What are you passionate about?

I was talking to my friend the other day and it came up in conversation about the different things I get passionate about. I am passionate about feeling passion. When that something strikes through a feeling in the pit of your stomach when you are so angry, so happy, so joyful or so sad...take a hold of those emotions and make something of it. Create something, write about something, research something, change something. Just do something. Don't go through life not feeling anything. Force yourself to find something that fills you with a feeling of passion. A few things I am personally passionate are; human rights, inequality, creativity. fashion, art, film and music.

So what are you passionate about?

This blog post is a little different. I want to discuss something a little more important than the dress I'm wearing. Because the topic I'm about to discuss has nothing to do with the clothes that we wear.


"What's up baby doll" came in a slur from his drunken lips. Perhaps it would be okay if it came from a lover, a boyfriend. But it came from a man at least three times my age as I walk down the street on a saturday afternoon. Don't tell me he was just being polite, don't call me a bitch for ignoring him. Don't roll your eyes at me and tell me I'm just another angry feminist. Because 17% of women and 4% of men experienced sexual assault since the age of 15 (Australian Bureau of Statistics - Personal Safety Survey, 2012). Keep in mind also that only 30% sexual assault cases are reported to authorities. I have not been seriously sexually assaulted, just subjected to crude remarks from jeering men on the streets, but as a 15 year old...these facts are fucking scary. (this is uncensored because to be completely honest something this important cannot be censored).

This is something that we need to talk about.

By no means will I ever say that just females are subjected to sexual abuse or that only males are the offenders but a large majority are (I think I read somewhere that is was around 93% of perpetrators are male) male but I am writing from my experiences of which this has been the case. In the past week I have experienced two occasions of which inspired me to write on this topic.

The first experience was on the train home from a friends birthday party. It was in the afternoon, still light, and my friends and I were sitting in a few rows on the train just chilling, not drawing any attention to ourselves. A group of maybe three or four males came onto the train, clearly intoxicated (which at 4:00pm is kinda lame). We all got up to leave after feeling rather uncomfortable after they offered alcohol to minors and begun loudly making comments about us. As we left they begun to rate us from 1 to 10. Now I've heard people doing this quite regularly but in that moment it kinda struck me how sick and messed up this was. These gross men where creating a drunken game out of us as we walked politely by. Doesn't this seem messed up to you? We are not a product or an object that you can decide its worth with a number.

The second occasion was when this old gross man who walked past me one day said a disgusting remark of what he wanted to do to  me and I replied to with a simple and polite 'no thank you'. I didn't really think anything of it, I was just glad that encounter didn't lead to anything further. It was only when my friend brought it up again (she was with me at the time) and mentioned how calm and un-phased I was. It was kinda like I was so completely use to these comments that I have conditioned myself to expect them as I walk past certain people and have never ever think to reply with those snarky remarks that I so wish I could. This makes me angry that our society is at the point where a 15 year old girl has taught herself to reply to insulting and disgustingly uncomfortable comments from old creepy men with politeness in the fear of making HIM angry. Well guess what fuckers? I'm fucking angry.

Maybe to you, these situations don't seem like such a big deal and in comparison to all the shitty things that are happening today, maybe they aren't. But it is something I am passionate about and something that I want to change. So many people are going through different forms of sexual abuse. It can be from strangers, partners, family, friends and in all forms whether a comment or rape it is so so so wrong. We need to get our society to a place where a young girl never has to feel ashamed of her body or of what she is wearing or how she looks. We need to get to a point where females aren't objectified. We need to get to a point where we don't call our girl friends sluts behind their backs. We need to change so much right now. And I think everyone needs to make an effort for this change to happen.


Sorry for this blur of angryness, it  may not make sense or may not be written with eloquence but there is a point somewhere.


x
Soph

Annnnnnnd if you are still wondering:

Dress - Zara
Boots - Sportsgirl
Hat- Asos
Top- Target