Thoughts on #BidenBoundaries:

I had a high school coach who was like Biden. He frequently stared at me when we did squats & complimented them. I stopped doing them eventually. I felt deeply uncomfortable in class, and did the bare minimum to pass, not wanting to attract... 1/?

...his attention. One day he noticed I wasn't doing squats. He moved behind me, placed his hands next to my hips & said, "Here, lemme show you how to do them. Now bend your knees."

I didn't know what to do, other than bend my knees & squat with him behind me, his hands...

...touching my hips. By this point, the whole class was watching & laughing at the sexual nature of what we were doing. Friends later asked if I was going to report him. I didn't know how to handle it. Was he just helpful & lacked awareness of how his behavior affected me?

Or was it more than that? I didn't know his intentions. No matter his motivation for invading my space with his eyes and body, the outcome was the same: I felt small, objectified, and confused. I did the bare minimum to pass high school P.E., just so he wouldn't "see" me.

Poor boundaries exhibited by older men towards younger women, like those seen in Biden & my coach, can & do shut young women down. Regardless if you believe #TaraReade or not, Biden's observed, documented behavior is a problem & will be a problem for women in his administration.

Epilogue: Today, seventeen years later, I checked to see what happened to my coach. He died, years ago.