Sexual Harassment in Our Clubs: does it show just how far away we are from gender equality?

Women seemingly have come a long way in the fight for gender equality: we vote, we embrace our sexuality, and work. We like to think that we’ve come a long way from the 50’s where we were perceived as a life investment, someone to cook, clean, and produce children. But last weekend I found out the hard way that frankly we have made next to no progress in gender equality.

I was sexually harassed by three men in a busy nightclub and contrary to what some believe that women ask for it by dressing ‘provocatively’ this is simply not the case. I was dressed in a t-shirt and knee length skirt which is what many would not consider to be ‘sexy’ and yet three men still continued to harass and grope me even after I repeatedly told them I was not interested in an assortment of swear words.

Why did this happen then? Because women do not ‘ask for it’ by the way they dress. We dress the way we want simply because it is what we like and not in the hope that men will grope us when we say ‘no’. Because they viewed me as an object, as something they could have for the night regardless of what I wanted. It was like they had gone to a supermarket and picked up a bag of chips from the shelves and tried to take it home with them. And that is how majority of men still view women, in the same degree as a bag of chips: consumable and disposable.

After a lot of Googling and talking to other women my age, sexual harassment and assault in nightclubs is more than common, it is expected. Many women say that they approach the bouncers of a club asking that certain men be thrown out because they are harassing and assaulting women and there is often the response of, ‘it’s a club, what do you expect?’ What do we expect? We expect to be able to go out on a Saturday night and have a few drinks with our friends. It’s okay for men to approach women and ask in a round about way if they are interested, but it is not okay for men to expect a groping buffet in clubs. It is not okay for ‘no’ to be ignored and for the approach to be continued.

So to all the men reading this: believe it or not but when women go out clubbing it is not a display asking for sexual assault. Believe it or not, but we enjoy music and drinking just like humans, because like men we are humans; we are exactly equal.

By Taylor-Jayne Wilkshire

Image: foter.com

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