An entry in my xanga last night
Just got back from the Sculpture Garden with Brad. He thought it necessary to get a photo of the bridge between the Garden and Loring Park at night, and so we went to get the shot. He got one shot from each end of the bridge, and decided he wanted me in a shot, so he told me to go to the other end (the Loring Park end) of the bridge so he could take the picture, and so I started walking; as I walked I got this idea in my head of the SG side as being the "good" side, and the LP side as being the "bad" side - this is for the most part true, as you'd be crazy to stroll through Loring Park after dark, and the Sculpture Gardens are located in a posh neighborhood next to the Walker/Guthrie and such - and I suddenly disliked the idea of walking towards Loring Park alone a great deal. I had this image in my head of stereotypical bad guys leaping out from the shadows and carrying me away to my doom; just as I had this thought, I looked up and lo, there at the other end of the bridge had just arrived a troupe of beater-clad, tawny young men on bicycles. It is one thing to imagine a scary sight, but it is another to have it appear before you as you imagine it.
I turned on my heels and walked back towards Brad and the Sculpture Gardens, having secretly been scared shitless by the potential outcome of a could-be encounter.
As the young men passed us on their bikes I received a shower of cat-calls and Brad a series of remarks about me. Not only do I find this situation to be wrong and frightening, I am angry that it, and far worse, happens every day to countless women.
It is wrong that women must fear assault, both physical and verbal. It is wrong that my single greatest fear exists at all. This brings me to another point, and it is that feminism is essential. What I mean by that is that so much of feminism is about autonomy for women - freedom to exist as we choose and freedom from crimes against us because of our gender. As long as there exists my fear, the fear I share with so many women, I cannot have autonomy.
We are ruled by our fears so long as they are not within our control. And so, being constantly afraid for my female friends and myself, I am limited for life. We are limited for life. That is what feminism struggles against, and that, my friends, is why every decent man and woman should call themselves a feminist. It's not the politics, it's the reality.
I turned on my heels and walked back towards Brad and the Sculpture Gardens, having secretly been scared shitless by the potential outcome of a could-be encounter.
As the young men passed us on their bikes I received a shower of cat-calls and Brad a series of remarks about me. Not only do I find this situation to be wrong and frightening, I am angry that it, and far worse, happens every day to countless women.
It is wrong that women must fear assault, both physical and verbal. It is wrong that my single greatest fear exists at all. This brings me to another point, and it is that feminism is essential. What I mean by that is that so much of feminism is about autonomy for women - freedom to exist as we choose and freedom from crimes against us because of our gender. As long as there exists my fear, the fear I share with so many women, I cannot have autonomy.
We are ruled by our fears so long as they are not within our control. And so, being constantly afraid for my female friends and myself, I am limited for life. We are limited for life. That is what feminism struggles against, and that, my friends, is why every decent man and woman should call themselves a feminist. It's not the politics, it's the reality.