"Women might just have something to contribute to civilization other than their vaginas" - Christopher Buckley, Florence of Arabia
I was in the back seat of Rachael's new car. Her new beau was driving, and I was sitting next to Evie, when "Cyntoia Brown" came up. For the past month I was living under a rock, more specifically, a Kentucky, Fort Knox rock. I had no idea who they were talking about, and with wide eyes I Googled her. I tried to hold back tears as I skimmed through the headlines.
Briefly, my paranoia kicked in, as it would during this goosebump rooted moment; and I panicked when I couldn't find the same article on my phone. Why can't I find the same exact article on my phone, that pops up on my friends phone? Is the government depriving me of controversial news because they know I would probably blog about it? Calm down Maria, you're just a random girl, why would the government… actually let's not get into that.
I am in disbelief, not only by her beauty, but the facts behind her inprisonment. What are we, in the Baroque era? A 16 year old, sentenced to life for fending off a sexual predator. As I started reading Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, I started connecting the dots.
"The worst of these abuses tend to occur in poor nations, but the United States and other Western countries are not immune. In America, millions of women and girls face beatings or other violence from theirs husbands or boyfriends, and more than one in six undergoes rape or attempted rape at some point in her life, according to the National Violence Against Women survey. Then there is forced prostitution: Teenage runaways are beaten, threatened, and branded (with tattoos) by pimps in American cities (Kristof and WuDunn, xvi)".
The U.S.A may seem years ahead, in matters concerning human trafficking, hunger, and education; but in actuality it's hidden. Girls who are under educated, are more likely to fall victims to forced prostitution (under false pretenses), and obey orders while resigning life outside prostitution. Far beyond race and gender, lies the way we perceive and treat women. Not only are women at the bottom, but below that colored women, and below that are women who turn to prostitution.
While researching the case, I found it hard to believe that news made it seem like it was "just another murder". They left out the fact that a man had solicited Cyntoia for underage sex! I'm a strong believer that violence is never the answer, and given the circumstances, this man shouldn't be soliciting sex from a 16 year old to begin with, so is that just going to be dismissed? All I do know, is that most of us don't know what it must feel to be in that kind of position. Where the only answer, is murder, the type of hopelessness she must off felt, cannot compare to what most of think we know.
For any of us to sit here and pretend that we understand what she must of felt, or driven her to that solution is irrational. For none of us, sitting behind the comfort of our Macs and iPhone's could come close to understanding.
Simultaneously, the second part of my brain could not help but think how extremely beautiful Cyntoia is. Not that, that alone would save her, but just how hard that must of been. She can still have her whole life ahead of her, since she is only 31 years old. As far as social media is concerned, her new marriage may seem illogical, and perhaps insane. We can all comment on it, but this woman has had enough bullshit to deal with in a lifetime, and we need to give her a break. This is her life, and she is trying to be as wholesome as she knows how to be wholesome. For us to sit here and say that she doesn't know what she is doing, we are probably right, but that doesn't give any of us the permission to judge her, or think less of her. She's trying to piece her life back together and we need to encourage her to live life, since 15 years were taken away from her.
Although she's "free", she has 10 years of parole. She's not entirely "free".