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I didn’t mention it, but that’s a huge part of it too.  Even if a girl hasn’t experienced that specific kind of trauma, she’s almost certainly experienced some degree of sexual harassment or objectification.  This isn’t to say that guys aren’t abused too, but I’m almost 100% certain that in general it’s not this ingrained fear or concern like it is for girls

Same here.  I know some people choose to write about it to explore personal trauma (like @this-is-not-an-alien was saying) but for me it’s just something I’m too sensitive to to explore in writing

@this-is-not-an-alien I agree that it was really, really powerful writing, and I certainly think there’s so much potential here!

Personally, I think that one of the reasons it was disturbing to me is because it did kind of go into detail.  It wasn’t graphic, but it was definitely strong “content” imo because of how much was shown.

Yeah, tbh this is the first post I’ve seen that really dealt with this subject in such a visceral way, which might be one reason why I had such a strong reaction to it.  I don’t mean visceral in a bad way – I think it definitely has a place in writing, but before I read something traumatic I need to have a heads up, like a warning or build up XD

Which, tbh I should have seen the warning signs and skipped over it, so that part’s on me.

You know, that’s actually a really great point that I hadn’t thought of!

I brought it up because I actually had a very physical, visceral reaction after the full weight of the post hit me  – this wasn’t just a matter of feeling disturbed and appalled, it was a very unpleasant and honestly scary response.  I know his intent wasn’t to disturb people that much, so I wanted to let him know in case other people might find it that disturbing.

But then again, they might not, or at least not have nearly that strong of a reaction.  You’re neurodivergent too, so maybe you’ve experienced it, maybe not, but hyper-empathy is very much a thing with people like us sooo idk, maybe that’s part of what happened

*shrugs*

Everyone’s different, ya know?

XD

@jared-williams Cathy is bringing up some fantastic points, and I completely agree that you could use this to showcase just how vile and awful this crime really is.  I think that it really was fantastically written, and that’s definitely a huge factor in why it was so disturbing.  I think there’s a whole lot of potential here, and I think that you’ve got a great opportunity to shed light on a taboo (and yet sadly extremely common) subject.  I think that “disturbing” isn’t necessarily a bad thing – in my experience, the stories that stick with me and really make me think are the ones that are a little bit disturbing because they shed light on truths that we might want to avoid so we can live comfortably.  Again, please don’t take any of this as a criticism or condemnation of your writing!