As a criminologist I spent my college career learning horrific statistics about the number of incidents of sexual assault and abuse that occur around the world on a daily basis. When we think of sexual assault, abuse, or harassment our minds often only think of rape, molestation, incest, etc. As women, most of us have not been conditioned to associate unwarranted sexual advances including inappropriate conversations and groping to be enough of a violation to warrant us raising our voices and saying "NO!" But they are...

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Every opportunity that I get to go to a haunted house, or spooky event I jump at the chance. When I was in college an ex-boyfriend and I decided to visit a haunted house a couple of hours away. This attraction was gaining popularity around the state and several of my friends had made and trek and raved about what a good time that they had. My then boyfriend and I researched the attraction's website, looked at photos and read testimonials. We were so excited for our adventure. While we were warned of long wait times and lines, no one could have warned me about the unwarranted groping that I would soon endure.

After sipping hot chocolate and standing in line for more than an hour my then boyfriend and I made our way through the haunted house along with another couple that we became acquainted with during our wait in line. The scary scenarios and rooms were wonderful. It was the best haunted house that I had ever visited and we could all tell that the police and fire department volunteers who built and worked the attraction had really put a great deal of time and effort into making it a fantastic experience. About halfway through the haunted house we all came to a series of tunnels that we had to crawl through in order to reach our next destination. My ex-boyfriend led the way, with me at his heels, followed by the young woman and her boyfriend. My ex was crawling through the tunnels at a much more rapid pace than I was, and I could no longer see him. I was too concerned about what slimy substance I might run into, or what might jump out at me. Then it happened.

As I rounded a corner, crawling on my hands and knees I felt a hand touch my behind, slide down, grasp and fondle my buttocks. I stopped and turned around expecting to see the silhouette of the woman behind me trying to feel her way through the dark tunnel, having accidentally groped me. But, no one was there. I paused for a moment and crawled out of the tunnel exit. My boyfriend was already out and waiting for me. He immediately noticed that something was wrong, and I explained what had happened. I still expected the young woman to crawl out of the tunnel right behind me, but she appeared about a minute and a half later with her boyfriend close behind. It couldn't have been her. When she stood she immediately began questioning her boyfriend about whether he had grabbed and groped her.

Bells went off in my head. As he vehemently denied groping his girlfriend I realized that one of the volunteers working the haunted house had groped us both. My ex-boyfriend was livid. He found a worker and began yelling and complaining about what had happened. I chimed in and gave my story, along with the other woman. The worker immediately became nervous and went and found someone else for us to talk to, and that let to another person, and that led us all nowhere. One of the supervisors, who happened to be a police officer, led us out explaining that there was ABSOLUTELY no way that someone could have touched us because of the positioning of the tunnels in the room. That simple huh? No one offered apologizes and our great time was ruined. Every Halloween I will think of that event.

On our drive back to my apartment I was so angry. I was planning my letters of complaint to the fire department, police station, mayor, city council, and to anyone else that I could think of. But, they were never sent. Days, months, and years went by and I did nothing. I still think about writing and mailing those letters, and I actually believe that I will, but more importantly, I want to stress to everyone out there, particularly women, that being unwantedly touched and groped is NOT okay.