The other night I was walking home (down a dimly-lit street) when a massive truck drives past. The driver (who we could assume is an original, thinking human being, who has complex ideas about human experience) leans out of the window and releases a blood curdling yell, the words inaudible. He was asserting his dominance over me, like so many other dudes in Halifax who go around yelling at women and queer folk on the street, stop to laugh, take pictures without consent, grope and threaten. This isn’t an issue unique to Halifax, but it is where my experience is based right now. I personally experience this kind of treatment everyday, regardless of time of day. It is exhausting. I’m not in public for your enjoyment/entertainment. You are not entitled to the bodies of people of colour, of women, of queer folk, of people with disabilities. What these interactions do is continue to create climates where patriarchal white supremacy can still exist. —Q the devil’s advocates
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2015.
Or maybe – just maybe, he was being a Knob in general paying no attention to the fact you are a queer/woman/however you identify (can’t determine that from your bitch)?
And could you provide proof of your allegations of the “… many other dudes in Halifax who go around yelling at women and queer folk on the street, stop to laugh, take pictures without consent, grope and threaten.”? This is the first I have heard of this phenomenon so I want to be certain you are not exaggerating so as to accentuate your bitch…
Uhhh, yeah, people yell at anyone.
I don’t think it is fair to judge all of the ‘dudes’ in Halifax based on the actions of the ignorant few.
Careful, talking about casual sexism means you have to validate every example so not to upset those genuine “nice guys” that don’t like to be generalized. They obviously know far more about sexism and homophobia than you ever will. /s
Halifax has a large student population and a lot of skeezy middle-aged men that work under the table (if at all), wear sweatpants in public, smoke illegal cigarettes, drink Colt 45, and harass women on the streets. It’s definitely not unique to Halifax but it does seem more common here.
Chill, Meninists, I said a LOT of men, not all.
^^^
You’re still generalizing. Tell us about their female counter-parts…
So someone yells at you… in the dark, and you assume it’s because of your identity and not that they were just an asshole? This shit has happened to me before, I guess it must be the LGBT community out to get me right?
Yesterday, I was yelled at by someone in a passing car. It was a 10 year old boy… then he laughed.