Fair warning to all sad, sorry young men trolling the streets of my city: if you cat-call me (as one unfortunate boy discovered the other day), I will not take it.
I will instead stop my bike, ask you to please explain precisely why you think it’s acceptable to speak to me that way, and spend the next five to seven minutes schooling you on just exactly how sad and sorry you are; the bigger the audience, the better, because if you think that you can shame me for being a woman, then I’d very much like you to be as shamed as possible in as public an arena as possible. If you shout at me on the street, I will shout back because you are putting my body on display and expecting my silent acquiescence. If you think that my female subjectivity makes my body forfeit, then you are, in this case, sadly goddamn mistaken. I’m not interested in that game, so I’m going to shout and lecture and belittle you — I am going to get in your face — I am going to make you look at my eyes and not at my tits – I’m going to make a big goddamn scene — I’m going to crush you with my intellect and my voice and my power so that what is now on display is your pathetic misogyny, not my body.
I am decidedly not your “baby girl.” You seem to be unclear about why that’s an insulting thing to call me, a grown-ass woman, so let me explain; by calling me “baby girl,” you are attempting to reduce my subjectivity to the kind of small, manageable size that allows you to overpower me, to disregard my personhood, and to ignore my humanity. By calling me “baby girl,” you elide me. That’s not to say that the term baby girl never be one of endearment or kindness, but if you’ll recall, I don’t know and therefore cannot endear you. If I gave you permission to speak to me in that way, it would be a different matter but, hey! I didn’t, so shut your mouth. I am no one’s baby, I am not a girl, and, more importantly, I am not the kind of woman who allows herself to be spoken to in that manner. Should I repeat myself? I’ll repeat myself: if you call me out on the street, expect that I will speak back. You want a monologue, but you’ve damn well walked into a dialogue, and now we’re going to have a conversation. It’s not as much fun when your victim talks back, is it?
I apologize for the fact that we live in a culture that trains you to think that you can somehow enhance your masculinity through that kind of behavior, but my sadness will not diminish the righteous fury of my talking back. I am sorry that you’ve been led to believe that you will be bigger, better, and more manly if you belittle women. I’m sorry that your own male subjectivity means you’ve been locked into unequal, unjust networks of power. Your personhood is just as restricted as mine by these systems and that means that misogyny is a goddamn tragedy for the both of us. But you still have more privilege than I do, straight white man, and thus it is your responsibility to actively work to change those systems. You are a beneficiary of your privilege, but you don’t have to be a signatory to my oppression. If you want to actually prove yourself to be a person of worth, then you will join in the fight against this kind of bullshit instead of actively engaging in it.
And to the other men, standing around embarrassed and silent while I yelled at your friend? You are tacitly approving of his behavior by not taking a stance against it. Call him out, don’t let him save face, don’t put up with that bullshit. Because I’m about to bike away and then it will be up to you to take the next step. Do you want to be men of quality, or do you want to be passive supporters of inequality?
In sum, young sir, you picked the wrong bitch to mess with.
Tags: female subjectivity, feminism, misogyny, politics, society, street harassment, talking back, women
surprise hiatus
17 MayHi, friends!
I went away there for a hot minute, didn’t I? And by “hot minute,” I think I mean “accidentally most of this month.” Woopsies! I honestly didn’t intend to, but this term has been blazing by and my days are so filled with dashing to and fro that I’ve just… let this little project slide.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about that. If I’m being truthful, I’ll admit that I both did and did not miss this hobby. And if I’m being yet more truthful, I’ll admit that I think I’ve answered a lot of my own questions through this project, questions that drove me to start this blog but, in being answered, perhaps mean that the purpose of this project has run its course. That’s not to say that I’ll stop blogging, just that I’m not sure what the road ahead is and it might take me a little longer to figure that out.
So for now, I’ll say the following: thank you all for reading this and all the other things I ramble about, thank you all for your kind comments and generous e-frienships, thank you for being vibrant and impressive people in your own rights, people whose lives I enjoy tracking in my own little e-way. I don’t intend upon disappearing or abandoning this space, but I think it will likely change and I understand that therefore the composition of this community will change, too. I look forward to that, as growth and change are what keep up alive.
Anyhow, while I’m soul-searching, here are some pretty things to look at, because all my posts need shiny happy colorful images in order for me to feel complete about them:
Tags: hi friends, kind comments, soul searching