When labor leader Dolores Huerta recently shared that she had experienced sexual violence during her years building the farmworker movement with Cesar Chavez, I felt both heartbroken and unsurprised.
As I read Huerta’s words — “I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences” — my shoulder started to ache.
The scar is still there, 25 years later.
I was sexually assaulted while attending a Christian college, a small liberal arts school nestled by a South Georgia pond reeking of onions. Purity culture reigned supreme. Holiness was our movement. Virginity was the litmus test for holiness, and I preached that and believed it at the time.
The college crowned me its queen during my freshman year, and “True Love Waits” was quite literally my campaign platform. This beauty-queen motto was engraved on the silver band I wore around my left ring finger — a symbol of my promise to remain pure for God until I offered myself up to my future husband.
