backontrack
Established Member
I'm going to try and breach this subject as tastefully and as diplomatically as I can. This is an overwhelmingly male forum; one of the most homogenously male on the entire web.
To be honest, I'm surprised it's taken this long for a thread to arise. The vigil at Clapham Common for Sarah Everard - found dead in Kent after being abducted and murdered by a member of the London Metropolitan Police - has been forcefully shut down by Lambeth Police.
It is absolutely shocking what they have done. I'm not going to mince my words here: if some users on here can label the government's coronavirus response as being an authoritarian conspiracy, then surely we can describe tonight's events the same way. There is something, to my mind, so shockingly predictable about how it all was handled - with police officers waiting until after dark to manhandle women. Their badges weren't even visible. This was premeditated.
Our thoughts should be directed at the need for a social sea change in the UK. I've heard so much from friends, from women I don't know, across the nation, on Instagram and Twitter and in the news and in articles and opinion pieces and on TV shows - and they all describe their experiences.
We men can go out at night without being particularly worried. Sure, there's a few doggy alleyways we'll steer clear of; don't want to be mugged after all.
But we don't have to wear bright clothing. We don't have to text our mates before and after. We don't have to nervously plan our route before hand, we don't need to walk quickly, we don't need to make sure there's shops on the way we can duck into, we don't need to hold our keys clenched tightly in our hands.
Our experiences are not the same.
Yes, it's not all men. But it's all women.
All women live without being able to enjoy some of the basic freedoms that men do.
And I've barely scratched the surface.
97% of YOUNG women (18-24) in the UK have been sexually harassed, according to UN Women.
118 women and girls have been murdered by men in the past year.
As men, we need to do better; in our mindset, in our attitude, in the way we communicate with each other. Women need to be able to walk the streets unthreatened. It's on men to use our platforms to pressure government to act on the issue (without just increasing police numbers - which does nothing when, in the case of Sarah Everard, the suspect is literally a police offer).
More importantly, we need to talk to each other.
Check out this video of Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss - and please share it.
It's on men to eradicate male violence against women. You may well know someone who did it. Statistically, it's pretty likely.
I'm sick of the narrative because I'm sick of having to worry about my sister or my friends. We need to change it by getting involved. Rather than washing your hands of this, or distancing yourself from it, hold your mates to account.
(Bonus points for the first person to use 'woke' in the replies.)
To be honest, I'm surprised it's taken this long for a thread to arise. The vigil at Clapham Common for Sarah Everard - found dead in Kent after being abducted and murdered by a member of the London Metropolitan Police - has been forcefully shut down by Lambeth Police.
It is absolutely shocking what they have done. I'm not going to mince my words here: if some users on here can label the government's coronavirus response as being an authoritarian conspiracy, then surely we can describe tonight's events the same way. There is something, to my mind, so shockingly predictable about how it all was handled - with police officers waiting until after dark to manhandle women. Their badges weren't even visible. This was premeditated.
Our thoughts should be directed at the need for a social sea change in the UK. I've heard so much from friends, from women I don't know, across the nation, on Instagram and Twitter and in the news and in articles and opinion pieces and on TV shows - and they all describe their experiences.
We men can go out at night without being particularly worried. Sure, there's a few doggy alleyways we'll steer clear of; don't want to be mugged after all.
But we don't have to wear bright clothing. We don't have to text our mates before and after. We don't have to nervously plan our route before hand, we don't need to walk quickly, we don't need to make sure there's shops on the way we can duck into, we don't need to hold our keys clenched tightly in our hands.
Our experiences are not the same.
Yes, it's not all men. But it's all women.
All women live without being able to enjoy some of the basic freedoms that men do.
And I've barely scratched the surface.
97% of YOUNG women (18-24) in the UK have been sexually harassed, according to UN Women.
118 women and girls have been murdered by men in the past year.
As men, we need to do better; in our mindset, in our attitude, in the way we communicate with each other. Women need to be able to walk the streets unthreatened. It's on men to use our platforms to pressure government to act on the issue (without just increasing police numbers - which does nothing when, in the case of Sarah Everard, the suspect is literally a police offer).
More importantly, we need to talk to each other.
Check out this video of Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss - and please share it.
It's on men to eradicate male violence against women. You may well know someone who did it. Statistically, it's pretty likely.
I'm sick of the narrative because I'm sick of having to worry about my sister or my friends. We need to change it by getting involved. Rather than washing your hands of this, or distancing yourself from it, hold your mates to account.
(Bonus points for the first person to use 'woke' in the replies.)
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