seemed like home.
R: He was my boyfriend.
A: I think he was my brother's friend
B: They'll say he will wear a mask, or attack you in the dark-
R: My mom warned me about the city, to always carry pepper spray- but I wasn't prepared for when it was the boy from my hometown. I was running away in the wrong direction.
A: My mom always told me when I was younger never to talk to strangers, that they could take advantage. But she never warned me about the ones who lay between my own bedsheets- she never told me I would become afraid of my own shadow.
B: They never talk about the ones who are close to you. The ones who let you trust them.
R: Society blinded me, told me I was wrong for so long that two years went by before I realized.
A: It wasn't until I was 13 that the flashbacks came, when the boy who stole my innocence invaded my resting place too- I didn't think anyone would believe me, mental breakdowns fueled by just my memory. But my mom listened- my friends listened.
B: My brother still doesn't know. My dad still doesn't know.
A: And everyday I'm afraid of what they may think of me if they find out- maybe they'll believe me, maybe they won't. Someone stole my innocence and I'm afraid of crying out because the people close to me will never look at me the same way again- because of the things society likes to teach.. And it's somehow never HIS fault.
B: But it was HIS ******* fault.
B: We are the 1 in 5, we are the 2 out of every 10.
R: If there are 50 of us here, this is for the 10 of you in this room that have been or will be sexually assaulted-  
A: but mostly this is for all of you because never say "it can't happen to me", never think it can't happen to someone close to you.
B: It does, it will and it probably already has.

B: We are not just a ******* number in your ****** education textbook- and as each 90 seconds passes no one can stop time- but it feels like the hands of it are grasped around our neck and we can't quite call out for help because society is looking at us and saying, it will get better with time but 90 seconds still always passes and another person is still sexually assaulted.
A: We are people, living and breathing and dealing with these memories every single ******* day. They never teach you how to cope.
B: They only teach you how not to get *****- they never teach boys not to ****.  
R: Who's to say my 90 seconds won't come again.
B: It's not like mono or the chicken pox, it can happen again. This is society's cancer.
A: Someone needs to find a cure-
R: Maybe it would be found in a textbook if someone would just write-
B: DO NOT ****.
A: Maybe we should make a "How not to **** for dummies"
R: or maybe someone should write a step by step guideline mimicking a children's book.
B: This shouldn't be so difficult to understand. Just don't sexually assault- or assault at all for that matter.
B: [[stop the poem]]

Every 9 seconds a women is assaulted or beaten.
there are 86,900 seconds in a day
which means 96,000 women are assaulted or beaten per day.
1 one in 3 women world wide has been through abuse-
most often the abuser is in her own family.
Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women
more than car accidents, **** and muggings COMBINED.
Everyday in the U.S more than 3 women are MURDERED by their boyfriends or husbands.
B: [[Start the poem]]

A: Growing up I was told stories about how the men before my father placed their hands on my mother how they never should have.. Then I saw it first hand as one of my dad's drunken nights turned my face pale and my mothers blue. That was the first and the last time.
R: Growing up I never had to worry about a boy putting his hands on me, because they all knew how scary my brothers were. Until I moved away from home and this boy never met my brothers- so he wasn't afraid to. That was the first and the last time.
B: Domestic violence occurs every 9 seconds. Which means since the start of this poem roughly 30 PEOPLE have been beaten and roughly 6 PEOPLE have been sexually assaulted. Abuse and assault doesn't discriminate.
A: Don't let the struggle fuel your silence- do not let the wounds mask your voice, they will heal and you will find hope again.
B: You will find hope again.

B: There are 7 billion people on this earth
R: he said I was one in a million-
which means there are 7 thousands girls out there just like me for him to put his hands on. but i will not let him buy those other girls over without first paying for what he's done to me.
B: The first time around our abusers got away. They are part of the 98% that will never suffer the consequences.
A: I will not be a bridge for someone else to walk upon at will, I will be the water underneath always flowing and continuing despite the things that try to hold me back. I can turn to ice when my heart becomes cold from the memories and evaporate whenever the tensions get too hot to handle. But I will always keep rising and flowing until I shape these hardships into something beautiful.
R:


B: Numbers don't lie.