Day 11: Still I Rise

RIP to the incredible, inspirational Maya Angelou. Thanks for teaching generations of young women the strength, humanity, and simple common sense necessary to make the world a better place.

In addition to this sad news, I’d like to share a Slate article regarding the recent Santa Barbara shootings. This event has been a major topic of conversation among my friends and I thought I’d offer some thoughts from the perspective of a young, female college student. The fact that men still believe that a woman’s body (apparently the rest doesn’t matter) belongs to them is evident of the rampant misogyny in society. As the article points out, men simply don’t know what women go through personally and on a systematic level. Humoring unwanted attentions from a man is not weakness but a means of self-defense–something all other women are aware of. I try to turn down men with the littlest possible effect on their feelings, both because they deserve respect (especially if they have the guys to ask a girl out, respectfully), but also because men are perceived as dangerous to a young woman and it falls on us to minimize that threat. Instead of eliminating societal misogyny, the ultimate root of the perceived threat of the male predator hunting for females, we tell young women to protect themselves and not to act too forward or in ways that attract that unwanted attention. Still we place the responsibility on the woman, emphasizing her body as the subject of uncontrollable male lust, rather than demand as a society that men behave respectfully. I don’t deny that women should know how to protect themselves (by more than just excuses and evasiveness), yet why do we make it their responsibility while men are allowed to act as sexual predators and it is perfectly acceptable? That is the societal standard. As a female college student, I feel confident in saying that is what leads to rape and sexual violence on campuses. Boys will not just be boys and we, as a society, need to begin holding men to higher standards. So, to the next boy who hits on me at a bar or at a party: these are my standards and I plan on explaining them fully in case there’s any confusion.

Now, to the actual pictures!

May 28, 2014: 355 more feminist rants to come #fuckthepatriarchy

 

Catherine and I have been spending a little too much time together…