Ninety Seven Percent Of Women
By Libby Driscoll
Trigger warning: s*xual assault, r*pe
Disclaimer: Though I am aware this strays from the theme of FLARE magazine, certain issues need to be discussed and raised regardless of the original intention of the platform. The purpose of this piece is not to point fingers, but to encourage people to reflect on their actions. Please be respectful towards Sarah Everard and her family in this time.
After the upsetting disappearance of Sarah Everard, many of us have been shaken and reminded of our own experiences as women. As the majority of us have seen on social media right now, a recent YouGov poll has revealed that 97% of women aged 18-24 have been sexually harassed, 80% of which having experienced sexual harassment in a public area. From a young age, women have been told to dress ‘modestly’, not to walk home on our own, to carry our keys in between our fingers, don’t walk home at night unless you have a male friend with you, share your location when you’re in a taxi, give out a fake number to the male at the bar who keeps harassing you, to name a few. Despite all these precautions we take and plan before leaving the house, the majority of women have still experienced sexual assault.
The issue, bluntly, does come down to the actions of men. As tweeted by Jameela Jamil, if you as a man, are not calling out your friends inappropriate behaviour and instead laugh alongside them when they make derogatory comments/jokes, you are part of the problem. If you choose not to put a stop to misogynistic behaviour at the source, you are actively contributing to the fear and harassment women experience every single day. If your first reaction to reading the statistics is ‘not all men’, then the fact that you want to protect your male saviour complex by telling yourself you’re a ‘nice guy’ before registering the devastating numbers is a clear sign for you to re-evaluate your actions. And to those who would argue that they too are scared to walk alone at night- which gender is it that you’re afraid of being attacked by?
We are told as children that we need to protect ourselves, and that throughout our lives we will be preyed upon by men, and that they will expect things of us simply because we are women. I for instance, (I by no means intent this piece to have a focus on me individually, I’m stating this as an example of how common it is to be harassed) was first backed into a corner by two grown men when I was thirteen years old, and most recently experienced harassment four months ago as a twenty-two year old woman- it is quite literally part of our lives. As a man reading this- do you feel okay with this? Are you comfortable with the fact your sisters, mothers, friends and family all experience this? That it’s normal for us to quite literally fear for our lives when we just want to walk home?
Just because you aren’t affected directly by sexual assault, does not mean you can’t play a part in preventing it, and be an ally to women. The next time your friend jokes about r*pe or makes a derogatory comment towards women call them out on it and explain to them why it’s inappropriate. By opening somebody’s eyes to these issues you could steer someone away from the wrong path and literally save people’s lives. The video below shows comedian Daniel Sloss discussing the reality of not speaking up and preventing this behaviour (TW: r*pe).
Women are sick of living in fear. We are sick of hearing stories about other women being kidnapped and going missing. We are sick of seeing men, our friends and family not take action.
The comments are open on this post for anyone to share advice or offer help to others seeking it. At FLARE, we are female-led and welcome any DMs or emails from anyone wanting to talk or share their opinions/experiences about the matter.
Stay safe, and stay strong.