So I'm walking into a store this evening, by myself, and from like 10 feet away this douche bag's like "How you doin'?" Tribiani-style. Really? How fucking dare you? I'm not fucking scenery. I'm not ornamentation. I'm not an inanimate object there for your observation and comment. I am a person. Just because I am a woman out of my home after 6:00 pm doesn't give a man the right to "holla" at me.
Now I know there are some people who would think hey, just ignore it, but, why should I have to? Why is it on me to ignore this asshole? If I had been with a guy this creep wouldn't have said one fucking word to me but, because I was alone he somehow felt entitled to not only leer at me, (which would have been bad enough) but also address me as well.
I don't always react well in stressful situations and perhaps for another person this occurrence might not evoke the same response but, to me, in no uncertain terms it feels like a violation. I'm so wound up right now it's difficult for me to even get this out and wtf man, all I wanted to do was pick up my prescription, come home and try to relax. Instead, I'm sitting at my table, heart racing, head pounding and praying that despite the fact that my shitty insurance scrip-blocked me, I'll actually be able to sleep more than thirty minutes tonight.
That's looking less possible as the minutes tick by though. I hate this. I hate feeling helpless and that in turn makes me angry. I am angry that this guy has made the anxiety that's been crushing me for the past few days that much worse. I want to lash out and scream and punch him in the face until his teeth are little more than a memory, because it wasn't enough for him to harass me once. This scum bag actually decided that my lack of a satisfactory response in the store warranted another round of cat-calling as I was walking back to my car.
What the FUCK??? I was in the store for at least 5 minutes after the first incident and while I waited in line and then spoke the the pharmacist I had this nagging fear that he was going to be waiting for me outside. I'll give him that he didn't physically approach me but, I can't be certain if that was because I basically ran to my car once I was out of the store or because there were other people around. I don't understand why more people don't realize that this is harassment and that it is not acceptable.
In a round-about hap-hazzard way what I'm getting at is this: Sometimes people are like "So you're a feminist? Are you a lesbian?" or "Oh you're a man hater". You know what? Get bent. I don't hate men. I'm not a lesbian. I'm a woman who believes that women are people and deserve to be treated with the respect and dignity you would afford a man simply because he is a human being. What I hate, is misogyny, rape-culture, victim blaming and feeling like I might need to carry a weapon in case I ever need to be out in public after sundown.
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