I don’t know about you but the recent news of Sarah Everard has shaken me. Every story like this does, and there are so many of them. What gets me in particular about this one though is that the person that allegedly did this to her is a police officer. Someone we are all taught to trust from a young age.
If we can’t even be confident that police will help us, who do we have?
This, men, is what brings me to ask you to take action.
Recently, I described on my Instagram stories that I had been harassed in the street by a group of men when I was all alone. In this instance, I was completely unharmed. I got myself away from the danger I sensed by having already planned the safest route and sprinting along it. The responses I got were overwhelming support, solidarity and understanding, but the majority of these were from women.
This is the issue. Women DO support women the vast majority of the time. We watch out for each other, we send safety tips, we walk/ drive each other home even the shortest distances if we are isolated. The fact is that even with this, we are vulnerable.
What we need is MEN supporting women.
We need men to protect us and keep us safe. This is not an issue of equality or setting us back by protecting us. It’s the opposite actually.
How can we be equal when it is much more common for women to be abused? Want some facts?
- Women/ girls in the UK make up 75% of domestic violence victims with 92% of the perpetrators being men, as opposed to 16% of men falling victim to domestic violence (Womens Aid)
- 20% of women and 4% of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16, equivalent to an estimated 3.4 million female victims and 631,000 male victims. 5 in 6 victims (83%) did not report their experiences to the police (Home office)
- 68% percent of female murder victims knew the suspect, 46% of those were partners or ex partners (compared to 3% in males) (Gov UK)
This is not saying that ALL MEN are bad, violent rapists but the fact is ENOUGH MEN are like this. It’s enough to make women feel afraid in our homes, on our streets, at work, getting to our cars, out and about and especially at night.
Please, men, protect us. Educate yourselves on how.
If you have urges to harm women (or people in general), seek help for it.
Believe us when we tell you our experiences – don’t diminish, mock or shame us.
We want equality, we want to feel safe in situations where men feel safe, we want to be able to know that if we approach a policeman for help he wont kill us.
We don’t want much, these are our basic rights.
If you are a man and you read this and give it no thought or support but simply say ‘not all men’ or try to tell us that we have no business walking places in the dark anyway; then congratulations, YOU are part of the problem. Well done. (FYI that is sarcasm).
Self Preservation to Self Love 