The Naturale Yogi

I’m writing this as a very angry twenty something adult as a personal commentary to one of the current issues in the world that has bothered me because of the fact that it’s something so prevalent in every society but something that is not often being discussed enough that it’s not helping to prevent the crime from happening. I’m talking about the Me Too movement that has survivors speaking out about their suffering due to sexual abuse.

I remembered a time when sexual abuse or child molestation wasn’t a conversation or headline on news or at least not that I remembered from my childhood. I did not know anything about anything regarding this subject matter however I was an avid reader of the Chicken Soup book series and I remember on particular book entitled Chicken Soup for Teens: Tough Stuff. This compilation had stories of people surviving different types of traumas that included death and also sexual abuse. This is when I first came across the term to molest, from there I asked my mom what that word meant and she did explain to me that it meant that someone else would touch my private parts and that it was not right. I also loved watching crime solving shows on Discovery Channel and later on CSI, and both shows would occassionaly have stories that would have sexual assault victims. Now I keep asking myself that as a child or even a teenager when we already have gone through sex education, how come no one taught me about consent, protecting my own body, and how to protect myself from abuse?

The only person who ever taught me a lesson that pertains to this topic was my grandmother, God bless her soul. I remember her telling me one day that I should always remember that I’m physically female and that I should not be changing clothes in front of males even my father because he is male. In hindsight the message should have been that we shouldn’t be taking out clothes off with anyone in the room because our bodies are our own and it should be ours to protect from everyone else.

I would like to think of a world where each and every person was taught this valuable lesson, that the body is a gift and it should be protected at all costs. No one should be allowed to touch it any part of it without you the owner allowing it. It does not matter who the person is because you own your body and your thoughts, feelings, and emotions should always come first. If I had a kid I would tell him or her this very important lesson because it is as important as the rule of not talking to strangers.

I’m not sure how it could be done but maybe childrens books could be written to incorporate the idea of consent. Just like I learned that negative traits like jealousy or lying or having a bad temper is not good, so is having someone else touch your body without your permission. So to all the kids please DO NOT LET ANYBODY ELSE TOUCH YOUR BODY OR FORCE YOU TO DO ANYTHING WITH IT BECAUSE IT IS EXCLUSIVELY YOURS and anyone who does without your permission should be punished.