Kayla Parker, Washington, D.C., USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

The debate goes on and on about what a woman should do should a stranger in a public space approach her. Some people say that a simple, “No thank you,” or an “I’m not interested” will do the trick. Other people argue that it’s entirely too dangerous to decline and a woman should just give a fake number in an attempt to get the man to leave her alone. Both are compelling arguments and there are very plausible reasons for why a woman would be afraid to decline.

A week ago, a woman in Pittsburg, Janese Talton-Jackson was fatally shot after rejecting advances from a man in a bar. Janese was the mother of twin girls and a 1 year-old baby boy. When discussing street harassment, we often talk about what “could” happen and brainstorm ways to prevent an outcome like this. Many people scoff at the idea of street harassment being dangerous but what happened to Janese could easily happen to anyone.

I initially read the story of what happened to Janese on Facebook and upon further research, I was absolutely disgusted by the viewpoints left via comments.

“What was she doing at a bar at night when she has young kids at home anyway?” one comment read. Another user insisted that she probably “led him on” or “was being a tease.”

We have been conditioned to a culture of victim blaming. We live in a world where a mother of three is murdered for declining an offer, yet people assassinate her character and defend the culprit. I challenge you to test this theory for yourself.

In your free time go to Google and enter the search terms, “woman killed after rejecting man” and see for yourself how many cases exist. Next scroll down to the “comments” section of the article and I can almost guarantee you will find a victim blamer who chooses to ignore the brutality the victim was forced to endure. Pittsburg, Detroit, and New York City are only few of the places this has happened.

Women of all different ages and racial backgrounds have had to suffer for simply declining an offer. Meanwhile in the comments sections of these articles, Facebook stories, blog posts and otherwise, there is always one (if not many) heckler who insist upon blaming the victim. There is a blog that collects stories of things that have happened to women who reject men’s advances called, “When Women Refuse.”

As for Charles McKinney, the 41-year-old man who took Janese Talton-Jackson’s life, he has been arrested and stands to face charges for homicide as well as “two counts of aggravated assault, firearms without a license, fleeing or attempting to elude police, two counts of possession with intent to deliver, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving.”

Kayla Parker is a sophomore acting major at Howard University and is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to focusing on school, she spends her time working on her web-series, “Black Girls R Us” that aims to uplift black women of all different shapes, sizes, and shades. For updates on episode releases, you can follow her on twitter at @TheTimidLioness.