shock and fury
A 29-year-old ABC reporter has been raped and murdered a few streets away from where I live. The murderer was arrested yesterday. Her body was found this morning.
Am reeling with fury, including at myself for having thoughts along the lines of "she should have accepted her friend's offer of a lift and not walked home alone, in high heels, at 1.30 a.m.". It is NOT RIGHT that the fear of rape should deter women from walking alone at night, in high heels if that's what they choose to wear. It is NOT RIGHT that women's freedom should be curtailed by fear of rape.
Thirty years ago, in Italy and the UK, I marched in "Reclaim the Night" marches, shouting "Keep men off the streets, not women" and the Italian for "We like the night, we want to go out freely" (in Italian it rhymes). What, if anything, has changed? Have women become more complacent? Have men become more arrogant? Do we need to start all over again?
For the twenty-seven years that I have lived in my house I have walked home from the tram stop as late as 1 a.m., feeling safe. Now this is over, I will be driving, or catching taxis that I can't afford, or asking for lifts. Being 66 and overweight and never, ever wearing heels may or may not protect me, but in any case this is a bloody stupid, divisive thought - every woman, of any age, of any build, wearing anything she likes, should be safe. And isn't.
Am reeling with fury, including at myself for having thoughts along the lines of "she should have accepted her friend's offer of a lift and not walked home alone, in high heels, at 1.30 a.m.". It is NOT RIGHT that the fear of rape should deter women from walking alone at night, in high heels if that's what they choose to wear. It is NOT RIGHT that women's freedom should be curtailed by fear of rape.
Thirty years ago, in Italy and the UK, I marched in "Reclaim the Night" marches, shouting "Keep men off the streets, not women" and the Italian for "We like the night, we want to go out freely" (in Italian it rhymes). What, if anything, has changed? Have women become more complacent? Have men become more arrogant? Do we need to start all over again?
For the twenty-seven years that I have lived in my house I have walked home from the tram stop as late as 1 a.m., feeling safe. Now this is over, I will be driving, or catching taxis that I can't afford, or asking for lifts. Being 66 and overweight and never, ever wearing heels may or may not protect me, but in any case this is a bloody stupid, divisive thought - every woman, of any age, of any build, wearing anything she likes, should be safe. And isn't.