The Purpose of Paintopower

About:

I am not a strong writer, but I am good at listening. The idea for this blog started nearly six years ago when my best friend at university confided in me about her experience with rape. The stories never stopped, but oscillated from rape to systemic violence to street harassment, they became more detailed, I cried, I shivered, I became ashamed at society and felt powerless. I am now upset, there have been too many harrowing stories to let them slip underneath the cracks. I have now been called into action because of recent shallow remarks being made by "politicians," stating that some girls 'rape easy' (WTF)?!? and Akin's comment about "legitimate rape" (double WTF?). Finally someone, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, is using these misinformed, misogynistic comments to launch an ad campaign against Akin...BUT WHY DID IT TAKE TWO MONTHS?!?

This space is to share, share your own experiences with gender based violence. What is it like being a female and having a friend tell a story to you that could have easily been you? Or a male seeing other men cat-calling to females? What is your experience as a parent raising a young girl? Would you raise her differently than a son? How will you raise your son to prevent him from contributing to gender based violence? We want to hear what you have to say in the hopes that we can then use these stories as leverage for action turning our own pain into power.
e-mail your stories to: [email protected]

*We will keep all stories that we post anonymous unless otherwise noted in the e-mail.