* This story was submitted to MLAA by the victim, a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy *
One night while I was a student at Kings Point, I went to a party in a sports team locker room with a couple of girlfriends. We were drinking heavily. I remember being in the locker room and then the next thing I remember is waking up completely naked in someone’s bed on the other side of campus.
I have no recollection of what happened in the room until I woke up. I hurriedly made an excuse to leave and went back to my room. I never said anything to anyone about it because my entire time at school I had been told things like “if a girl is drinking it’s just as much her fault as the guy’s” or “if you can’t remember what happened how do you know you didn’t say you wanted it.”
I didn’t want to be made out to look like a liar. For a very long time I thought it was my fault. That I was the one who did something wrong.
A few years later, I ran into another Midshipman from a different class and sea split in a bar in a foreign country. We were chatting and I realized that the last time we saw each other was that night in the locker room. He said to me “You got so drunk that night you couldn’t even walk. We carried you back to your room and had to put you in bed.”
I never asked any more questions. All I could think of and wonder is, “if I was carried back to my room and put in my bed, how did that guy get me into his bed naked?” Did he do it alone? Did he have help? I never said anything because at that point I believed it was too late. The guy whose bed I woke up in told people that we hooked up, but who knows what that could mean. He definitely took advantage of me, and the event still haunts me.
After Kings Point I got married, and I’ve never even told my husband about what happened. I’m still too embarrassed. I’m telling this story because I just hope future KP women will have a better experience than I had.