For a Woman, Fear is a Given
At least that’s what we’re taught.
The murder of Sarah Everard, a British woman killed while walking home alone, shook women around the world. We’re concerned and angry. Mostly angry. We identify with her. I lived in London back when I was her age and walked home alone more times than I can count. How many times had something not happened to me that easily could have?
I’m reminded of a Louise Bourgeois drawing called “Spiral Woman” which depicts a woman gripped by what looks like a boa constrictor or a mollusk. The drawing evokes feelings of restriction, the essence of life as a female on this planet. Trapped by caution. Fear. Can’t go out at night, or even during the day sometimes, without being afraid that someone might hurt us.
The man suspected in Sarah Everard’s kidnapping and murder: a police officer. A man charged to serve and protect.
There But for the Grace of God Go I
Eleven years before living in London, I’d been a college student interning for a news station in Miami. En route to cover a story, my cameraman, Manny, and I crossed paths with his brother-in-law, a police officer. Later that day, Manny told me his brother-in-law wanted to ask me out. He took me as his date to a family event. I felt safe in his company. He was a police…
