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hello, Tumblr!

I’ve launched a nonprofit organization called The Louder Coalition, with a focus on empowering survivors of sexual violence + starting dialogues within our communities about consent, rape culture, and the effects that sexual violence has on body image + mental health. 

I would love it if you’d join me as I collaborate with other creatives + survivors to share our stories!

you can find our website here, or join us on our social media! 

I remember being seven and hoping, praying that this was just forgotten, misplaced baby fat that would dissolve from my body like it had for the other girls. being nine and overhearing boys talk about the developing body I tried to hide under folded arms. ten and going on my first diet. twelve and kneeling on cold bathroom tiles and feeling my heartbeat in my head because someone called me fat. thirteen and trimming images out of magazines, adhering photos of plasticized bodies to pages of a journal filled with numbers and measurements, poring over the words of girls who knew how to empty their bodies until only skin cloaked their bones. fourteen and listening to the weight of my feet hitting the treadmill, sweat beading and tears pooling and hands shaking. sixteen and conscientiously separating my worth from my body and never letting the two touch. nineteen and avoiding mirrors and feigning indifference. twenty-one and having a bout of anxiety with my back pressed against a fitting room wall of a store where nothing will stretch to fit the span of my hips and I can’t cry because my friends are outside. twenty-two and I can’t eat because he’s looking at me and I can’t even look at me.

and now I am twenty-three and I can still hear the deafening reverberation of every label that’s ever been slapped across my body. every name, every overheard word. even the fumbled phrases mistaken for compliments.

so pretty if you'd lose some weight,

so pretty for a fat girl,

you know, some boys are into that.

I’m here to chat with you about something that’s really dear to my heart, and I suspect a lot of yours as well. I’m in the process of starting a project called The Louder Coalition. it’s a social media + web-based initiative for sexual violence survivors, advocates, and creatives focused on empowerment + education. 

the goal of The Louder Coalition is to 1. create a safe + encouraging space for survivors to share their stories, which is a critical part of the healing process and an incredibly powerful tool for helping others, and 2. create shareable + educational resources covering topics ranging from consent and rape culture to self-care and pursuing legal action.

what I’m currently looking for are survivors who wish to share their story (in any form you’re comfortable with, and I’m happy to help you put it together), as well as creatives who would be willing to help make some content. a website, Instagram, and Facebook page will be launching in March, so I’d love to just collect as many stories and as much content as possible so I have lots to share once we get started.

if you have any interest in participating, please feel free to send me a message here or email me: [email protected]