Papillon Z.
Empowering Women to find their Inner “BADASS!”
(to prevent Sexual Assault, Exploitation, Trafficking, Harassment, Bullying, etc.)
The Rest of the Story
The idea for Papillon Z – the concept, the Mission, the Stinging Butterfly design, etc. – came to me minutes after I “lost my mind!” and started pacing (which I do NOT do!) after I watched a news segment and video clip on the Today Show on Saturday morning, October 6, 2018, when our former President mocked Dr. Ford at his rally (because she didn’t go to the police or tell her parents [ I DIDN’T EITHER!!!! ] or remember the house or the address. . .) and women in the audience laughed about it!!
I founded Papillon Z a month later in November 2018. It has taken more than three long years, and over 4000 hours, but it’s finally time!
An article in USA Today by Alia E. Dastagir (9/30/19) stated – “It’s been two years since the #MeToo movement exploded.
Kristen Houser, Chief Public Affairs officer at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center said, “People are paying more attention, but I’m not convinced that we’re able or ready to behave differently about it as a nation.
WELL….IT’S TIME TO FIX THAT!!!
IT’S TIME TO MAKE IT VERY CLEAR
THAT WE ARE ABLE AND
READY TO BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY !!
IT’S TIME TO STEP UP AND
JOIN TOGETHER!
IT’S TIME TO
My name is Karen Renee Gomez. I am the founder of Papillon Z. And, in case you’re wondering…
YES! I AM A BADASS! It just took a few years to realize that and get my $#*! together!!
This might be the
Rest of My Story, but
Papillon Z is for YOU!
PS – I debated for 2 years…and decided to just use my last professional studio photo ~ from my book cover from 2004! (Good enough for Dear Abby to use the same photo for decades, that’s good enough for me!)
For MANY years, several times a day, I have been forced to relive my own nightmares of sexual assaults and rapes when I was in my teens and 20’s.
I watched part of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before Congress and could relate to her and I felt her pain. I was sexually assaulted by a dozen sailors on a cruise ship when I was 14 (got separated from my parents and grandparents by an unruly mob and was directed to a “shortcut” through a passageway…) an hour before that happened I was almost strangled in front of my mother at Port Authority in New York City (I dropped to the ground, which broke his chokehold)! I was drugged and raped in my dorm room by a “friend” of a friend who brought OJ and cold remedy. Then I was violently raped and almost killed by a Bulgarian circus acrobat (RBBB Circus) when I was 20 and working for an international security firm at the convention center.
I didn’t go to the police either, and I didn’t tell my parents, my best friend, or anyone else for more than 10 years.
A few years later, I was within seconds of being attacked during a job interview when I was 24! I had to climb over the sofa I had been sitting on to get away from him!!! I had to duck and run out of another job interview when I realized they were getting ready to gang up on me and the “job” was most likely making porn for a sex trafficking ring! The classified ad I responded to was for a photographer in fine dining restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip! (I was 25.)
I’ve also been sexually harassed at work by managers and co-workers in my 20’s, then by attorneys in my 30’s, 40’s and 50’s!!!
I had to fend off an attack during a job interview!
I had to fend off an attack by a prospective employer (owner of a used car dealership on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas) during my interview! I had to knee him in the crotch to stop him. He just started rushing at me coming around his desk. He was going to try to push me down on the huge ugly gold sofa that I had been sitting on. I had to climb over the damn sofa to get away from him! I was 24.)
I didn’t call or go to the police that day, but I sure called them a few days later after I saw him being interviewed by a reporter on the evening news after two young Keno Runners accused him of raping them! His comment to the reporter – “You know what kind of girls they are…”
Are you friggin’ kidding me?? I was working as a credit clerk/sales person for a national jewelry store at the Boulevard Mall at the time. I gave a statement to the police and the female officer (who had met with him undercover a few times) told me, “He does this all the time!”
Sexual harassment in law firms.
I worked in the legal field for 40 years in a number of states and was harassed, groped and sexually harassed by my employers, who were lawyers and doctor/lawyers.
One of them came around the corner suddenly and shouted my name and when I turned my chair around, he shoved his crotch at my face! Gritting my teeth and not moving…I growled at him and told him if he wants to keep his F***ing S*** he better get it the F*** out of my face – RIGHT NOW!!!
I quit two days later after I talked to his partner.
I had to drop the F bomb SO many times to put them in their place and to get them to leave me the F*** alone!
I can’t even count the number of jobs I really liked that I had to quit because of them!! Back then, they could get away with ANYTHING!! If YOU complained to management, YOU became the Liability!!!
One attorney actually threatened to kill me (he took me over to the window (at least 30 floors up), and proceeded to tell me exactly how he was going to do it!) if I said anything to anyone!
Finally, a decade into in the 21st century, things got a little better – at least in larger firms – that now implement policies against sexual harassment. But by then, I had suffered through three decades!!!
BTW – Even though it should never make a difference and one should never blame the victim. . .I NEVER, EVER dressed provocatively or flirted with any of them since I am happily married. I never wore tight clothes, or low-cut dresses, blouses or tops, or short skirts or dresses. Quite the opposite. And I always dressed and behaved professionally!
I thwarted being robbed in parking lots!
I thwarted being robbed in parking lots by facing them as they were coming toward me – motioning for one to keep coming! After doing it twice – I showed him my pepper spray – shouted to him that I just bought it and I was dying to try it out! He turned around and ran away! (I was in my late 30’s, pushing my young daughter in a shopping cart in a Wal-Mart parking lot.)
One night in a dark 7-11 parking lot after work I had to act like I had a gun in my pocket when some guy started coming toward me! I yelled at him to “STOP!! Are you f***ing crazy?!!! I yelled a few more times to get him to stop then yelled, “I should just shoot you for being f***ing stupid!” He also ran away!
