What kind of Street Harassment Super Hero Are You?
Questions arise in many women's minds as they start their day isn't always so much What to have for breakfast? Or does this skirt go with this top? Questions such as Will I be harassed if I wear this top, or these boots, or these jeans? Which way should I walk to school/work? If you or if you know someone who has been sexually harassed, here's a list of each U.S. state’s street harassment law by StopStreetHarassment.org.
Sexual harassment has always been a girl/women dominated issue, however, young boys and men deal with harassment as well. Remember: As a woman, you are not obligated to smile, you are not even obligated to be nice to anyone, let alone a strange man on the street. Sometimes, we’ve gotta be, well, make it like Hillary Clinton and be nasty women to have our boundaries respected. A 2014 YouGov poll found that “according to a large majority of the public, it is never appropriate (72%) to catcall. 18% say that it’s sometimes appropriate, while 2% think that it’s always appropriate. Men (22%) were only marginally more likely than women (18%) to say that it is ‘sometimes’ or ‘always’ appropriate. Asked whether catcalls are compliments or not, most Americans (55%) say that they constitution harassment, 24% aren’t sure while only 20% think that they are ‘compliments’. ” if you’re a woman, you’ve been sexually harassed in a public space. The survey found that 65% of all women had experienced street harassment. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that rape culture is alive and manifests its ugly, hairy face in our daily interactions with strange men on the street. You have to be your own super hero for yourself and indirectly for other survivors and face that ugly truth to its ugly hair face.
Since President-elect Trump, has been vocal in tapes and recordings of him being a past sexual harasser among other remarks that has people in this case, mostly women afraid of their safety as well as their reproductive lives. It seems having a president that has been open and nonchalant about his misogynistic statements during his candidacy would give people a more of a free pass to make excuses and crimes for this ongoing issue.
16 year old artist, model, Instagram champ, and all around cool girl plus-size model Lulu Bonfils posted this photo on Instagram detailing her recent experience with street harassment. "A man around 40 followed me down the block today." She used her vocal powers as she told him to "leave me alone." The occurrence happened as it would be triggering that a similar problem happened before in the same area. She continued "I asked him to leave me alone right next to the place a man pulled a knife on me because I didn't show him my boobs." She ensured her 18 million Instagram followers that "things can be really really bad sometimes, but you always have yourself to cheer you up."
15-year-old actress and proclaimed feminist Rowan Blanchard expressed that time where she had an out-of-body experience with being catcalled.
Advice of the Day:
"It's important to take serious criticism from serious people seriously. And it's also important to take unserious criticism from unserious people un-seriously," -Chelsea Clinton
