I feel uncomfortable around men when I walk home at night. When I am wearing a skirt. When I am holding hands with my girlfriend and when they meet at us in public. When it’s dark out. When men shout at me and my friends when we walk down the street, when we get called cunts and bitches when we won’t give our numbers out. When I used to go clubbing and men and boys would feel like the owned the rights to touch my body. When the guys in my college program literally say that we don’t need feminism anymore because women are already equal, when I read posts that victim-blame rape survivors and when I read posts that MRAs post about how all feminists deserve to be raped or whatever. When, last night, two guys came up to me and my girlfriend and asked if they could take a picture with us, as if we were some kind of lesbian spectacle. I feel uncomfortable around men because men are taught that women are a reward and that we only exist to serve them pleasure. This is a generalization— but it’s the patriarchy. I expect to get responses that say “not all men are like that!!” But honestly, we should focus on the ones that are. Since most men really are “like that.” Misogyny is not a character flaw that varies from person to person. It is a system ingrained within our culture that looks down on women and paints us as the second sex, as subordinate. I feel uncomfortable around men when I am wearing a short skirt because they feel like they have a right to stare and I feel like I don’t own my body. I feel uncomfortable around men because I have been taught that rape is the worst thing that can happen, but I’ve also learned that nobody will believe you. I feel uncomfortable around men in the regular world— so this year, when I am speaking about feminism and arguing at school and pointing out male privilege, I want men to feel uncomfortable too. Not only in feminist spaces, but in their own spaces that they created for themselves— in the regular world.
↧