I have hesitated to share this story, as only few people know to this day, and I still feel ashamed (although, I know I shouldn’t). However, I feel it’s better to alert people to what had happened and draw awareness to it, in order to prevent something similar from happening to someone else. We were camping at the lake, and I had gone into the water for the swim. The lake was crowded that day, as it was a holiday weekend. I went in by myself, and after floating around for a few minutes, I felt a man’s finger in my vagina through my swimsuit bottom underwater. I immediately thrashed and kicked to get him away, and was overcome with panic. I yelled for the lifeguard’s help, and scanned around me to figure out who it may have been. But, with the cover of water and the crowds that day, it was impossible to identify anyone. After a moment, the lifeguard had made her way to me. I explained to her what had happened through my tears. I felt humiliated, violated, and ashamed. She brought me to shore, and I told my story to a senior staff person, and then a police man who arrived shortly thereafter (the park staff and the police man handled the situation wonderfully, and thanks go out to them). The police man told me that this wasn’t the first time this had happened there. This became distressing to me that this guy most likely uses the cover of the crowds and water on a consistent basis to sexually harass women because he knows the chances of him getting caught are slim. Meanwhile, I feel shame whenever I think of what happened, and I am embarrassed to tell anyone what happened. I become panicked when I’m around crowds, fearing something similar could happen and always feel as if I have to be on guard to protect myself since this happened. However, I hope that my story, and others on this blog, can help bring more awareness to this problem, and possibly prevent future assaults. It can happen anywhere with any number of people around. The more people who report and talk about it, the more nervous it will hopefully make those who commit these crimes.

Submitted on 7/15/12 by Anonymous