A woman goes out in a tight dress and high heels and she’s “asking for it”. She’s had one or two drinks and one of them had a roofie in it. She’s only 22, but now she will live the rest of her life keeping the secret of what happened because only 68% of sexual assaults are reported to the police.
A girl is on her private balcony laying with little to no clothes on and a man climbs up and rapes her. Did she ask for it? What if I tell you that she was five years old because 44% of sexual assault victims are under 18.
Both of these women may have to live with knowing that their attacker is still out there because 98% of rapists will not spend a single day in jail or prison.
We need to stop this rape culture of sexualizing everything women do from what they wear to how they act to something even as simple as a friendly smile. To do this, we as a society need to start to teach boys not to rape rather than women how not to get raped. For women it’s always “walk with your car keys between your fingers, look confident, be aware of your surroundings, travel in groups” but why don’t we tell boys “a woman's’ shoulders, upper thighs, and stomach, are not sexual body parts, if a woman says no you need to stop, and women do not owe you sex and you are not entitled to it”? Yes, it is good to teach women how to defend themselves but we have to teach boys to know what is wrong.
Society has depicted that certain body parts on a woman are purely sexual. I feel like I struggle with this on a daily basis because I am well endowed. I see my friends walking around in a low cut shirt and no comment is made but once I do, everyone says “put your boobs away” and I constantly feel like people are staring. I hate the fact that I am restricted on my clothing choices because of something I can’t control. I hate the fact that just because I have DDDs men find me “more desireable”. And I hate the fact that my friends are jealous and constantly commenting on something that makes me seen as a sexual object.
Three hundred thousand women a year are sexually assaulted. I am not a statistic, and hope to never be, but am often living in fear because as a woman, my physical attributes are seen as sexual and more appealing. When in reality, my body is mine to appreciate and I can share it with whomever I choose. My body is a temple and I am the God it was built for.