Me too!

As someone generally femme presenting, I stay aware but I have rarely felt that scared in my life and it’s been a long time since I have.

For it to be in one of my regular places is wild!

9/9

I had plenty of a head start so I made it to my car and drove away before he got anywhere near me, but I was shook.

8/

I walk outside, undetected at first — going to a different side of the building when he sees me and starts calling out to me.

I pretend to not hear and just walk to my car.

HE STARTS RUNNING AFTER ME.

7/

THREE HOURS LATER, I start packing up my things and notice him still in the parking lot on the phone.

I consider asking one of the employees to walk me to my car in case he comes after me. I decide I’m being paranoid.

6/

He walked out.

There was a woman in the same room with me working on her laptop. He didn’t talk to her at all.

I notice he goes right outside the coffee shop and is pacing on the phone. I see him a few times in the next 20-30min but then forget about him.

5/

He says if that were to happen , the FBI would be involved, etc… and I need to understand the risks of my behavior.

I shrugged and said, “I’m just here working.”

He turns around and starts walking away, then comes back to me and says, “I apologize if it’s not you, but I really think it is.”

4/

I said that sounds terrifying but it isn’t me.

He asks if I’m sure. I give an emphatic yes.

He goes on to tell me that his information is very sensitive — top level stuff. And if other governments were to get ahold of it, it would be bad.

I nod along.

3/

I, hella confused, say, “Excuse me?”

He asks again. I say no.

He asks if I’m sure. I say yes.

He goes on to tell me that his phone (that is in his hand along with a pack of Marlboro Reds) is telling him his data is being scraped and it’s definitely coming from someone in this room.

2/

Throw in a wedding or two (that also seemed to line up with a funeral)

And I gotta say — with “Gulf of America” and “Red, White and Blueland”, I’m reminded yet again how iNnOVaTiVe (sarcasm, if you couldn’t tell) white men are at naming things.

In conversation with some friends, in agreement with what one was saying, I mentioned it’d be hard to believe that [any white ex-pastor] who historically only come up with names like Awaken, Momentum, Ignition, Extreme Fill-in-the-Blank would think of a name that clever.

stole from a woman with a longstanding career in sex education who does tremendous work, in general, and especially for those of us recovering from purity culture.