Mel C reveals she was sexually assaulted the night before the first Spice Girls concert

[silverstarry]

Mel C reveals she was sexually assaulted before the Spice Girls' first concert https://t.co/v74LmsmSDU
- BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 15, 2022
While promoting her new memoir (available in the UK today, out in the United States on September 27) on Elizabeth Day's How to Fail podcast, Mel C said that while writing her book she remembered an

Comments

[buries]

I wanted to touch on her saying it wasn't as bad as it could've been and I have no idea if I will be articulate enough. I just wanted to say that assault shouldn't exist on a scale. What happened to her was horrible. Feeling violated and unsafe when you believe you are in a safe space is not okay. No one should ever feel that way ever. If you have ever felt that way, it matters and you deserve to not feel shame for it because you shouldn't be the one feeling ashamed.

Believe survivors. Assault of any kind to any degree is not okay and you did not deserve it.

[zibbydoo324]

I just pointed out the exact same phrase. I kind of get it because things could always be worse, but that line of thinking takes away so much accountability from the assailant.
I find myself thinking of my bad experiences (see, not even calling them assaults 🙃) like that. But you just realize how powerless you’re in a situation and it fucking sucks.

[floatinglately]

i feel this. when i was twelve or thirteen a boy put his hand on my ass at summer camp - twice - quickly enough that i might have thought it was an accident, if he hadn’t done the same thing to my friend who told me about it. i never think of that as assault, and (this is fucked) sometimes i feel grateful to that experience because i feel like it allowed me to empathize with things like “why don’t women speak up” (telling the head of camp was the most embarrassing and awkward experience of my life) without traumatizing me. but like… i was in fucking middle school and some dude put his hand on my ass in the middle of the arts and crafts cabin!!!! if i heard that happened to a kid i know i would be so upset and angry i’d be throwing up.

[zibbydoo324]

It makes me so upset that this shit starts so damn young. Like how has it been completely normalized to put your hands on someone else? I really think it probably is a result of men controlling almost all media as we were growing up. We only saw the world through their eyes and that shit is impactful. I really am thankful that there is so much more representation when it comes to OUR lives now and this shit isn’t as trivialized.

My most recent experience (fuck the world for having a recency scale on our assaults) a guy didn’t seem to be listening to me saying no. I realized how much stronger he was than me and I remember thinking I had no way to defend myself if he kept going (I have a fucking 70 pound pit mix too which is typically enough in public to keep people at bay if I want. But once you meet him, you know he isn’t doing shit in an aggressive manner). I bought myself pepper spray the next day.

[zibbydoo324]

Terrible things happen all the time and this situation wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

That really is how women have been conditioned to view our traumas.

[silverstarry]

The awful thing is that no matter how terrible the experience is, we've been taught to minimize it by saying that it could have been worse. The truth is that having your trust betrayed, feeling violated/unsafe, etc. is traumatizing regardless of the exact circumstances that caused you to feel this way. The psychological fallout is real no matter how ~minor~ it may be on the sliding scale of catastrophic events, and we need to be allowed to acknowledge that instead of being made to feel we should brush it aside just because it wasn't XYZ.

[calliope1975]

Is there any woman who hasn't been assaulted in some sort of way? It's all so horrible. I often imagine the person I could been and the things I could have achieved without trauma. And that's WITH processing and therapy. Women give up so much to this world's catering to men.

[andisprohi]

Meanwhile, men like Matt Damon are all about "It wasn't rape-rape, so don't complain. Don't you dare misclassify it."

[my_moloko]

What was he talking about?

[andisprohi]

https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/108850580.html

https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/108886031.html

[lizrocks]

Something similar happened at an otherwise awful time in my life so I totally understand what she's saying about how you just kinda repress and bury and move on bc at the time as awful as it is, it's not even at the top of your list of things to focus on. I wish her all the healing. ❤️

[drunkard]

Same. I hope things are a little better for you now.

[pikapika217]

holy hell, how completely terrible and devastating. I hope she can get the support she needs to cope with this.