#metoo, obviously. i don’t know a single woman who hasn’t had a “me too” experience. i know i’m a bit late to the game — i haven’t posted the hashtag before now for a number of reasons.
one is because i’m frustrated that the burden is on women to open up and share our personal, traumatic experiences in order to make a change. i know this is unavoidable, but i wish i saw more men posting #ihave or #howiwillchange statements proactively or in response (see this tweet thread).
another is because i was anxious that men i’ve had issues would see me posting #metoo, interpret it as an attack, and confront me. i didn’t want to have to deal with that.
and finally, i’ve struggled with the feeling shared by thousands of women: guilt. this is taken from another tweet thread:
“can we talk about the people who end up just ‘giving in’ because they feel like it’ll have a better outcome than trying to fight it off? can we talk about the people who feel guilty because they feel like they ‘put themselves in that position’ even tho they went into a situation with innocent intentions and got taken advantage of? can we talk about the people who still are in denial about them being sexually abused because they were under some kind of influence?”
i don’t hate all men. i don’t hate all of the men who have put me through #metoo experiences. it’s a hard, confusing thing. i’m so glad that things are finally starting to change, and i’m glad i feel comfortable posting about it. the things i’ve listed are still relevant, but they’re no longer preventing me from speaking up.
the cakes are made with my standard chocolate cake recipe, baked in 6-inch and 3-inch round pans. for the hands, i dyed frosting with varying amounts of cocoa powder and ivory food coloring, piped it onto wax paper, and froze it (this method is more forgiving than piping directly onto the cake, and you can also draw a pattern on the wax paper beforehand to help). after the design froze, i transferred it onto the larger cake.
LENA'S LUNCHBOX 