When people ask: "Are you a feminist?", there's often a slightly awkwardly pause before answering in the affirmative. In recent years, the
term 'feminist' has seemingly become taboo and the meaning extremely confused and obscured.
With many people associating 'feminist' with radical feminism, man-hating, and
a women's superiority movement, it can be quite frustrating for people (I feel it's important to stress that I believe that men can be feminists too) who, despite what Tumblr and Twitter may say, merely take feminism to mean something as
radical as 'women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes'. This is, unfortunately, only the first barrier feminists have come to expect. One question constantly asked is: "But
you have equality, women can get the same jobs as men now, why is feminism
still even relevant?"
This blog post will outline one of my own recent experiences and use this as a basis for proving that, even in 2016, feminism is definitely still relevent
This blog post will outline one of my own recent experiences and use this as a basis for proving that, even in 2016, feminism is definitely still relevent
One evening recently, I'd just finished a hard gym session and was not looking forward to the
25 minute walk home in the rain. With my jumper hood up I decided that I'd forego listening to music and just hurry on home to relax, walking at a moderately fast pace. As
someone who is intrigued by human behaviour and interaction - a product of a sociology degree, I decided to watch
how people negotiated the space on the pavement whilst rushing home from work. Unsurprisingly, almost everybody on the busy pavement was walking whilst staring at the floor or at their mobile phones, shunning all contact with their fellow commuters. Consequently, I was therefore rather surprised when two men in front of me
turned and stared straight at me, strange behaviour which broke the unspoken norm of ignoring strangers.
What happened next was also unexpected as these two men
attempted to start a dialogue with me. "Hey, you're really pretty, you
know," the first guy says. Given my state of tiredness, and the
content of the man's statement to me - a focus on my aesthetics, I ignore him, frowned, and walked
on staring straight ahead of me.
Thinking that my ignoring them would be the end of all
interaction, I did not expect the following. The second man, who until this
point had only laughed along with his friend, decided it was time to join in:
"What you ignorin' us for, bitch?" was his delightful contribution. I'm shocked, surely
ignoring the first point of contact suggests a reluctance to be drawn into
further interaction?
Now feeling slightly intimidated and threatened by these two men
and their unwelcome/unwanted advances I decide to employ an
avoidance tactic: I sped up my walking pace, despite my tired legs' reluctance,
and overtook both these two men and another group of students ahead of them.
Walking at a very fast pace I begin to relax a little until I reach a crossing
and have to stop to wait for a car to let me cross the road. Before I get to
the other side, however, the two men overtake me, jogging.
I'm now feeling very intimidated, scared and anxious as to what might take place next. Yes it is a busy time of day with the pavements full
of commuters but still the worry is there. As it is the two men turn to stare
back at me in a sexually-charged manner, laughing and making suggestive
comments to each other.
At this point I'm frantically planning another route home to my
flat in my head to try and escape them - what if they follow me home? The 'what
if' questions fill my head. I'm cursing myself for leaving my mobile phone in
the bag on my back meaning I can't call a friend to act as a safe-guard, just
in case.
Thankfully, they decide they've had enough of their 'game' and
decide that I'm boring by not entertaining their conversation and advances and
stop at a bus-stop.
I breathe a sigh of relief at the next set of traffic lights. I'm
still on-edge though.
All the way home I check over my shoulder to make sure they're not
there. I eye every other person on the street with caution and worry.
This is why we need feminism. Because this is not a one-off.
Because I know for sure from other female friends that I am not the first or
the last woman that will experience this.
In cases like this, when we try to make men understand just why
cat-calling and street harassment is wrong, we often resort to personalising
the situation - 'How would you feel if this happened to you
sister/girlfriend/mother/female friend?' But, in reality, we should not we feel
the need to do this when really all we need to be asking is: "How would
you feel if this happened to another human being?"?
Am I any less of a person than your mother or sister or
girlfriend? Is it acceptable, because we're not acquainted, for me to fall
victim of this kind of harassment?
If things had become more serious and physical in this situation I
am quite sure that I could have probably defended myself, but what about more
vulnerable people? What about a disabled woman who can't speed up her walking
pace to get away? Or a homeless woman who doesn't have a home to escape to and
has no choice about living on the streets? It could have been a lot more
serious.
A study by the campaign group 'Stop Street Harassment' found that,
from a survey of 811 female respondents, 99% had experienced some form of
street harassment. I'm certain that if you ask any female friend whether they
have been cat-called or harassed in an outdoor public place, they will answer
affirmatively.
The mantra of "Don't talk to strangers" was a
life-lesson most of us in the UK had drilled into us from the moment we could
comprehend its meaning. A wariness of strangers is something that children internalise from a young age in most Western cultures. So, when a
strange man (excluding charity representatives, advertisers and the homeless
for whom engaging with strangers is normalised and expected)
tries to engage you in conversation on the street, it is a very uncomfortable
and intimidating situation.
Even in 2016, therefore, some men still
find it acceptable to comment publicly on a woman's looks in an unwanted manner as they pass by her on the street. Women, whilst no longer being passive and mute ‘objects’, are
still seen as sexual objects who must satisfy the 'male gaze' (Mulvey, 1975). Rosalind
Gill (2003) goes further arguing that, in contemporary Western cultures, women now
actually ‘pay good money’ for products which contribute to their own
self-subjectification.
For example, look at this t-shirt
below:
Women are encouraged to spend money
from their still-paid-less-than-men jobs on this T-shirt purely to appeal to
men and to entertain the male gaze.