Women’s Rights

There could not have been a better day to wear a pink crop top from Brandy Melville, with some shorts on an unusually hot day in San Francisco.  Strolling through the mall with my sisters, I realized people staring and the odd looks they began giving me. I couldn’t help but ask myself if I was showing too much skin? Then, I remembered that I did not care so much why they were doing so. What they were thinking of me was not my problem.

  Later on, while I was lying in bed, I felt the urge to log onto tumblr. I came across a blog that stated how sometimes a woman’s way of dressing somehow turns into an incitement to rape, or “asking for it”. After going over what the blog had to say, I was left dazed and confused, and a little in shock. What I read had left me scared because I am a girl who likes to express herself through clothing. After some time of thinking, my opinions on the topic were turned around completely. Growing up I was always taught and told to be a respectable young women with good manners. All my life I had to go through people judging me for my appearance so I related to this topic a lot.

If a woman were to choose to go out in public with only a bra, it would grow into a huge uproar. I am sure that people would label her as provocative or a disturbance. Others would be as much as disgusted by her. Although, if a man were to go the same way, with no upper clothing, people would see it as normal. They would consider him to be brave and confident. Women are too often judged by society  for their appearance, such as what they wear, and how they present themselves. In addition, people decide that the way a woman dresses is not because it is what she likes, nor it is her style, but because she is trying to make a statement. The statement that is assumed she is to be giving out then leads her to getting hurt. No woman should be blamed for her choice of clothing leading her to being attacked.

The way a woman chooses to dress is not an invitation for rape. Woman do not dress for anyone  but themselves. People have to realize that when a girl gets raped, it is not because of the clothing someone might consider to be explicit. It is simply because the attacker can not seem to be mature and control his urges. The girl is not asking for it. and now I fully understand what it means. Women shouldn't be judged for how short their skirt is or how uncomfortable it makes someone else feel.

If a girl feels comfortable in whatever she's wearing no one should be able to change that. Rape culture has always been a big subject in society, rapists blame the victim for her clothes or what she was doing. And then takes this idea even further. At the same time, I think exposing too much is not necessarily a good thing either. Learning how to dress appropriately is a matter of experience for me. While being exposed to this idea that how I dress is not an invitation for anyone to violate me, I feel that women can wear anything they want and shouldn't be judged or violated for it.