10 July 24 - 30, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents death and rape threats,” the United Nations special report found, with individuals often working to discredit or malign an accuser. While some have worried that the rise in online conversations about abuse could re- sult in a wave of wrongly accused individu- als having their digital identity smeared, reports suggest that false accusations are relatively rare. A well-cited 2010 study put the number somewhere between 2-10%, while the FBI has suggested 8%. Even with that low number, Matysiak said she felt that police were skeptical about her case when she came forward. She provided police with every piece of digital communication she’d ever had with her al- leged perpetrator, but was met with a, “Is that really it?” Then she realized most of their conversations had been over FaceTime, something she’d considered sweet then. The more she considers the weeks that led up to that date, the more Matysiak is convinced that her alleged rapist knew how to avoid being caught by the legal system. The way he’d given her a nickname prior to meeting. The way, in their text messages, there is no proof of conversations about boundaries because he’d asked to have those talks over video. “[Abusers] are learning how to get away with things more, which is scary,” she said. “The way he put his hands around my throat, he knew exactly what he was doing to not show [bruising]. … There are a lot of things like that that get me.” While Matysiak feels failed by the crimi- nal justice system, she is looking to the civil system as a next shot at recourse. She describes the response to her TikTok video as “overwhelming.” While she knew, theoretically, that anyone could see the post, she didn’t necessarily expect it to reach nearly half a million people. A majority of the comments have been supportive. Some say, “Me Too.” “Survivors stand together and shout his name from the rooftops!” urges one com- menter. “Think of all the future women you may have saved by sharing your story,” said an- other. Matysiak got into education, she says, be- cause she hoped to advocate for children. Somewhere along the way, that desire for ad- vocacy must have spilled over into the rest of her life. She hopes to start volunteering with the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center, the same organization that stood beside her during her hours-long emergency room visit, to of- fer other women the same support. She’s also made follow-up videos on her TikTok page that discuss resources available to survivors of sexual assault. Those videos haven’t garnered nearly the same viewer- ship as her first post, but she’s satisfied if she can help one person. “If this would have happened to me at 21 [years old], I don’t think I would have spo- ken out,” she said. “I’ve gone through a lot in life, and I’m at the point where I’m tired of being quiet about all those things. This was just one more thing that happened, and I was like, I can speak on this.” ▼ GARBAGE KICKED TO THE CURB TRASH SERVICE CHANGES ARE COMING TO DALLAS. PEOPLE ARE PISSED. BY ALYSSA FIELDS I n the new year, around 26,000 Dallasites will have to haul their trash through the kitchen and straight to the curb, or take the long way around the yard as the city phases out alleyway trash services for cer- tain areas. The changes, which will affect residents whose trash is currently collected from alleys less than 9 feet wide, have spurred a petition asking city officials to re- ject the proposal. Unfortunately, there is no proposal to re- ject because the all-powerful authority on trash collection, Cliff Gillespie, Dallas’ direc- tor of sanitation services, does not need City Council approval to roll out the changes. Gillespie has been in the position for two years and has been pushing for the Unfair Park from p8 >> p12 The changes will affect only about 27% of residents receiving alleyway trash services, and only 10% of the 260,000 total sanitation customers. Adobe Stock
