I don’t want to be nice to creepy and strange men.
Comments and questions from random and strange men have unfortunately become all too common place for many women and others. And it’s not just women who experience unwanted attention and harassment nor does it look totally the same for various reasons. But street harassment has become a usual thing – one that happens daily for some people and I’m just tired of it. (And I’m not the only one.)
I’m even more tired and annoyed and frustrated with the fact that people have to be polite and welcoming to this kind of behavior. People have actually changed their behavior and the routes they take to avoid experiencing harassment and behavior because not being so would be disastrous. Numerous women have been killed or attacked for saying no or rejecting advances (which is a part of what prompted Feminista Jones to start the hashtag #YouOkSis).
I want to live in a world in which people can feel safe walking down the street, where they don’t have to change their behavior or be polite to unwanted attention. I don’t want to be nice to creepy and strange men anymore and I want to live in a place where the consequences of saying no isn’t being attacked or worse.
I saw in the news where that woman was killed for rejecting a man. Just crazy! Ladies, be safe out there.
It’s such a terrifying thing!! And it keeps happening over and over again
What’s sad is that because we all grow up in this culture where cat-calling is so normalized, to people who DON’T get cat-called it’s also demoralizing. My girlfriend sometimes talks about how she wishes she got cat-called because at least that means someone finds her attractive, and no matter how much I explain that it’s a truly awful, scary experience, she still sees it as validation – even if it’s from someone you don’t care about.
ALTHOUGH – I was once cat-called by a 90 year old woman and that was just hilarious.
It’s upsetting that people feel like they need to be polite. I embrace and encourage other people to embrace the idea that you have no obligation to be friendly to a random stranger who is bothering them. However, I understand why women are nice sometimes because they have reason to fear the consequences. Of course, it ultimately doesn’t matter how a woman reacts when dealing with a violent, angry man.