In the wake of the UC Santa Barbara shooting by a man angry at women and the shooting in Stockton, California, where a man allegedly fired his gun at three women Saturday morning who refused to have sex with him and his friends, a lot of people are speaking out about how common it is for some men to feel entitled to women’s attention and bodies.
In addition to articles on news sites and posts on blogs on this topic, people are taking to Twitter and speaking out using the hashtag #YesAllWomen.
Also, Deanna Zandt started a new Tumblr called When Women Refuse (Trigger Warning), detailing the violence men incite on women for refusing their sexual advances.
Street harassment is coming up a lot in these conversations because it is a very clear manifestation of this type of behavior. I see this this all the time in the stories I hear and collect on this blog.
1 – In the first place, most street harassment is the outcome of men feeling entitled to comment on, follow and touch women (and men) they do not know, without their permission.
2 – Then, when women refuse to say thank you to the harasser, give him their phone number, agree to sex, smile when he tells them to or otherwise refuses men’s demands, some men get angry and call women stuck up or a bitch, push them, chase them, throw garbage at them*, run them over and shoot them. This is insane. It needs to STOP.
SSH is releasing a huge national report on street harassment in one week. It includes summaries of 10 focus groups and these kinds of stories came up many times. I hope the report can contribute valuable information to this conversation and show why male feelings of entitlement to women needs to be addressed.
Men are never entitled to women’s attention or bodies. This is an important message that we must all spread. Women’s lives depend on it.
* See the full film for the garbage story
