I am a seventeen year old senior at an all-girls' Catholic high school in suburban New York. It's been a pretty nurturing environment where I've met great teachers, administrators who know what they're doing and (gasp!) a body of faculty and students who know, beyond a doubt, that girls will excel in math, science, history, sports, English, foreign languages and the arts so long as they are told "Hey, screw what the patriarchy tells you, just do."
And we have a gender studies class!
But on Thursday, something happened that shocked me. I am so very horrified, that I'm trembling.
Our administrators only let us off the ground at dismissal, when you march to your bus. Some school districts send public buses for us.
Last Thursday, a girl from my school, waiting for her public bus, was shoved against a fence by a white male in his fifties, fondled until she managed to escape and run away.
This was very upsetting. I felt sympathy for the girl (her name was not released to us). I felt scared that such a thing had happened right next to my school where we were supposed to be safe .
My friends and I, horrified at the news, began to discuss the incident. We said we should start carrying pepper spray. That we should wait for a friend until we walked out to the bus. That we should always make sure we have our bus passes, our change in our hands so there would be no delay to get on the bus.
These were my first thoughts. Not what was done was wrong. But how we should handle the situation if it should occur to us.
I know the statistics. I know that date rape is something that does happen. But I think it's the first time that I'm aware that no where am I safe. Not at school, not with friends, not at home, not at work.
What a terrifying thought.
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I'm sorry this happened and I also feel very indignant about the first response from the authorities is focused on what YOU need to do to make sure no one violates you. It's crap and it happens all the time, unfortunately. It's almost like everyone has just given up on trying to get perps off the street when in reality if thse people wouldn't get paroled after serving two tenths of their sentences it would make a major difference. But no, they get let out so our for- profit prison system can continue to get rich by protecting us from people who smoke pot. Sorry for the hijack.
I cannot help but wonder though what the purpose was in stating the race and even the age of the perp (but especially the race part). I've been around here enough to know that if you had mentioned that a black male did this you would be crucified for racializing this issue. I was tempted to wait and see if anyone else noticed it but elected to go ahead and post anyway. I do realize that sometimes descriptions are just provided as a means of recreating the experience for the reader and think people can overreact to that and interpret bias where there is none. So, really, I'm just asking, not accusing.
The race of white villains is essential to their villainy.
http://community.feministing.com/2009/10/why-am-i-not-surprised.html
"I cannot help but wonder though what the purpose was in stating the race and even the age of the perp (but especially the race part)."
Perhaps because they want to id the perp? Maybe they'll even (gasp) distribute a sketch of the suspect.
And to the OP, sorry you had this happen to you at such a young age. A friend and pepper spray is not a bad idea. Hopefully they'll get this trash off the streets soon.
The feministing community is going to id the perp because Wren told us he was white?
It sounds like this is coming more from reaction than anything legit.
No one cares what you think is legit,
trolly.
first response from the authorities
I think the OP stated that those were her first thoughts about what happened.