By After so many years and so many columns, I’m here again to talk about assault on women.
This topic just won’t let itself die.
Or rather, people just won’t stop assaulting women.
Last weekend, a sorority sister of mine, closely followed by my mother and some classmates, forwarded me a screenshot of the popular ridesharing Uber app, showing the picture of a driver
named Jose and a staunch warning to deny his service at any and all costs.
Allegedly, he locked a female passenger in the backseat of his car using driver side controls and only let her out once he exited the car and was able to wait outside her door. There, things got physical.
And all the girl wanted was a “safe” ride across town.
This incident speaks less of Jose the driver himself, but more so to the larger issue of what happens when women dare to exist alone.
Whether walking down the street, leaving work late at night, taking a solo taxi ride, or navigating the downtown area, women are told unrelentingly to be aware of their surroundings and keep their keys between their fingers to fight off the strangers in the shadows.
When is the focus going to shift away from conditioning women to stay safe from becoming victims and move towards conditioning others not to attack anyone they see going about their daily business without company?
I can’t count how many times I’ve taken Uber alone. Whether it was getting a ride to my work during the Long Beach Grand Prix so I didn’t have to deal with downtown parking or making my way back home after a night of revelry, I’ve walked into cars with unknown drivers dozens of times.
And maybe I shouldn’t have.
Maybe I should know better than to enter myself into potentially compromising situations without anyone else around to provide backup and save me when things get bad. Maybe I should know better than to trust that people around me will go about their business and let me carry on with mine.
Or maybe, just maybe, we as a general population should stop expecting women to gear their lives around protecting themselves from those who set out to hurt them.
Maybe we should foster a society that calls out catcallers, makes sure drivers don’t assume lone female passengers are searching for company, and where street lights aren’t the only thing watching over sidewalks at night.
Of course, I want my fellow girls to know to keep their wits about them and avoid this allegedly violent Uber driver at all costs, but I want the rest of society to know that this really isn’t an isolated incident. This really isn’t all that out of the ordinary, and this surely isn’t the first time I’ve been told to rearrange my daily schedule to avoid being attacked.
So, to the girls of Cal State Long Beach and the greater Long Beach area, be warned.
And to everyone else, know we’re on high alert.
Look at the way you operate on a daily basis, and take note of the actions of those around you. Attacks like this are wholly preventable.
We just have to be willing to take the right steps.
