In class we had a difficult discussion of women's fear in public spaces. The threat of violence or the implication of violence plays into women's conscious fear while in public. We discussed how the responses to this conscious fear are normalized and these norms come from gender expectations and how these responses then reinforce gender norms. An example would be a man offering to walk a woman or group of women from one place to another. While the man is trying to do this to offer some sort of safety or protection to these women it’s reinforcing the idea that women need to seek protection from men to enter or exist in a public space. We also discussed how women’s fear differ from men’s because they mainly come from secondhand stories and are usually conditioned by parents. The media does not help with this fear either and I believe it was Allison who said that “the media sets the public fear agenda.” I would like to bring this up because currently there has been so many sex trafficking PSA’s on every single form of media I use.
When looking at this it seems like
sex trafficking has reached an all time high and it’s pushing the idea that
women are literally safe no where and are at risk of being snatched at any time
of day. While it’s a possibility that women can be abducted so abruptly like so
many media outlets are advertising, it’s more likely that a sex trafficker is
someone who is in a position of power in the life of the victim and the
“abduction” is much quieter. We’re so connected by the media that PSA’s like
this, which are meant to be helpful, are spreading like wildfire and further
ingraining these gendered responses.
Having been around women for 46 years, I've always had an idea that women fear public space especially in certain situations, like dark alleys with men lingering about. I've had a similar conversation with my mother recently brought on because of her extra burden of a somewhat sudden disability that hinders her every day locomotion. She now relies on a walking cane to get around and has expressed a heightened fear because of this. What I found almost compelling if not shocking is the deep universal level of fear women have of public space. That it keeps them from enjoying freedom. That I personally pose a threat to them in public because of my gender. Or how much I've enabled this fear by acting in what I thought was an ally when offering to walk a familiar women home at night. How should I react when a female associate or loved one is afraid or could use a ride instead of walking or taking the public transportation? Do you think it's OK to offer women help when I can?
ReplyDeleteI don't like the fact that women are scared of public spaces and am downright appalled that without knowing me, they fear the worse about me. I've always thought that if I ever had a daughter that I would raise her no different than the heteronormative expectation of raising a boy. I thought that this idea was the most compelling evidence in Koskela's piece as to why Scandinavian women are less fearful of public places than their sisters from other western countries.
I hope that we as a a society can create equitable public spaces so that women can stop fearing men and men can stop fearing what women think about them. And I'll probably still offer help when I can.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis discussion also made me think deeper about my place as a woman in this society and the way the norms of this society have shaped my vision of what I can or cannot do. Indeed, the automatic blaming of sexual assault victims which is sometimes unconscious reinforces the fear of woman and reduces their mobility and their self-expression. Comments like "matter of fact what was she doing alone at this time outside?", "what was she wearing" or "why would she get drunk at a party," give excuses to the perpetrators and enclose the victims in a vicious cycle of guilt that is not theirs.
ReplyDeleteI remembered having this discussion with my uncle years ago. We were watching a documentary on "TV5 Afrique" on violence against women in Algeria. The documentary showed the real stories of women victims of sexual assaults and exposed how badly the Algerian society and Institutions at the time were treating them while protecting/justifying somehow the men's action. At some point, the cameras pointed at an old Algerian woman obviously exhausted by this situation who said, "it is not the women's faces that must be hidden by a veil but the men's eyes." This sentence for me was so meaningful about the injustices that women face in some communities. My point is not to judge any religions, but instead to point out how, across the world, patriarchy has always played in disfavor of a fair society for women. Indeed, to this comment, my uncle responded that women also have to be careful about what they wear because "Men are Men." This day I concluded that for my own good, I must be careful about what I wear because the day something terrible might happen to me, my own uncle might take me as responsible.