Street Harrassment, and What Constitutes a “Real Victim”

Today I was reading an article posted on the CBC about a vulgar joke hurled at a Montreal reporter. Of course, the usual sorts of comments followed, like, “printing this only takes away from real victims”, “can’t you take a joke”, and “stop giving them attention, and they’ll go away”.

The fact that so many people seem to think that street harassment is just a joke, and that those subjected to it aren’t real victims outlines exactly how normalized this kind of behaviour is. As a culture, we feel as though we can derail and silence people, mostly women, who have been groped, or harassed in public spaces. I find it disturbing how many people are willing to wave off discussions of street harassment and assault in the same week that a young woman was sexually assaulted and left for dead in Winnipeg, and another woman was sexually assaulted a short time later.

Let me spell it out for you: street harassment isn’t flattering, It isn’t a joke, and it isn’t something we can ignore until it goes away. It’s a symptom of a much larger problem, and talking about it in our communities is just one of the steps we need to take in order to make those same communities safer for half the population. Street harassment is about power, entitlement, and dehumanization. If you don’t believe me, then let me ask you this: If street harassment is just about flattery, then why do those who engage in it become abusive when a victim tells them to stop? Why are victims followed, and stalked? If it’s just about complements, then why are the comments made sexually explicit?

If you can listen to the stories, and see the stats on street harassment, then how could you possibly say that there are no “real victims”? Our culture needs to collectively get our heads out of our asses.

The Acceptable Feminist

So, I ran into this image on facebook yesterday, and really all I have to say about it is:

Basically the image boils down to, “I like Feminists, but only if they know their place as dictated by the current problematic standards, are viewed by men as “fuckable”, and are quiet and apologetic. No, just no.

The implication that a “real” Feminist only tackles issues of “women living in disadvantaged areas of the globe” works to derail any critique of sexism here at home by essentially denying that it exists at all. It’s the same bullshit Feminists have been dealing with forever. This “Feminism light” that has been bandied around in pop culture recently doesn’t actually do anything to help Feminism as a legitimate socio-political, grassroots movement, because it’s only aim is to make women conform and fit into convenient little boxes where they can’t cause trouble.

Remember guys, you’re only a real Feminist if you’re pretty, white, allow other people to dictate what you should do with your own body, and let others dictate what rape is.

The thing with any movement committed to fostering change is that it isn’t convenient, or pretty, and it doesn’t smile when you tell it to. My Feminism will not be dictated to me, and I don’t care if that upsets anybody.