Rape culture is a silent killer in our society. It puts women in danger, and allows men to silently degrade and devalue them. Every single day, we experience rape culture, and we don’t even realize it. We are brainwashed by a world where it’s okay to dehumanize women, to look at their bodies as something that is supposed to look pretty, but not be touched. Every day, we experience judgment and unrealistic standards just because we are women. We are objectified, sold for our bodies, and taught that nobody cares about what you have in your head unless you are pretty. Yes, these may be some shocking statements, but if you think about it for more than a few seconds, you might find them to be true. When’s the last time you saw a man shamed for his body count, while a woman might be too embarrassed to even tell hers for fear of being called a slut? And, when’s the last time you have seen a picture of a half naked woman being used to sell something? It surrounds us every day. We are immersed in it, and only when we begin to recognize it can we emerge from the corruption and start to get better.

Let’s talk about sex. Yeah, as vulgar as that may sound (and you may notice that you’re predispositioned to judge me already for saying it so bluntly, when I, myself am a female), many people view sex much differently for men than for women. Picture this. On a typical night out at a club, you can see the dynamic as being much different for men than for women. If you pay attention, you’ll see guys going from girl to girl throughout the crowd and dancing with all of them without anyone batting an eye or thinking that it’s a strange behavior. However, if a girl dances with multiple guys, you’ll notice her start to get weird looks. Many eyes will follow her in the crowd, silently judging as whispers flow through the crowd. The reason for this goes deeper than just dancing- we’ve made it okay for men to have multiple sexual partners, while women are slut shamed and judged for doing the same. It’s a huge double standard that causes women to have less freedom than men. The truth is, we gained suffrage and (mostly) equal pay a long time ago, but women still lack many of the freedoms than men do.

Freedom, after all, does not come from things such as wages, and whether or not we can fill out a ballot. Societally, we lack the ability to look at men and women with the same pair of eyes, and the same set of standards. Freedom comes from equality, and equality means seeing no difference at all between two groups of people. Until we can achieve that, we cannot claim to be a country of true freedom. Rape culture is only one of the many ways in which we separate by gender. It is up to us to stay mindful of the way we treat other people. If everyone changed their point of view, we could turn things around, and it can start with you. Never underestimate your ability to change the world.