things I wish I'd said/things I learned to say
2026
Glass
content warning: sexual violence
One in six women in the US experience completed or attempted rape at least once in their lifetime.
Rape is often thought of as something that happens in a dark alley by a stranger. But a study released April 2026 found that when provided with an anonymous survey, 95% of young men admitted to using coercive strategies in an attempt to force a woman to have sex who they knew did not want sex and had not consented.
It is incredible likely that you know someone - or are someone - who has used these same coercive strategies. It is especially likely considering that half of female survivors of rape report being raped by an intimate partner, and over 40% by an acquaintance.
It's this last statistic that this piece speaks to. I wanted to explore the confusion, the silence, the guilt, and the shame that I experienced when I was raped by my best friend - someone I had known, trusted, and loved for over 15 years. In this piece, I use glass - something fragile, breakable, and transparent - to contain the things I wish I had said, and also, to contain the things I eventually learned how to say.
This piece contains a scream: after blowing a hollow form, I screamed into the sphere using a bent soffietta, then sealed the scream inside.
I then shattered the piece, releasing the scream and giving it a voice.
