Like most of the TCNJ community, I was shocked to receive a text-message alert on Tuesday notifying me that a girl had been threatened with a knife and sexually assaulted on campus. As I had just walked back to my off-campus house alone through a very dark TCNJ, I was understandably more than a little disturbed. Who knows how close I might have come to the attacker without even realizing it? Over the next few days I was bombarded with e-mails from campus security, advising students to take certain safety precautions, as well as phone calls from my mother, promising to send me mace, a whistle, and anything else that might keep me safe from attack.
The consensus between my female friends and I was that we were unnerved about the possibility of having to walk home alone from night classes or meetings. The girls in my house began double and triple checking the doors and windows, making sure they were locked in case of an intruder. The attack served to remind women on campus that we do have a reason to be afraid.
Am I afraid? Yes. But more than anything, I’m furious.
Why should the fact that I’m a woman make me any less safe than my male counterparts on campus? Why do I have to go out of my way to make sure I do all of my traveling before it turns dark, or call a friend to pick me up when I need to get home? Why should I have to hurry, keys in hand, constantly looking over my shoulder as I make the walk across the street to my house? Why does the fact that I have a vagina make me a target?
Of course, the police would say that these safety measures are for everyone, and that no one should be walking alone after dark. But let’s get real for a moment here: who has more to fear from walking alone along a dark road, men or women? This is the third attack on a female student in recent news; a student was raped last year by two men at a party, and just last semester “Christopher Stalken’” was banned from TCNJ’s campus after attempting to follow female students. Being a woman makes you an easy mark, and I’m done with accepting this as an unavoidable part of life.
We have every right to walk home alone from our classes. We have every right to go to a party without being molested. We have every right to be and feel safe. I’m tired of being treated like a damsel in distress. Most importantly, though, I find it infuriating that a woman’s sexuality is so often abused and tarnished in the power struggle that is assault. Every woman should be proud of her gender, and I propose nothing less than castration against any man who makes her feel ashamed of her own body. If we really want to end this sort of violence, it isn’t extra security that we need; it’s education and acceptance. Until we see real equality between the sexes, as opposed to the façade that the patriarchy hides behind now, the violence won’t stop, and the fear won’t go away. We are not the fairer or weaker sex. Stop treating us like we are.