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Spanish triple jumper, Ana Peleteiro, released a TikTok video alleging that her former boyfriend raped her. She has joined the social media movement called, “y aun asi me quede,” or “And yet I stayed.” The trend was developed by Generation Z to de-normalize the normalization of abuse.
The 29-year-old Olympic bronze and World Indoor gold medallist said, “I would wake up at night having sex without consent,” she said. “And yet I stayed. Absolutely everything about me changed, from my clothes to my hair, the way I acted with my family, distancing myself from so many people. And yet I stayed.
“He told me that if we didn’t have sex whenever he wanted, it would damage the relationship and that, after all, those who don’t eat at home eat out. And (he said) that if he was unfaithful to me later, I shouldn’t be surprised. And yet I stayed.
“If I went to his house on the weekends, he would disappear and suddenly I knew absolutely nothing.
“And throughout the weekend he would say good morning to me, maybe sporadically one day, and he would excuse himself by saying that he needed his space and that I had to trust him and let him do those things because that was normal in a relationship. And yet I stayed.
“He would come back from those trips with hickeys on his body and he would tell me that they were bites from bugs that perhaps were in his mattress. And yet I stayed.”
This latest trend of sharing traumas permits victims to talk to millions of people about those uncomfortable situations in former relationships. It may be a non-legal process of getting some level of justice and perhaps healing.
Many thousands of alleged victims have used the trend “And yet I stayed,” already.
