“Meanwhile, the radio host who groped Taylor Swift at a 2013 meet-and-greet and then unsuccessfully sued her for saying so--since her speaking up resulted in his being fired--complains he's afraid to talk to women (perhaps because talking to a woman and grabbing a woman's ass are apparently so hard for him to tell apart, a kind of confusion we're hearing about from many men who are now 'afraid to talk to' women).”
Source: Whose Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters
“It's detrimental to productivity telling ourselves we can't, when we can.”
“Is this what growing into an adult woman is—having to predict and accordingly arrange for the avoidance of sexual harassment?”
Source: Queenie
“The reporting rate is even lower in New York City, with an estimated 96% of sexual harassment and 86% of sexual assaults in the subway system going unreported, while in London, where a fifth of women have reportedly been physically assaulted while using public transport, a 2017 study found that 'around 90% of people who experience unwanted sexual behavior would not report it... Enough women have experienced the sharp shift from 'Smile, love, it might never happen,' to 'Fuck you bitch why are you ignoring me?'... But all too often the blame is out on the women themselves for feeling fearful, rather than on planners for designing urban spaces and transit environments that make them feel unsafe... Women are often scared in public spaces. In fact, they are around twice as likely to be scared as men. And, rather unusually, we have the data to prove it.”
Source: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
“First rule of self-defense is: Don't ask your attacker for validation.”
Source: Maybe He Just Likes You
“I just meant this stuff with me is different. And I definitely wouldn't call it regular bullying."
"So what would you call it, then?"
I opened my mouth to answer.
But I didn't have any words.
Because all the words I could think of—bullying, teasing, flirting—seemed too simple, too small, to hold all the hurt I was feeling.”
Source: Maybe He Just Likes You
“The state is controlling my destiny and my penis.”
Source: Why I'm Making It Legal for Your 18 Year Old Daughter to Get In Bed with a Complete Stranger for Only 500 Bucks: A Short Essay from a Pro Se Litigant who is Challenging the Utah Brothel Bans
“How confused they were when they saw how much I’d grown. Like, ‘Should we scorn her because she’s a kid? Or should we objectify her because she’s a woman? What kind of shit should we make her feel like?’”
Source: This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us
“In all societies, both women and men are powerfully conditioned to repress the daily realities of (sexual harassment and workplace glass ceilings) and to collude with the rest of society in keeping these dimensions of shared experiences hidden.”
Source: Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation Between Women and Men
“You don't owe me your love. You didn't owe me a polite yes. It was not on you to let me down gently and somehow ward off punishment I was fucking stupid enough to think you deserved.”
Source: Never Sweeter