On my way to the supermarket...

About an hour ago I was walking down my street by myself on the way to the supermarket. Being a Sunday, the street was quiet and empty, except for a group of four men in their thirties standing in a group around the footpath. As I walked past, every one of them turned and very obviously “checked me out”.

I can’t even begin to tell you how scared and vulnerable I felt. In my own street, just minutes from my house I was terrified.

I’m not going to deny that I don’t look at men but I have NEVER made an intentionally obvious effort to look at someone like that. I have never wolf whistled at someone and I have never called out lewd comments to someone.

I’m nothing special, but these things happen to me all the time.

Once, a boy no older than nine standing with his MOTHER yelled to me at a crowded train station “nice legs lovey, what time do they open?”

It is this sort of harassment that works to convince girls that they are intrinsically weak, that they need protection, and they will only ever be ok when they have a husband to look after them.

I am sick of being too scared to be alone in public. I am sick of being too scared to be outside after dark. And I am REALLY sick of people thinking that I should be taking this harassment as some sort of a compliment. Why should I? It was never intended as a compliment and it certainly didn’t make me feel good.

Apart from making me feel vulnerable, all this harassment does is remind me how blind people are to the inequalities in our society. Shouldn’t I have the same right to feel safe as any man does? Shouldn’t I be admired for the fact I actually have some sort of intellectual capacity rather than for the fact I happen to wear a DD bra?

Girls are being taught to enjoy this disgusting attention and are learning that being something to be looked at is all that they will ever be good for. Even nine year old boys are learning to see women as nothing but objects (what the HELL was that boys’ mother THINKING?).

The people who keep denying the existence of sexism in Australia in 2011 obviously aren’t looking for it because it is everywhere. It’s not just in my street- it’s in their street, and their homes, and their workplaces. Until people start opening their eyes to this, women still won’t be able to go to the supermarket without having to come home and blog about it.