My Story

Ive been hoping to get a platform where I can share this story, and I’m so glad I have one finally. I unfortunately have plenty of stories of pictures being taken of me, men saying nasty comments, and even worse…. But when it comes to school, I can’t stand to think about this story. My freshman year of high school, I was put into the normal Civics and Econ class freshman were required to take. Our teacher was a man who was always overly friendly with students. It was kind was creepy at first but I was new to the school and the environment and I didn’t know any better. a few weeks into the class I start hearing rumors about this teacher, saying comments to the female students outfits, rubbing the girls shoulders and getting really close to their ear. I had seen some of this happen, but once again I didn’t think much of it, I was so young. Until it happened to me one day, I remember picking my outfit that morning, I was so confident in these cute black lace tights (designed like roses, they were so cute) I wore underneath some ripped jeans that also covered most of my legs. That was my first class that day, I walked in and took my seat, talked to a few new friends I had made. The class had gone through like normal, and once class was dismissed my teacher had walked up to me and pulled me aside. He rubbed my arm and shoulder and told me “lace looks nice on you”, patted my back and sent me out to my next class. I didn’t even know what to think, I didn’t know who to tell, so… I didn’t for a while. But I did get excused out of his class for the rest of high school, I don’t know why my counselor didn’t take that as a sign. Until two years later, my junior year of high school. I was older now, i had a career set for me and i hadn’t really thought much about this teacher. Other than the fact that he still worked at the school and I still heard gross stories about him with my female friends. Once day I was walking to class and there was at least 20 girls standing in a line outside of the counselors office, and when I went to class, I was called to that line. I soon figured out that that teacher was being investigated for files of pictures of girls on his laptop. I took this opportunity and told the school what happened to me, I told them exactly what happened. I thought something was going to happen, I thought he would be fired, I HOPED he would. But to this day he still works there, I graduated in 2020 and he still works there. No physical evidence was ever found, even though 50+ girls had to have gone into that office that day. I’m telling my story because i stayed silent for so long, and I don’t want other women to be silent. It should never be okay for someone to get away with what happened in what I thought was a safe space. Tell someone when you get the chance, when you’re comfortable, your voice will be heard here.I’ve been personal friends with Ren since my freshman year of high school, and I cannot believe I’m sharing my story on their website!!! they have inspired me so much to do this, from the very beginning, I hope I can inspire others to share their story. BTW, I wear ripped tights almost everyday of my life now, I love being my self and expressing myself through my outfit choices. Don’t let someone ruin that for you, wear those goddamn tights!!