the perks of being a wallflower
So I work at a big box retailer and I hate it.
The other day I was standing at the fitting room, answering the phones, opening the doors, sorting clothes and so forth when during a quiet moment I overheard an interesting (and by interesting I mean, absurdly ignorant) conversation between a couple.
A women about a minute before had asked me where we had spandex shorts or something she could put under her skirt, which was kind of short but she had fairly long legs. So I direct her to the section of the store where she would find them.
When I walk back to the fitting room, the couple close by begins talking. The man said something to the effect of, “That’s why women get raped. Look at the way she was dressed. I mean, you shouldn’t rape, but she was dressed like that and people are perverts.” And I had an epiphany. We make it okay for men to rape because we make excuses for them. The whole “skimpy clothes are the devil” argument is a damn excuse for men who rape women. IT IS AN EXCUSE.
We blame women for getting raped when men shouldn’t be raping. And then we say, “well men are visual creatures and so they can’t control themselves.” What. Are. You. Talking. About. Women have eyes too. WE ARE ALL VISUAL CREATURES. This isn’t an issue of control. It’s an issue of male privilege.
