The Woman's Walk

This is how it feels to be a woman

By: Aidan Kelsey Dette

I am walking down the street. Alone.

My head has dropped, and I stare at the tar beneath me as I advance down street towards my destination.

It’s only a few blocks away, so I should be fine. I mean, this is a safe area after all?

Suddenly,

I hear the siren of a man’s whistle.

Should I turn? Should I respond? The hairs at the back of my neck start to prickle and I am increasingly aware of his gaze – following me, undressing me, assaulting me.

I cannot ask for help because I know that society offers no protection against the emotional abuse perpetrated against women by the simple act of violence.

This moment, however, was not violent violence, it was brooding. It was harassment, dark, slow and twisted. What would I tell the Police? Should I tell the Police? I felt threatened because someone looked at me?

No. I keep quiet and hurry on my way, but after years of this subtle degradation and abuse, I have become accustomed to feeling unsafe in my own community, weary of all the men and what they may do given the right opportunity and most of all I am petrified of my body and the invitation it sends to the opposite sex that permits them to mentally do whatever they please to me without my consent.

Being degraded constantly because of the gender that was assigned to me (by a patriarchal society that values my sexual appearance far more than my ability to litigate) has left me in a difficult predicament.

Am I alone in feeling that the bar for women has been increasingly raised? I am paranoid to believe that we are forced to fight for our voices to be heard in a society that merely values our sexual ability and the visual aesthetics that we, as women, are forced to uphold?

The worst part of this ridiculous charade is that we align ourselves with our abusers and tear down our sisters whom have suffered sexual assault, by labelling them and blaming them for provoking their perpetrators. When we are not slut-shaming each other, we are enabling men to further their abuse through our silence and fear.