The Sexism to PTSD Connection that the #MeToo Campaign Exposed

Just as Ferguson, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling in NFL games has opened our eyes to h ow rampant racism still is, the #MeToo campaign has revealed just how pervasive sexism still is. In the first day of the #MeToo campaign, over 350,000 people admitted to being victims of sexual harassment and assault – and that number increases as more allegations of sexual assault from the entertainment and political world get revealed.

I am a women’s happiness expert who has spent more than 2 decades studying the effects of trauma and PTSD, and the #MeToo campaign has shaken me into realizing the depth to which my own sense of power, self-worth, and ability to be comfortably intimate with my partner has been compromised by the relentless abuse of a society that belittled, silenced, overlooked, dismissed, took advantage of, and shamed me for being born female.

The acceptance of bullying as the status quo is one of the unseen symptoms of PTSD. We get so used to treading water in a sea of constant abuse – in this case in the form of sexual harassment – that we close off parts of ourselves in order to cope, and even survive.

In my case, I was highly independent, worked 4 part-time jobs while going to school, and always appeared cheerful. What nobody knew was that on the inside I secretly felt hopeless, scared, powerless, alone, and had debilitating tension in my upper back and neck. I felt like I was living in my own private hell.

I still managed to keep my life moving forward, as many women do. I chose a career of service to help others heal, as many women do. I married a neglectful and abusive man just like my father, as many women do. I normalized the cat-calls, stalking, getting pinned in corners with unwelcome sexual advances, as many women do. And I suffered in silence, as many women do.

This all took a terrible toll on me, as it has on millions of women worldwide. 70% of Americans report being traumatized and w omen are more than twice as likely to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than men. In fact, research has found a “moderately strong relationship between the experience of everyday sexism and PTSD.”

Usually people think of trauma happening from big horrible events: war, rape, a terrible car crash. But the truth is, trauma can also result from “a thousand tiny cuts” that happen over time. D aily sexist comments and actions can cause physical, mental, and emotional pain, that make people feel tense, drained, shut-down, depressed, anxious, numb, unsafe, paralyzed, avoidant, and sleepless. These are all symptoms of PTSD.