Keri Kilty

I always knew I was different from most girls. I am a yes person and I did not see why as a woman I could not do anything anyone else could do. I felt privileged in my childhood because my parents did not instill oppressive boundaries into my habits of thinking and living. But as I became a woman I would still experience the harsh realities that the world is not fair and men are still largely in control.

I was on top of the world when I entered into an abusive relationship that changed my life forever. I was studying at a prestigious all women’s college in 2007 and felt empowered. My reality was ironic. I was studying sexism, domesticity and sex roles, glass ceiling and the force of social implications of gender identities. I entered into a relationship with a chauvinistic man who did everything he could to chip away at my confidence and strength as an empowered woman.

I then proceeded to move with this man to a backwards southern town and risk everything I had worked so hard for while studying with my amazing female mentors. To this day I still have trouble understand why I was able to be wrapped up in this relationship. I guess what snapped me back into reality was living 1000 miles away from family and friends in an environment that almost destroyed my feminist strength.