Once I walk out of my home, I am no longer just a person going about my daily routine. I am a target, and I need to calculate distances and escape routes. Surely I can block it out with some music, right? But I can’t, because as soon as I do that, I am easy prey. Existing is hard enough, but existing as a woman? That’s even harder.
To any woman reading this, I am sure you have also had your fair share of being scared for your life, getting creepy comments on the streets and even online. Why are men so comfortable with making women uncomfortable? And why does nothing ever happen to them when they make these comments? The world truly is unfair and men rule it.
My first experience with sexual harassment (and assault) was when I was only 3 years old. Then, when I was 14, a 60-year-old man whistled at me as I was sitting in a dress, and sexual harassment has been a theme in my life ever since. I thought it would eventually go away, but it never does. Just recently, on my first day back at college, a man was yelling for me to turn around, kept calling me beautiful in a parking lot and tried to get my attention, and all I could do was ignore him.
If I gave him a reaction, he would keep talking to me. If I told him to stop, he could try to hurt me. I hurried inside the store in fear of what could happen if I stayed outside. Then just one week ago, I was in downtown Columbus with a friend, and a guy went right by me on a scooter and said, “Hey, nice ass.” I did not even process what he said until he was gone, and that makes me all the more mad.
Last year, in my first month of college, a man followed me to a dining hall. The discomfort I felt when he sat down right in front of me was unexplainable. I could not believe he felt confident enough to just sit in front of me, a stranger. You never really know what you would do in these situations until you experience them, and then you freeze in fear and are unable to help yourself at all.
I am so tired. Tired of always being on guard. Tired of not being able to enjoy my life because of untrustworthy men and I am tired of having to explain myself when a guy asks me why I am afraid.
In a study conducted by RAINN, nearly two in three women have experienced sexual harassment. Over 443,000 rape and sexual assault cases happen every year in the United States. Over 800 people experience sexual assault every day in the US, with the majority being women.
Based on federal crime data, 35,000-40,000 arrests are made each year for sex offenses. Hundreds of thousands of people are still getting away with it, and it is ridiculous. When will women be guaranteed safety? When will all of the bad men go away? Unfortunately, the answer is never.
Allow me to crash out for a moment. It is so awful that men get to walk free every day with no consequences and complete freedom. You think you can fight back? Maybe, but who knows! If we had a matriarchy, the world would be a better place, but unfortunately, we women have to suffer because men believe they can do whatever they want.
There is a woman I follow on Instagram who shares stories from other women about their negative experiences with men, and it makes me lose hope that things will ever get better. The stories truly are heartbreaking, but they are real, and I think that is what people need to see, especially other men. I think that they do not believe how bad they are, and sometimes they need to watch things like this to understand why we women are so afraid of them.
I do not care if men think that it is “just a compliment” or that I am overreacting when I say I feel uncomfortable when they make provocative comments about my body. I have never felt more unsafe than when I am surrounded by men. Why do they think that they are entitled to my body? Why do they see me as an object for them to use and demean? I am not going to smile at you, and I am not going to just sit there and allow things to be said.