So,
many people had comments on the woman walking in the streets of New
York City for
10 hours being harassed by men http://youtu.be/b1XGPvbWn0A . I didn't watch it, and I
didn't comment on it. Not because it isn't anything new, or because it
isn't wrong, I just didn't comment on it. I thought that it was good that
it was actually taped, because many people need to see what some women have to
go through on a daily basis. I did not live in New
York City , but I did experience sexual
harassment while walking and while working when I was a younger woman. I
didn't need to see something that I experienced. I was uncomfortable with
the fact that people attacked her, but I didn't say anything about that either,
because these attacks and/or arguments are not new either. There has
always been an opposing side stating that really this is a compliment, or it is
harmless, or the woman is dressing too provocatively, and etc... There have
always been people who want to attack and deflect. These arguments are
more than just decades old, they are centuries old. In fact, the idea of
taping the harassment reminded me of an old Designing Women episode about
construction workers. http://youtu.be/hxGRJElvEo0
However,
this issue got under my skin when I read the article from the Daily Caller,
“New York Times: Should Black And Hispanic Men Be Banned From Chatting Up White
Feminist Women?” http://news.yahoo.com/york-times-black-hispanic-men-banned-chatting-white-035140800.html So, now even this is a race issue,
Wow!! As a young African American woman, I got catcalled by men of all
races. Now, when I read this article, the New York Times discussion
piece, “Do we need a law against catcalling?” http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/31/do-we-need-a-law-against-catcalling , people are arguing that it is a race
issue. I am supposed to listen to this argument, and entertain in any
credible way that this is a race, cultural and economic class issue and not a
sex and power issue. Wait, let me take one thing back, it is
cultural thing, an American, Latino, Hispanic, European, Middle Eastern,
African, and etc… cultural issue, but it has nothing to do with race. It
has always been a way to demean women. The only reason the woman was
harassed by more minorities in this video, was that more minorities were
outside. If she were in neighborhood where a lot of white men were
working outside she would have experienced the same thing. But, the
saddest part about this is that many women know women know what I am saying is
true because they have experienced it first had, but race has divided this
country up so much recently, that they will ignore their past experiences, they
will ignore fact and agree that this is a race issue or worse, just not say
anything at all.
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