Iâm gonna rant a little for a second bc in the U.K., a woman named Sarah Everard was kidnapped and presumed to have been murdered by a male police officer. The MET policeâs response? Asking women to stay home and be more careful when they walk at night.
Sarah Everard walked down well lit streets. She phoned her boyfriend and talked for most of her journey. She was literally just walking home. And she is being blamed for her own murder. The narrative surrounding this story has turned into what women should do to avoid these situations and not exposing the harsh reality that a police officer has literally done the exact opposite of his job description.
This story has hit hard with so many women across the U.K. and I have had so many conversations with friends in the last 24 hours about how tired we are. Of how insane it is the things we have learned.
Like how we learn to walk with our keys between our fists. Or how we text each-other when weâre in the Uber not to let friends know when weâve set off but so they know where to look if we go missing. Or how sometimes we put a ring on our left hand bc a guy is less likely to harass you if he sees you as belonging to another man already.
Weâre tired. Weâre frustrated. Weâre angry. 97% of women and girls in the U.K. have been sexually harassed. And men on twitter are telling us ânot all menâ.
Perhaps not but when itâs practically all women being sexually harassed then society needs to be looked at, starting with how we raise our men to treat women and the horrifying things we expect women to learn to do to avoid their dark sides.