I just felt like ranting about sexual harassment because I got triggered by a webtoon episode and this article was in my feed. The episode somehow made me feel very crappy and I realized it was mostly because it was relatable. I know for sure this happens and it is much more common than one would think. We all know that professor who gets really ‘friendly’ with girls or the one who you know you shouldn’t meet in the office alone. Sometimes it is a gut feeling which you can’t explain but it comes from years of experiencing harassment on the streets, in the buses, at school, at home, in a friendly neighbourhood (without spider-man).
Then you go out to work in tech and of course if there were only 10% girls in the institution where you studied (yup, we are so bad in Math that we don’t end up in engineering) there is a possibility that you would be the only one in that startup. Here you are possibly participating in “harmless” sexist banter and making an environment not friendly for future female colleagues or anyone from LGBTQ community because you have definitely laughed at that “gay” joke. Even when you don’t drink to socialize you go drinking with your colleagues because you are definitely not the party-pooper kind. While drunk someone makes you feel uncomfortable but you know it happened by mistake so you let it go. Days pass by and you haven’t really let go. It’s hard to get work done which might lead you to quit that job or maybe like with other incidents in the past move on only to be triggered by random articles at times.
So now, looking at you girl to raise your voice when they said during the placement “it’s easier for girls to get placed” or “this professor gives girls more marks”. When your friends in this day and age are talking about dowry (yup, still very real) or when that good friend is making a sexist remark. You know very well #metoo might be trending only for sometime but it was and is very real. Can’t change things in a day but let us try not to stop the conversation?
PS: This post while not exactly based on personal experiences draws from incidents around that are found around too often. If you are someone who believes that there is inequality and feminism is needed, let’s talk!