I got my gallon of milk and when I came out of the store, a group of teenagers were yelling at him- yelling the same things that I had yelled – and he ran across the street! (I was in my early 60’s!!)
I prevented a carjacking!
I was almost “carjacked” one night on my way home from work when I was stopped for a red light at the intersection of Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. ( I was 52 years old.)
He ran around my SUV trying to open each door before the light turned green and traffic started moving!! I yelled but he was really acting crazy! Thankfully, all of the doors were locked.
Since that happened, I always lock my doors as soon as I get in the car.
The Lessons I Learned.
You have to be PROACTIVE (not REACTIVE) ALL THE TIME. You need to be aware of your surroundings AT ALL TIMES! You need to pay attention to EVERYTHING!! You need to be prepared for ANYTHING!!! And, you can’t be nice and quiet and kind all the time, or “act like a lady” and get respect from a jerk.
You absolutely need to own your VOICE and own your SPACE.
You need to project CONFIDENCE, AUTHORITY, AND STRENGTH at all times,
especially when confronted by a pervert, or when a potential predator is coming at you!
I have been a problem solver all my life. I don’t complain about something without figuring out the solution first.
I’ve done that from the time I was a child and through my teens, as well as during the first 10 years of working, then during my 40-year career as a paralegal.
So…after I lost it after watching that news clip. . .I knew I had to figure something out.
I had to do something so women would be able to prevent rape and sexual assault (exploitation, sexual harassment, bullying, etc.) and not have to live with horrible memories for 50+ years like I have (and Dr. Ford, and the young Olympians, and like so many other women who have been raped or sexually assaulted).
On October 6, 2018, within minutes of seeing that news story and video clip, the ideas just started coming to me ~ almost like a “download” on my computer!
I spent many hours that weekend making notes, writing my Mission Statement, designing my logo, and doing tons of research.
I formed my LLC in November 2018, and filed my US trademark application in February 2019 (approved in May 2020 and finally registered in May 2021).
I am also looking for businesses that will offer discounts to our Members (similar to AARP), and am offering FREE advertising to Members (and their family and friends) who have businesses that can offer discounts and special offers to Members. Organizations that have social enterprises (locally and online) featured on this website also receive FREE advertising.
I was a Victim, But I AM a Survivor.
Attempted murder – first with broken glass in my OJ, and then he pushed me down 2 flights of concrete stairs. I was only 17, and on vacation after I graduated from high school. 43 bruises all over my body!! People believed – would you believe plane crash? – as my first explanation.
Accidents that defy explanation as to how I was able to walk away – such as my car spinning out on black ice then flying across 100 yards of icy snow between 2 sets of 12-foot pylons then crashing 15-20 feet down into a concrete drainage channel!
Dislocating 5 ribs that attach to my sternum that could have pierced my heart/lungs, and fracturing 2 thoracic vertebrae, when my car door blew shut on me when I was bending in to put groceries on the floor!
And these are just a few of the things I’ve survived.
Mononucleosis was diagnosed two days after the assault on the cruise ship and I spent the next six months sleeping about 20 hours a day (blessing?). Carbon monoxide poisoning when I was 6 months pregnant (new water heater in the kitchen had not been vented properly). Botulism from eating a large can of bad mushrooms. Staph blood poisoning twice (from small burns that became infected).
Near electrocution by my VOIP phone (computer) at work – the electrical charge – even holding the phone a foot away from my ear because of the intense crackling sound – went into my head/brain and down through my body into my legs!!! [After seeing the numbers on my lab work due to damage to my organs, doctors could not even believe I was alive! I recently read several medical articles about electrical shock and the heart. I was hit with at least 20 milliamperes MORE than what can cause cardiac arrest! It tripped the circuit breaker!] Then I had a delayed onset of symptoms that felt like a stroke-heart attack-seizure a week later at my desk at work! I fell to the floor screaming the pain was so excruciating! Paramedics came to my office and transported me to the Emergency Room – I was in the critical coronary care unit for four days!
Multiple car accidents. 10+ concussions from falls and car accidents. (I had to drop out of college my senior year due to the debilitating effects of a TBI from a high speed rear-end crash).
My Guardian Angels.
I really believe I’ve kept my Guardian Angels busy for the last 69 years so I could help all of the people I’ve helped during my Lifetime so far.
I spent most of my 40-year career as a medical litigation paralegal helping personal injury, catastrophic injury and medical malpractice clients and their families. They knew I genuinely cared about them, and empathized with them. They always got a big hug. If I was too slow that day, they always asked, Where’s My Hug?! I even signed off on all of my emails to clients with a virtual hug XO.
And, my Guardian Angels have continued to protect me… (I’ve survived Covid, but I still have multiple, ongoing “long-hauler” symptoms over a year later) so I could . . .
…create Papillon Z to help 1000’s more!!!
My Mission.
Even though most women my age (69) have either retired or are close to it, my new Mission is to provide the Papillon Z platform and build a network of members who can join together, learn empowerment and self-defense skills to FIND THEIR INNER “BADASS!” (to prevent sexual assault, sexual exploitation, trafficking, sexual harassment, bullying, etc.)
WE NEED TO JOIN TOGETHER TO SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER AND BECOME ONE VOICE!
I am also providing a wealth of information on Human Sex Trafficking in National Resources, with educational videos and links to other websites and articles online so Members can educate themselves about human sex trafficking so they don’t become an unwitting victim (like my narrow escape during a job interview!), and to share this information with their children, family, friends, neighbors, teachers, clergy, co-workers and anyone else they can think of.
