MEMPHIS (TN)
Bustle
January 10, 2018
By Madhuri Sathish
It wasn’t just Hollywood that felt the full impact of the #MeToo movement. People around the world shared their experiences with sexual violence, and held those who had assaulted them accountable. Jules Woodson said a pastor, Andy Savage, sexually assaulted her almost 20 years ago in Woodlands, Texas, and she went public with her allegations last week. Savage publicly apologized to her in church Sunday and received a standing ovation from his Memphis congregation, but Woodson told Memphis’ Action News 5 that she found Savage’s apology sorely lacking.
“His apology isn’t enough because number one, he’s lying about how he handled it,” Woodson said. “He never came to me, the church told him he couldn’t talk to me and they told me I couldn’t talk to him,” she explained.
Before going public with her story, Woodson sent an email to Savage back in December — on the heels of the Harvey Weinstein scandal — with the subject line, “Do you remember?” In the email, Woodson reminded Savage of a night two decades prior, when Savage was supposed to drive Woodson home from church but instead allegedly sexually assaulted her on a deserted back road. It was only when Savage didn’t respond that Woodson spoke out, in a blog post detailing what had happened.
“It’s very hard to tell your story,” Woodson told Action News 5. “It’s very hard to speak up, especially when you feel pressured by the church to be silent.”
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