I recently enrolled in a Feminist International Relations class, and although I always considered myself to be a feminist. I never really had a definition or idea of what that truly meant to me. The more I read about feminist theory, the more I became aware of the world that is feminism.
Although there are many feminist issues I could talk about, I wanted to address the issue of "cat calling" or "street harassment." Feminist scholars and activists pay a lot of attention to the way issues are framed through the language that is used to describe them because language is a very important tool in promoting and shaping how certain ideas are perceived.
An important issue that stuck in my mind when reading about this issue and language, was a piece by authors Liz Kelly and Jill Radford titled “‘Nothing really happened’: the invalidation of women’s experiences of sexual violence.”
They describe the "nothing really happened" notion, which in its academic terms is the issue of validation through language in regards to an experience of sexual violence. They describe the invalidation of a women’s feelings towards sexualized violence through language (Kelly 39-53). One example that stuck with me was street harassment. Think about how many times you have been "cat called" as a women, or made to feel uncomfortable doing everyday tasks like walking, grocery shopping, getting into an uber (to name just a few). Think of all this harassment you feel on such a small scale everyday. If you don't have a personal story to tell, think of all your friends who have told you these stories.
Now think about how you think about it when these things happen. Do you find yourself telling the story to others, or telling yourself well "nothing really happened?" BUT if "nothing" truly happened then why do you feel like that? Why in that moment did you feel uncomfortable, or unsafe?
I know what you are thinking, whoa! This is a real issue! We (as women) are invalidating our own feelings with language, when something obviously happened! Although we walked away unharmed physically, did you really feel "nothing" happened to you?
We need to start talking when "nothing happens" to us, so that we don't invalidate ourselves in the process. These are things we need to be discussing, and I urge everyone to talk about these things with their friends, take a class, read a blog, read an article (please don't buy every argument you read), but recognize that we are experiencing SOMETHING. Empower one another, and please recognize that you have the right to feel what you are feeling. So, let's please talk about "nothing."
