When I was 17, a man handed me a snake and it bit me.
He had bought us groceries the day before, so I trusted him enough to take things from him.
But I didn’t ask for this snake.
I was old enough to have the snake.
But I didn’t want it.
He caught me off guard, so I didn’t have the chance to deny the reptile.
But of course I would have.
He was not in his right mind when he handed it to me.
But why did he have the snake in the first place?
I did not want this snake.
But he handed it to me anyway.
Without my consent.
——
Did he think he had it?
My consent?
He did not.
My age is not consent.
My smile is not consent.
My eye-contact is not consent.
My outfit is not consent.
My trust is not consent.
My unconsciousness is not consent.
My vulnerability is not consent.
My silence is not consent.
And the excuses and the promises of change that you craft so sweetly and feed to your conscience?
I hope you choke on them because those sure as hell are not my consent.
—–
One night, at 2 o’clock in the morning, a man handed me a snake.
And it bit me.
Its venom was slow.
It gave me a false sense of hope.
I heard about girls all the time who had been bitten and it about destroyed them.
Maybe I was immune to it.
Maybe I was strong enough.
Maybe I wasn’t.
—–
By the time I began to notice the symptoms of this poison, it was already coursing through my veins.
It had been there too long.
My skin had already changed colors, the paralysis already set in, my throat already half swollen shut.
It took everything I had to suck the venom out before it was too late.
But I did.
And I recovered.
The funny thing about venomous bites though is that, even after the venom is removed, they still leave open wounds.
It healed. My body regenerated and the tissues came together to mend that tear in my flesh.
But there will always be a mark.
—–
One late November night, when I was 17, I lay sleeping on my couch.
In a still slumber, in the comfort of my jeans, hoody, and silence of my living room.
A man handed me a snake and it bit me.
I still have the scar to prove it.