Men Will Never Truly Understand A Day In The Life of Women. But Shouldn’t We Try? [View all]

[seabeyond]

Last edited Mon Jul 2, 2012, 01:08 PM - Edit history (1)

This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard about the epidemic of street harassment. Many of my women friends have remarked about experiencing and dealing with this kind of harassment and how unsafe it makes them feel. For Dina, one particular instance of harassment on the streets of New York was cemented in her memory. She was walking alone, during the day, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, when she heard a man taunt her, “Hey baby, you’re lookin’ good…”

“Don’t call me baby,” she responded.

He looked her up and down and said, “…fucking dyke.”

*

Most men don’t even realize street harassment exists as a very real, serious problem. Yet,
many women see this kind of harassment as part of daily life. For the few men who are aware of
it, they assume the extent of street harassment is something akin to harmless, or at worst,
annoying flirting, which still problematic if that attention is unwelcome. The reality of street harassment is far worse than what most men think or believe.
In cities large and small, women have to contend with comments that range from the mildly offensive to the
disgusting. Beyond being verbally harassed, many women are followed and some women are
even forced to deal with the same harasser on a daily basis. And for some women, this
“harmless” harassment leads to assault.

*

Last weekend, I had an experience that reminded me to think about the struggles of women.
After leaving a dinner meeting, I walked to a bank of elevators that led to the parking structure
where my car was parked. When the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by a woman who
was headed to the same parking garage. Given the situation—it was late at night with no one
around—I told her, “I’ll take the next one.”

This woman knew nothing about my intentions and nothing about me. Did I want her to spend
the next thirty seconds wondering what was going to happen to her at 11pm at night? Nope. I
wonder if she would have asked me to take the next elevator. I know she has probably been
conditioned to think, like so many women, that asking a man to take the next elevator would be
rude and presumptuous.

http://thecurrentconscience.com/blog/2011/08/30/men-will-never-truly-understand-a-day-in-the-life-of-women-but-shouldn%E2%80%99t-we-try/