Your UnSlut Project

Submitted by @talisastark

Many people think that slut shaming is a problem mostly among young people; teenagers and twenty-something year olds, but unfortunately that is incorrect.

About a week ago I was walking down a very crowded street with three of my friends (I'll give them fictional names: Mary, Joanne and an exchange student from Spain, Veronica).

We saw a mature couple. From a distance they looked normal. The man was good looking and had nice clothes as well as the woman. They had a pram and a little, curious, smiling baby. As we passed them by we noticed that something was off. The man started yelling at the woman, pushing her, and he hit her once (without even trying to hide it from the many people that walked past them), all the time calling her a dirty whore, because she said 'good morning' to their neighbour. He even threatened to hit the child and take it away from her.

We stood there for a while, but Joanne took my and Veronica's hands and started pulling us away. Mary followed suit.

Joanne was the only one who wasn't shocked by that. She said "there are plenty of people who are abused, we can't help all of them". Mary was enraged. She asked Joanne if she could just go away and forget she's ever seen that. Veronica suggested telling the woman to find help.

I didn't even hear them from that point. I took out my phone and just stared at it for a while. All four of us are fiteen, we have never called the police before.

In Poland, you have to pay a lot if you call them and they don't find anything wrong after coming. Except they take a very long time to come, even though the police station is only a three minute walk away.

I remembered that the woman said she won't let her husband hit her and the baby ever again and that pretty much indicated this wasn't just a one time thing.

I called.

I called and I am proud of myself and my friends; I was proud after I finished talking on the phone and when the man was dragged inside the police car.

All because I thought - if it was me there, being hit, insulted, and yelled at by someone... wouldn't I want people to help me?

I felt sick and I sincerely hated people in that short moment. How could they just pass by something like that?

That's what I'd like everyone to know. That physical and mental abuse of any kind is very wrong, but so is doing nothing about it. If we know someone is a victim of such terrible "habits", it is our duty to help them.