This past week I returned from a 10-day trip to Paris with several classmates, and there was something about that trip that I really needed to sit down and process. So this week, I need to write about the thoughts that were pertinent in my mind the whole time I was away.

If someone were to ask me, "Didn't you have a good time in Paris? I mean, it's PARIS," I wouldn't deny that it was a fantastic time, but the thing that kept me from wholly enjoying the whole experience was the fact that I could not go anywhere alone without being eyed down, catcalled, followed, and harassed by men. The vulnerability I felt everywhere I went, whether alone or with my other female companion, left me actually terrified to venture out of our arrondissement. So much for that romantic idea of exploring the City of Love, right? Eventually, I started noticing that when we would go out with our male friends, the harassment tended to die down. In fact, I brought up this phenomenon to our professor, who told me that the mentality around the city was that people won't bother women accompanied by men because they are "owned," and therefore not "up for grabs."

So this is what I'm hearing: if you are a woman out by yourself in public, and there isn't a man with you who "owns" you, you are up for grabs. Your very presence is an invitation for unsolicited remarks on your body, your looks, your outfit, and what these men want to do to you (just a note: I speak French, so I, unfortunately, knew very well what these guys were saying). Is there anyone who wants to be dehumanized on their way to grab a sandwich at the bakery? Can I not take a simple metro ride without having to inch away from the guy with the wandering hands?

I have the feeling that some people reading this are going to argue, "But Christina, you should be glad these guys are giving you attention. Don't you like getting hit on?" If that kind of behavior qualifies as "hitting on women," then no thank you. I do not, nor have I ever, seen these actions as compliments. A compliment is telling a woman that she is clever, or funny, or interesting. A compliment is not simplifying a woman down to only her physical attributes like a prize cow. You strip a woman of her complexity and humanity by cat-calling and harassing her. Honestly, I can't believe I still have to clarify what compliments are, but there are still people who don't understand, as I experienced in Paris.

Now, this isn't to say that all men act disgustingly in Paris, but I do notice that street harassment is a lot more blatant. Maybe this is a phenomenon that occurs more often in big cities across the globe, but that makes me think that feminism's job isn't done just yet. If we're going to eventually end this mistreatment of women and establish the mindset that all people are equal in value, we need the idealisms of feminism everywhere and not just here in the United States. I was heartened to see a massive women's march pass by through the streets of Paris, so I hope that the aftermath of this event leads to greater awareness and education. In the words of Audre Lorde, I am not free while women around the world are not free, and neither is anyone else.