#MeToo Story Number 17 - By Jane

When I was on holiday in Korea, I got a little too drunk. I was only 19, so I hadn't been able to drink in my country for a long time yet. As a european girl, it was quite clear that I was viewed as more 'easy' than Korean women would be. My best friend was with me, completely sober. I thought this meant that I was safe. I don't remember much of it, just being taken to an alley by a young man in a military uniform. I remember being pushed onto my knees and told to perform oral sex. I started getting sober when I got back to my friend, but I don't know how I got there. I remember telling her nothing happened, because I didn't want her to worry. The next day I realised my knees were brown and bruised and I wasn't wearing a tampon anymore. I vaguely remember seeing the tampon in the corner of the alley. My friend told me my knees were scraped because I feel several times while walking back to the hostel. I don't remember walking back to the hostel, but I remember being on my knees in an alley in the middle of Seoul. The girls in the hostel told me I had made out in a bar with three men. I just sat there wondering why they allowed me to be taken advantage of in that way when I was so drunk I couldn't even walk and then took me to a park where men were able to take me to an alley. I know I was naive and stupid to drink not knowing how much alcohol would make someone drunk, I don't have a grudge against the man who did this, I don't even think of him. I don't know anymore what his face looked like. All I know is that I blame myself for what happened, and I'm never touching alcohol anymore when there are strange men in the same building. This wasn't my first experience with coercion and abuse, but I hope it's the last one.