Dear next President,

A woman is the start of everything and some men seem to not cherish this. They treat women as if they are nothing. Even worse than nothing; , they take advantage of them. Rape is a big problem nowadays. 17.7 million women have been raped or someone tried to rape them in the United States. On average, there are 288,820 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States. When I was 13 years old, i walked in a Chinese restaurant, and a man started to talk to me in a way that i didn't like - a sexual way. Let me remind you that this all happened in public . He asked me in the rudest way to get into his car, and I didn't even know him . If this is happening in public , plain daylight, imagine what happens at night in the dark streets. We need a voice ; we need a way to stop this from happening.

Rape is so traumatizing. Scientific research has shown that sexual assault, like other kinds of traumatic experiences, has a powerful effect on memory -- sometimes in unpredictable ways. That memory is forever going to be stuck with you. There's nothing that you can do to get rid of that experience. I have a friend who was a virgin until she was raped. That man took something special from her; that one gift that makes every female special, and he took it without her consent . We need to raise awareness and show young girls how to react in situations like this.The greatest strength is knowledge and that is what we need to give young girls, so that what has happened to millions, won't happen to them.  Schools need to have a class to teach young girls what is out there in life and the dangers of being a female .

Sincerely,

Paola Hernandez

Works Cited

RAIIN,Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics.https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence

Ehrenfreund Max ,The scientific research shows reports of rape are often murky, but rarely false. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/11/the-scientific-research-shows-rerts-of-rape-are-often-murky-but-rarely-false/

Lubitz Rachel,Here Are 9 Times Clothing Was Blamed for Sexual Assault — Rather Than the Obvious. https://mic.com/articles/141781/here-are-9-times-clothing-was-blamed-for-sexual-assault-rather-than-the-obvious#.T0TUBFwUx