You hear some very bad news. Your mind looks for ways around it but then you realize that there is none. The brutality in the truth hits you with full force. Your heart sinks and you can actually feel the gut wrenching pain. A tiny drop of tear wets your eyelashes.
That is what I felt when I read this post on Facebook.
Yes. I am on a rape schedule too. So is every woman I have ever encountered in my life.Baby girls are trained to avoid molesters even before they are potty trained, It is essential for our survival. We don’t realize the criticality of this training until someone points it out to us, like in this post.
You know how accidents, robberies, and cancer can happen to anyone and everyone? Rape and molestation are like that. The imminent guillotine that we stand in all through our lives. Always ready to pounce given the slightest leeway. The only difference is, in this case, we know it will happen. For sure. We just don’t know when and where. Every woman has been harassed or molested at least once in her life. Ask yourself. Ask your friends, sisters, and mothers. It has happened and is happening everywhere around you.
We do try to get out of its way. We constantly adjust our clothes, we ask for company when we go out, we avoid lonely streets, carry pepper sprays. Yet, we fail miserably. Still, we are constantly leered and stared at until the laser-like gaze reaches our soul.
My Phone beeps.
”Hello, beautiful!” Someone has messaged me on Facebook.
I ignore the message.
“Reply, Bitch!”
Ignored.
”You slut! I hope you are raped and torn to pieces”
That’s the next one.
The beautiful girl had become a slut merely by doing nothing.
How do you think the rest of my day will go?
Some might say #NotAllMen. I agree. But I say, #YesAllWomen. I hope you will agree with me on this too.
A person named Ernest Adams wrote on Quora, “A world where rape is not possible will be an unimaginably different world.” I will remember his name for a long time. It is thanks to people like him that women are still sane.
I do not know how to curb this. I have no idea how to educate people about this. I do not have action plans. But I just want you to understand.
Rape, harassment, and molestation are real and all women are on the schedule.