When you teach a girl how to protect herself, rather than teaching a boy how to behave, this is what happens.

When you teach a boy that crying is a girl’s thing, this is what happens.

When you tell someone that they are making a big deal out of ‘nothing’, this is what happens.

When you blame someone for what has been done to them, because of how they dress, how they speak, how they act, this is what happens.

When you say “not all men”, trust me, there’s still too many out there.

When you continually feed the power imbalance between genders, sexualities, races, classes; when you construct a hegemonic structure that allows some to take advantage of the many unrepresented ones; when speaking through stereotypes, we allow predators to hurt people.

And you keep feeding this rape culture when you disregard the stories when they are finally being told. Give them your full attention, because no one plays the victim for the fun of it.

Even when it takes them some time to share, it doesn’t make their stories less valid.

Sexual assault is not something that “she/he probably enjoyed”. It is about power abuse. It is about shaming someone, making them feel wrong.

None of this should be right or tolerated.

You might have seen #MeToo on various social media: women and men are coming out about their experiences, but also sharing that in solidarity.

#MeToo doesn’t come as a surprise, but ask yourself if you too have done any of the above things to let this happen.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply