Opinion piece by Aaron Palmer
Trigger warning for mentions of rape and sexual assault
Sexual assault has been a buzz word recently from news articles to social media conversations to discussions and ridiculous arguments over the topic. Sexual assault and rape have hit the front page of social media and the internet after a UN Women UKs survey was covered in the Guardian newspaper on March 10th which stated that 97% of women aged 18-24 had experienced sexual assault at some point in their lives, alongside thousands of women writing complaints to universities across the UK about sexual harassment, rape and sexual assault incidents and women from around the UK sharing their stories. This led to subsequent marches such as the 97 March that took place in London on Saturday 3rd April, students at universities holding sit in protests such as the one that took place at Exeter University last month and on some platforms men asking what they can do to help women feel safer out on the streets or posts being shared informing men of how they can help women feel safer on the streets or how to help.
Photo from the 97 March Saturday 3rd April
Not All Men
The #NotAllMen hashtag began shortly after the guardian article and after women had shared some of their experiences with a very misogynistic and sexist underlying tone throughout, whether it was blatantly hidden or buried under the surface, depending on the posts. This tag has amassed 46.8 thousand posts in which lot feature men attacking women around the issues of sexual harassment and rape saying that the women at hand ‘desereved it’ amongst other things. It also included men calling themselves ‘the good guys’ over how they’ve never sexually assaulted or raped someone even though that should be the normal standard, not something that makes you a good guy. There were also glimpses of women in defending men saying things along the lines that catcalling is the same as compliment, yet anyone who has been catcalled in their life would know that is quite the opposite as these incidents can even lead to violence. The whole hashtag of #NotAllMen is tainted with misogyny with men making exclamations that “it happens to men too” which no one denies but seems to only be brought up by these men when women’s issues are attempted to be addressed, or the statements saying they deserved it or the belief that men don’t need to try and help or shouldn’t try and help.
So What Can You Do?
Whether you’re man or woman or non-binary you can help by spreading awareness of how you can help women feel safer on the streets; such as crossing the road to the opposite side when its dark, not giving creepy smiles to passing women or acting in a hostile or dodgy manner. Furthermore you can intervene in altercations in which the woman at hand seems uncomfortable, by confronting the individual who could be harassing her or them and say your a friend, relative or partner and try and bring them away from the situation, or if its a group of people rather than just one pretend you have some mutual friends not too far away or someone is coming to pick the both of you up. And most importantly try and tackle it at the roots before it can be something a friend of yours or someone you know might go on and do. Such roots can be identified through inappropriate comments about women you may or may not know, catcalling and aggressive behaviour to women either physically or through words. Articles specifically written to inform you of signs can be found online or threads on twitter or posts on instagram will have more information on how to spot the early signs.
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