Think like a girl. What does it mean to think like a girl? As a little kid, it starts with not wearing a skirt on the monkey bars. Then wearing biker shorts at all times, taking extra precaution. Growing up you are told to constantly be on your toes to face the big bad world around you. Young girls grow up vigilant, always on the lookout for oncoming dangers. Our lives are confined to what is safe and what is not sometimes being restrained. Don’t walk at night, be wary of your surroundings, watch for danger. A constant weight on our shoulders as women to protect ourselves from our surroundings and potentially the people we know. Keep music low or one earbud in with no volume. Don’t wear your hair in a ponytail, keep keys and a little spike on a keychain. These are what we call strategies, we talk a lot about strategies and what to do. Universities give seminars and tips on how to not be a victim. How to save yourself from the bad guys. We brush it off as the curse of being a lady instead of asking why are ladies cursed? We memorize the list of things that we are and are not supposed to do. Fight like hell, collect DNA, go to the hospital, remember their face. Cross the street if someone is approaching, call a friend, have your location on. Be aware. Think like a woman.
Think like a woman. Do I have protection? Leaving your house and feeling the urge to carry items in your purse because of safety is a bad feeling. Just having to think steps ahead before you go to the grocery store, where should I park, what time should I go? Constant questions that need to have an answer. 30% of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual violence in their life. Mace or pepper spray is banned in Canada according to the Criminal Code of Canada. It’s a very polarizing feeling when you don’t believe in the right to bear arms yet you feel like bearing arms. Specifically in your red clutch.
Think like a woman. Not going places even if we want to is a staple. Ubering home is just making small talk on whether or not you have a boyfriend. Don’t drink too much in case someone gets the wrong idea and figures out how you are getting home before you even make the plan to go out. Leaving the house entails creating a road map of how your night is supposed to go. The problem with supposed to is plans change then suddenly you’re in an uber alone or on the subway at midnight. Both options give me a mild shiver.
The film industry has become the centre of the #metoo movement. This makes sense considering they essentially started it. The A-listers that were never held accountable for anything started the female revolution against sexual harassment. Who would have guessed? Instead of just getting blamed the television industry decided to do some good and shine a light on real issues instead of just exploit them. I guess they got tired of doing the wrong thing.
Promising Young Woman is a movie that everyone should watch, it doesn’t leave room for “gray area”. It is a movie that is so relatable it might break your heart. The film stars Carey Mulligan, a 30 something who lives at home and appears to live a sombre life. She is incredibly brought yet spends her days working at a coffee shop complicit in her own boredom and solitude. Once a week Cassie (Mulligan) dresses up and goes to a bar, alone. She goes to these bars and pretends to be black-out drunk luring in “nice guys”, the guys who help her into cabs then change the address, or the guys who feed her beer even though she seems incapacitated. Promising Young Woman looks like a thriller that is full of turns but in reality, it is a very straightforward picture of what young women go through almost every day.
The recent Atlanta shootings are just one example of the violence that faces women. Eight Asian women were killed in a spa shooting in Georgia. The man who committed these crimes blamed it on sexual attraction and that these killings were not motivated because of race. These crimes were motivated by a blatant hatred towards women, the victims were blamed.
Oh, and let’s not forget the Sarah Everard Case.
She was just walking home. Sara Everard was 33 years old and was murdered walking home from a friend’s house. Not a bar, not a club but her friend’s house. On March 9th police arrested Wayne Couzens, a fellow brother in blue. But ya, I’ll just call the police when I’m in danger.
Fatal violence disproportionately affects black trans women. 2020 holds the record with 45 documented killings. Diamond Kyree Sanders, Tyianna “Davarea” Alexander, Dominique Jackson, and Fifty Bandz all lost their lives. This is what we read in the news every day but okay, tell me some more strategies.