I have been thinking about my experiences throughout life being a girl/woman and sometimes things just don’t register until one is really thinking about them.
I have been followed a few times while driving. Both times it was by older, white males. In one instance, he waited for me to come back out of the place I was in to follow me. It was terrifying.
I have been cat-called, and also called a bitch by someone in a passing car, whom I didn’t know. It is humiliating. Everyone looks at the person who gets cat-called, out of some morbid curiosity, or perhaps it’s just a reflex.
I have had boundaries crossed before, after, and during sex. The word “no” didn’t always mean “no” to some.
People have thought it is okay to touch me or ask me probing questions just because I was pregnant.
I have had male students try to take my picture without consent. I’m sure a few even succeeded.
I have been groped in public, more than once.
I had to witness some old dude’s fucked up fetish of having his penis out for people to see, at Barnes and Noble when I was a teenager.
etc.
And I know that I’m not alone, and that even worse experiences have happened to people because of their sex, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
I asked Jacob if he had had any similar experiences and he hasn’t. He’s a cis-gendered, white, middle-class male.
I’m fucking sick of people saying we don’t need feminism, because it’s obvious that we do. It’s BEYOND obvious. We cannot ignore women’s experiences or write them off.
I don’t want to be afraid of being alone in public, or afraid for my daughter.
It infuriates me.
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