Being a young female can come with a lot of issues. For instance, walking alone late at night, being cat-called or being harassed online to send nudes or to provide sexual favors. People go on apps such as Tinder but they don't necessarily have sexual favors in mind.
On these apps, you have two different types of people. You have the people who are looking for sexual pleasure and you have the people who are just having some fun, looking for a partner or just being innocent. If you've been on a dating site such as Tinder, there's a good chance that you've probably gotten a message or two about providing sexual favors.
As a young woman, it's important to stand your ground. It's important to stick up for yourself and your values. It's an uncomfortable situation when you get messages asking you to send nudes or to come over and have sex. You get an uncomfortable vide when you're walking alone late night. Even during the day, you can still get catcalled. It's not a matter of day or night, sexual harassment can happen any time, anywhere.
One day I was walking downtown in Iowa City and I stopped to put some cover-up on. An old man was telling me not to worry and he had called me "baby." Being I was alone, it threw me off. It was during the game but I couldn't help but to feel uneasy about continuing my journey to my destination. Would I run into this man again?
It's sad that we live in a time where we have to worry about things like this. Even if you're downtown in Minneapolis or Chicago for a concert or something, you always have an eye out. It helps to be with others but that doesn't mean something can't happen.
Another example of sexual harassment was back in 2013, my friends and I were in downtown Minneapolis stalking One Direction. An old man came up to us and looked us up and down. We were all wearing shorts of some sort as it was summer. He then asked if we were legal. We all kind of looked away and tried to ignore him. One of the girl's moms was there and told this man that we were all under-age.
A woman shouldn't have to feel unsafe about walking downtown. Going to a concert in a big city or even just walking home from class. Women have values and they aren't just there to provide sexual favors and to send nudes. Men might not understand sexual harassment or cat calling. But it can happen anytime, anywhere. As my story for Daily Iowan TV will show, it can happen to anyone. Even if it happens at a social gathering, the perpetrator may still continue to harass you. It's important to speak out and get help if you are being sexually harassed. Women are not objects, they are human beings and they have value. They are not around to just provide sexual favors.
