The Mental Preparation to Walk Down the Street

Women and the experience of being a woman is not a singular experience.

Discussing women's experience in this singular way is anti-black at root, along with an extensive list of other oppressive-ass things.

There's been a lot of discussion in the media about street harassment as of late, mostly due to a video that went viral that was produced by the group Hollaback!, an anti-street harassment organization that educates and produces information on the topic. Shortly thereafter, it was admitted by the organization that many of the harassers who were white men had been edited out. Severely problematic for so many reasons, one of which is that by doing this, you are editing in a way that will guarantee to perpetuate the idea that street harassers are predominantly men of color while simultaneously editing to protect the violence against women that white men commit, unapologetically.

Also, let's move to stop calling it "cat calling".  It side-steps and belittles what the issue is and what is happening for anyone who experiences it, and that is not an innocent act. I know that "cat calling" has been in the modern vocabulary for a while, but let's get rid of it- for reasons of oppression and internalized oppression.  What "cat calling" describes does not involve meowing, cute little creatures, or something that somehow sounds fun or asked for:   It is harassment and it is a form of violence.

In the meantime, if you're on Twitter, or even if you aren't, start reading the #youoksis thread. It describes experiences of tangible and effective interruption to harassment, describes the reasons and experiences of why these interruptions are necessary, and just, on the whole offers a lot of insight to various types of violence that various types of women experience in the area of harassment. It has been around for a bit and has been spreading in large thanks to blogger Feminista Jones who started the hashtag and speaking publicly about it. 


be well; be loved,

k.

(image credit: from Vanilla Pilifera Tumblr)
(title is connected to a few things I read this week discussing how much time is spent by people who are targets of street harassment simply preparing and putting their hard face on just to walk down the fucking street.)