NEWS
Within Reach Campaign | February 24, 2018
Becoming the Person I Needed Back Then
An Interview with WCA Champion,
Megan Hunt
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Megan is a 31-year-old single mother, activist, entrepreneur, business owner, and candidate for public office. She also gives her time to nonprofits that align with her values of supporting women, people of color, and marginalized groups.
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Trigger Warning: In this article, Megan shares a story about sexual assault.
WHY DOES THE WCA MATTER TO YOU?
Women are alive because of the WCA and that’s why I support them. They do so much to help women and families and victims, but more than that, it’s a beacon of support for survivors. It’s a network of comfort. The WCA provides advocates who walk with survivors and clients every step of the way, pro bono attorneys, classes to help survivors to have more independence, be financially literate, and to find the right outfit for an interview. All of these things help survivors to get back on their feet and build their best life.
I am a survivor of assault and rape. I understand what it is to be afraid. I understand the path of healing you have to go on as a survivor, and I celebrate everybody who has found the courage to rise against those who normalize, dismiss, and ignore the pervasive issues of misogynistic violence in our society.
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU’VE REACHED A POINT WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING, EVEN IF IT COSTS YOU.
I believe that we have to care more about justice than being comfortable. We have to put ourselves in the survivors’ shoes.
One of the earliest instances I experienced was when I was 15 in my friend’s house. I was in her home waiting for her to come back from the grocery store. While I waited, a man walked into the house. I was afraid, but I wasn’t sure what to do at first, because I knew him. He pinned me down on the bed and pulled my shirt off, and he was laughing the whole time. I was shocked and terrified, and I remember wondering if this was normal, if I was overreacting, because I was just in total shock. I fought him off and ran out of the house. I didn’t have my shoes and I didn’t have a cell phone back then, so I didn’t know how else to find help. I ran three or four blocks through the neighborhood, crying, and nobody came out to see what was wrong.
What’s wrong with people? We have this distance between each other that makes us comfortable looking the other way. So now, as an adult, I challenge people to risk their comfort for the sake of other people’s safety. And I challenge myself to be that person with integrity who will stand up for someone who needs me.
IN YOUR MIND, WHAT WOULD REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR OUR COMMUNITY?
Parents need to teach their children to stand up for victims at a young age. And we need to advocate for comprehensive sex education in our schools so children build a foundation for learning respect and consent. It’s been proven time and time again that that’s what kids need to form healthy personal connections and relationships in life. And we can see payoff in that throughout a child’s lifetime. I believe that age-appropriate, medically-accurate comprehensive sex education would cut the number of #metoo hashtags in half for the next generation.
We also need our children to know that it’s not funny to tease or joke about sexual assault. And if it ever happens to them, they have the power and permission to name it and to get justice for it. We have to make it okay to name what’s happened to them. And make it shameful for others to ridicule it.
IF YOU WERE TO CHOOSE A PERSON TO HONOR THROUGH YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS CAMPAIGN, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
I want to honor the girl I was when I was younger, and all the women I know who needed someone strong. A writer I admire, Ayesha A. Siddiqi wrote, “Be the person you needed when you were younger.” I want to honor that 15-year-old girl who was running screaming for help through her small town. I want to honor her strength through her confusion and pain. And I want to honor all the women who have spent their lives dealing with stigma and shame and thriving despite it. I would be a a different person today if I’d never been attacked.
We’ve got to work to build a world where no girl has to work to get over what has happened to her. To make a world that’s safe for girls, where they know they’re valuable and powerful and deserving of every opportunity in the world.
WHEN WE SAY THE WCA IS WITHIN REACH, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?
I’m lucky to have grown up here and have lots of ties here. I know I have friends and family who I could turn to if I was ever assaulted again. I can’t imagine how scary it is for someone who doesn’t have that, especially women who are coming from other countries or states. But with the WCA, nobody walks alone. That resonates with me because I share that philosophy too. It’s very important to me that the people in our community understand that I’m a person who will walk with anybody, do anything to help. And that this is a city of hundreds, thousands of women like me who support them through organizations like the WCA.
