We’ve all heard the saying. What people don’t say is that what doesn’t kill you, can still leave you feeling dead and cold. Inside and out. Recent events have made me realize just how much evil there truly is in the world. And I know how silly that sounds, especially because as girls, we spend our whole lives being warned. They warn us about strangers, about boys that will break our hearts and eventually about bad men that can hurt us. But until you find yourself in that terrifying moment of truth, all those warnings are just a few more scary stories.
To say that I am deeply disturbed to see someone that I love in the situation that she’s in would be the understatement of the year.
This. Is. Killing. Me.
No matter how many times I reply the details of that night in my head, I still can’t believe that any of this is actually happening. I just can’t comprehend how things like this are still happening to women. With all the developments that we as a people have made, all the scientific milestones we’ve surpassed and social issues that we have resolved. Why is violence against women still tolerated? Why is it so difficult for a man to understand the word NO?
Our world is in desperate need of a rude awakening. Things need to change and a revolution has been a long time coming. Fighting for the right to vote was just a beginning, women should know that we are nowhere near done.
No means no regardless of the circumstances involved. A woman can spend the entire night flirting with you, dancing and even kissing. The moment she says NO, you’re done. That’s it. It’s over. You need walk the fuck away. It seems that somewhere along the way we blurred the lines of how that scenario should go and started justifying a wrong action by blaming the woman. Like one officer said, “it’s just a case of he said she said.” Or like the restaurant owner told me, “that’s what happens when you drink with people that get stupid.”
No, that’s what happens when people break the fucking law. No means no, ALWAYS. And still, statistics show that 78 people are raped every single hour of every single day.
Getting drunk does not constitute rape. Flirting does not constitute rape. Passing out is not a green light. If she’s too gone to speak, sex is not an option.
My body, my rules. Your body, your rules. That’s pretty clear, no questions about it.
Our government was created to protect us, our laws were written to serve as guidelines to ensure that protection.That was my understanding…have I been misinformed?
Jennifer M Lima 