Have you guys heard yet?

If you guys live online like me, you've probably heard about the extremely disturbing shooting in Santa Barabara this weekend. I really hope this starts discussions on the reality that women face every day instead of them blaming it on mental illness like they always do. All the adults that have power only talk about how great women have it here (i live in the US) compared to other countries, and they refuse to acknowledge what really goes on. I'm sixteen. I shouldn't have to be scared of guys at school getting too close to me or trying to touch me, but I am. This year a boy I didn't even know tried to hit my and then laughed about it with his friend, and then had the audacity to be confused as to why I would tell him off right after. I'm just relieved that I am fortunate enough to have an administration that actually took my report seriously and made sure he wasn't around me. But a lot of girls - all over the world - don't have that luxury. And that is terrifying. I'm terrified that someone may not take my "no" seriously one day, and it's horrible that so many girls have to fake having a boyfriend to get a guy to back off because he respects this unknown male's claim more than the girl's.

okay, I think I'm done ranting for now. What are your thoughts on the issue? I'd really like to know.

Comments

You must be logged in to comment

chanicorn #1 May 26, 2014 08:17:06

This is extremely cliche and commonly-said but I think the only way we'll ever be able to actually protect ourselves is by learning a little self-defense. It should have to come to this but it has and I am just as upset as the next girl that this is what our world has become. What we say simply doesn't matter anymore.

I've been ually objectified twice in my life so far and I'm only 15. The first was in a near-empty cinema where a man suddenly came and sat a seat away from me before extending his hand towards me. I didn't notice until I felt it but I managed to move away before he could do anything more. The second time is worse in my opinion because it involved my own friends, guys I personally know. I go to school with them. On that day I had a pretty important debate so I dressed a little better than usual. I wore a nice white button down shirt and a black pencil skirt. It didn't even cross my mind that this would do anything to my figure but apparently it did. All that I thought of was looking professional and nailing the debate. This whole thing kicked up a buttload of drama. The boys apparently took pictures of me on that day and circulated them in a private Facebook group. Like you, I am lucky to have a responsible teacher who didn't take this lightly.

What really pissed me off about that incident is similar to how you feel about people using mental illness as an excuse. It was mentioned a lot during that period of time that "boys will be boys" and that they are hormonal teens, which supposedly justifies objectifying me just because I was dressed different than usual. On normal days those boys barely pay attention to me. It's not as bad as it was now but these days whenever I dress nicely for something the boys are so friendly with me, but when I'm not wearing makeup or nice clothes it's as if I don't exist to them.

Anyways I ended up rambling but I completely agree that our world is still extremely misogynistic despite supposed efforts to trump ism.