Last weekend, I was sitting in the car with my special person. We were on the phone with a friend celebrating what we're calling our "semi-engagement" when I let slip that I had been harassed by catcallers on campus not once, but twice this week.
"Twice?!" Kevin's shock and anger were obvious.
I didn't really understand why: I'd told him it was an issue in the past and that I tended to be careful in regards to where/when I walked and how I dressed when I was alone. Seeing how upset he was, I told him I would look for my stun gun and start carrying it with me when I went out.
His response was, "You probably need mace too."
...
I will tell you now that I had attended a women's self defense course at the school on the day of the first incident and that I enrolled in a martial arts class at the beginning of the semester. Let's just say that I have a long history of incidents like our catcallers from this week and worse. I worked a job at a retail store where I was asked by my male coworkers if I had ever been a stripper. I had been asked the same question among other inappropriate ones on dates. I was even assaulted on a date last June and I still occasionally have nightmares about it.
The sad truth is, I'm not the only one who is facing things like this on a semi-regular basis. I can't be the only one asking who would be raising their young men to think that these actions were okay. I can't be the only one who wishes that I could just live my life without having to worry about the possibility of having to use the tea I'm steeping as a weapon should those jeering men cross the street to where I'm walking.
Until recently, these episodes were sporadic and usually in places where I already had my guard up. Not at my school.
I thought that I was fairly safe at school, but now all I can think about is how far apart those blue emergency stations are and how I'm not a very fast runner. I wonder why we are only teaching our young women to defend themselves rather than also teaching our young men to be mindful of the fear women face on a regular basis.
Why not use Title IX to let people know that sexual harassment, no matter how commonplace, will not be tolerated?
There's power in numbers, ladies and gentlemen. Let's try to make the world a better place, one campus at a time.
