thequinxsquad:

Unacceptable. That is literally the word to describe this. My name is Cameron and this is something that has been bothering me for a long time and I am pretty damn sure that this has been bothering others as well. Today as I was walking home from work, a man came up to me and asked if it was possible if we could be friends. I said no and kept walking, but then he started hollering about my ass and said the stereotypical “damn”. Don’t even ask me what I was wearing because that does not matter. Just because I was wearing leggings did not mean that I was asking to be hollered at. As this happened, I am already practically in tears, but it doesn’t end here. As I am getting closer to home, I’m crossing the street and two guys in a car start making noises at me as they see my backside as I walk. At this point I just about had it and I start crying. I get home and try to tell my parents what happened, but they refuse to listen to me for whatever reason. After arguing, I finally get them to hear me out so I tell them what happened and my father told me that’s because I shouldn’t be wearing leggings. My mother gave me the whole “boys will be boys” speech and said that they are men and that it’s what they do. I understand that my parents grew up in a different world than me, but how is this even okay? Dad, I should stop wearing bottoms that I like so men won’t holler at me? Mom, if they assaulted me, would you still stick with the whole “boys will be boys” speech? If I go out wearing leggings, I shouldn’t be terrified of a man screeching out about my butt. The fact that I am actually scared to go out wearing leggings is ridiculous. No matter where I go, I am frightened that a man will talk about my ass and touch me. Now, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened to me. Quite honestly, this happens every time that I wear leggings. Whether it be on the streets, at school, at the mall, it happens very often to me. I don’t feel safe on the streets when I wear leggings and I don’t feel safe wearing them at school. At school, everybody is obsessed with my butt. Yes, it sounds ridiculous and I bet some people are thinking that I am saying this for attention, but I am not. Whenever I switch classes or walk into class with my leggings I get the “Holy crap Cameron your butt is so big” or “Wow your butt is nice”. My butt becomes the topic in class and everybody starts talking about it and giving me compliments, but I don’t take them as compliments. In my mind, I am thinking “please stop talking about my body” or “why do you all hate me”. I get so uncomfortable when people talk about my butt or even my body in general. It’s just inappropriate and I don’t care if you think I have a nice ass, please don’t tell it to me. In gym class, boys slap my ass. One time, a guy even threw his shoes at my ass. When I am playing volleyball, boys tell me that I have the ass for it or they tell me that I have the “volleyball squat”. It’s not only boys who touch me like this, girls come up to me and squeeze my ass, saying “Wow, your butt is so big”. HOW IS THIS OKAY? It is not okay for people to just come up to me and grope me. It makes me so upset when people touch me or talk about my backside. The scariest experience I’ve ever had with this is when I walked my friend to work and walked home alone. Biggest mistake I’ve ever made. Two men came up to me and said “you’re not twenty-one, right”. I was confused because I didn’t know what that meant and I responded back saying that I was seventeen when I should have kept walking. The next words they said were “you’re too young for a butt like that”. The men were trying to converse with me asking me my name, where I went to school, etc. I didn’t want to be rude so I kind of didn’t move and just spoke to them. One of them asked for my number and when I said no and that I had to go, they followed me for blocks. I kept looking back and walked faster and faster each time that I did. I finally called my mom and told her two adult men were following me. I asked her if my father could pick me up someplace and she said he was at soccer practice, so I literally just ran to the park while I was on the phone with my mom. I was so sure that those two men were going to kidnap me and rape me. This was the scariest experience of my life and my point with all this is that I shouldn’t be scared of men sexualizing me while I’m out in leggings or even just out in any type of clothing. Leggings aren’t an invitation to talk about how fat my ass is or an invitation to touch/slap my butt. I SHOULD NOT BE SCARED OF WEARING LEGGINGS WHEN I GO OUT IN PUBLIC. I SHOULD NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT GET CATCALLED BY MEN WHEN I GO OUT IN PUBLIC. I SHOULD NOT BE FRIGHTENED OF MEN IN GENERAL WHEN I GO OUT IN PUBLIC. I SHOULD NOT BE IN FEAR OF SOMEONE GROPING ME WHEN I AM OUT IN PUBLIC. I should be able to walk outside in whatever I please without the catcalling, stares, and the whistling. I am pretty sure that most girls don’t find it flattering when they see or meet a man and the first thing they are told is “you have a fat ass”. I think people forget that women actually are humans and have feelings. For all the women who go through this too, I just want to say that you are not alone. As cliche and cheesy as it sounds, I really mean it. Something has to be done about men thinking it is okay to holler sexual things at women. It isn’t okay for someone to touch another without consent. This really isn’t okay at all and nobody should have the fear of someone harassing them whenever they go out. This world is fucked up.