Speaking out for women's rights is essential in the fight for equal rights. When a community, even a society, remains silent, the oppressed are not helped in the least bit. In fact, they are cut down even more, tormented further. Being silent is the worst action to take. Women all over America, all over the world, are being raped, degraded, harassed, embarrassed, and beaten close to death, only to be slapped in the face once more by being blamed. The fault is placed onto the victims of this abuse and torment. Oppressors, torturers, use lines such as "she was drunk, she didn't say no!", "her clothing was provoking and slutty", and more ridiculous excuses that make the victims become assaulted all over again. Men are affected too. Yes, it is true that men are raped and sexually assaulted too, however, the difference is most of the male rape percentage takes place in prison. Women are taken in broad daylight, in parking garages, and even raped in their own homes. Women are told they cannot wear many things because it encourages rape, distracts boys, and calls unwanted attention onto them. Rape is by definition any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person. Rape is sex without consent. It was not possible to want to be raped, to try to get raped. Willing consent is just sex. The worst part is only 3% of rapists see time in jail. That leaves 97% of rapists free to go rape again. Keeping quiet about subjects like this seem pleasing and tempting, but being submissive and giving into this temptation is detrimental. Elie Wiesel himself said ""There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done, one person.... can make a difference" (1). One person can scream as loud as they would like, and with a crowd behind them, it creates a voice unable to be ignored.
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.
pleaseeee try to add something about street harassment. it is rampant, and a lot of people don't even realize that it's wrong or offensive to women.
ReplyDelete-skopunargledi
The problem with speaking out isn't that we won't listen, it's that the victim seldom speaks out at all. 61% of rapes and sexual assaults go unreported. And that thing you touched on earlier about women going out and getting drunk and then being raped is a stereotype and you failed to get to the real problem. The real problem isn't a woman going out getting drunk and then getting raped by a stranger, which makes up 1 in 10 of rape cases, it's the fact that the majority of all rape cases happen inside the victim's home.
ReplyDelete-internet friend