viz.

I find that rape comes up a lot in business networking conversations. It may be that I'm just a very open person that women feel safe talking to (I am a woman) or if they just need to tell someone and I happen to be handy.

I stated recently in a podcast that was taken off of the Internet rather quickly, "Please don't tell people you have been raped at a networking event, assume you're talking to a kindred spirit, I mean, haven't we all been raped?"

It was unintentionally callous of me, but I do not live in a world where this is hidden information. It's not something my friends and I discuss, but every woman I know has been violated physically by a man at some point in her life, including me.

It's a shared consciousness that we all understand and don't feel the need to talk about. As such, we don't talk about it.

Does that mean we are all catering to the curtain of silence? I think the best I can do is teach my children to be more careful than I was, and offer myself as a shoulder to cry on and arms to hold her when something inevitably happens.

I don't think rape is a bad word, but the emotional baggage that comes with being a victim of rape or the loved one of a victim of rape means that you cannot talk about it unless you are in an emotionally safe place.

For the emotional safety of everyone involved in the conversation.

We all heal in different ways, and this t-shirt assumes we all heal by telling the world. This is not the case for many.

The only way I think this t-shirt would work is if EVERY woman who had been violated by a man in any way (because I believe you can be raped emotionally and spiritually without having a finger laid on you) wore it on the same day.

So we would all realize we are not alone. I think that would be a great way to begin the healing process for many who desperately need it.