I've just been having a chat with friends who play an online fantasy game similar to World of Warcraft. In the game, a seventeen year old (just had a birthday last week) was harassed sexually by a much older male player, causing her to turn to my friends in panic.
My friends helped her by advising her on what to do, how to protect herself, and also talked to the male player in question. But two things struck me from what they said.
1) The girl had no idea how to say 'stop doing that' to the man who was touching her without her consent.
2) She apologised over and over for talking to him and causing this to happen.
2) She apologised over and over for talking to him and causing this to happen.
It made me so indescribably sad. At what age do girls learn to apologise for the abuse that they receive? A girl as young as seventeen is already saying sorry for doing nothing wrong; she is taking the blame for something that was done to her.
Girls are socialised from a young age to bear responsibility for the crimes of men. Were you drinking? What were you wearing? Did you flirt with him? Did you lead him on?
No onus is EVER placed on the man, on the abuser.
No onus is EVER placed on the man, on the abuser.
She is seventeen. Let that sink in.
She is Gen Z. She is the future. She is the person we are fighting for. She is our legacy.
And she's apologising for doing nothing wrong.
She is Gen Z. She is the future. She is the person we are fighting for. She is our legacy.
And she's apologising for doing nothing wrong.
We must do better by our girls; this has to stop. We cannot let this continue. Society has to be held accountable for making girls & women feel this way. We must hold abusive men to account, not their female victims.
Women have nothing to apologise for, and we mustn't let them.
Women have nothing to apologise for, and we mustn't let them.
