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Emotions of Moore’s accuser were tipping point for Julie Goodridge to speak out

From the beginning of the #MeToo campaign until the testimony Monday of the woman who described being trapped in a car at age 16 with Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate, I have kept silent (“5th woman accuses Moore of sexual misconduct,’’ Page A2, Nov. 14). When I read some of the #MeToo statements, I kept thinking, oh yeah, that happened to me, or oh yeah, who hasn’t had that happen to them? But hearing the emotion in the voice of Moore’s recent accuser has brought me back to a place in my memory that I hate to go. Yes, I too was trapped in a car by an older man when I was 16. I too have been sexually harassed at work numerous times. And I grew up in a house where sexual advances from both my father and my grandfather had me on constant alert.

I remain absolutely shocked when people think that women like the ones who are accusing Moore are making up their stories of harassment and sexual misconduct. Moore’s latest accuser, Trump supporter or not, is expressing the underlying feelings of every woman in this world. We have always lived in fear of sexual assault, and 1 in 4 of us has experienced it, often multiple times.

When the news came out about Harvey Weinstein and everyone started to say that perhaps this is a tipping point, I thought, I doubt it. The type of sexual harassment and abuse that thousands of women have described over the last several weeks is more common than it’s not. But perhaps I was wrong about this being a tipping point. Perhaps the tipping point here is not just that people are realizing that women live with sexual harassment every single day, but that we have finally become brave enough to speak up. Having elected a known sexual abuser and harasser as president is just too much. We just can’t take it anymore.

Julie Goodridge

Jamaica Plain

The writer was the lead plaintiff in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.