𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝𝕤 ℂ𝕝𝕦𝕓 ☁︎☀

Your body is not an object |Victim blaming and body shaming ~ Summer

Hey, everyone.

I recently have come across quite a few debates and discussions on the matter of shaming and even victim blaming other women for their clothes and have been thinking about this topic myself, so I wanted to discuss it on here.

I recently came across a Youtuber that was doing a video on her views on modesty that said,
"If you dress like a sexual object, you are more likely to be treated like a sexual object."

The words rocked me to my core because my first thought was of how widespread childhood sexual abuse is.

One in 9 girls and 1 in 53 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult.

So are child victims of sexual abuse at fault for not "covering up" more thus enticing predators?

Of course not.

We all know that a child's body is not sexual and is wrong to sexualize.

We can all agree that when a child is sexually abused the abuser is entirely in the wrong.

Well, what if the child is thirteen?

And she wears things like crop tops and short shorts and is sexually assaulted?

Is she at fault for "dressing like a sex object" thus attracting predators?

Unfortunately, many people believe so or believe in a mindset that entertains this conclusion as being plausible.

I read a Youtube comment on a video about this subject that said,
"When I was twelve, I was wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt and was cat-called by a group of grown men."

Baggy jeans and a t-shirt, and she was still sexualized.

Think about that.

Back in the 1900s and long before that women wore longer skirts and very covering attire.

Do you think sexual abuse and assault didn't happen back then?

Of course not.

In places like India, where women frequently wear sarees, very long dresses that literally reach their feet, you still have sexual abuse happen.

In fact, sexual violence is a major problem an India.

About 100 new cases are reported every single day there.

So, the assumption that a woman's clothes play a factor in whether or not she will be disrespected, taken advantage of, harassed, and abused does not hold up.

Shaming a woman's body, leading her to believe her body is inherently dangerous, tempting, and sexual is harmful.

And making women feel the need to cover up and be ashamed of their bodies is wrong.

Not just concerning the matter of sexual abuse, but in general.

For example, there are women out there that are naturally curvier and bustier than others, and it is going to be obvious no matter what they wear.

These women should not be shamed for their clothing because of their natural physique.

So, why should any other girl?

Dress codes in schools give females rules of how long their skirts and shorts must be so as not to distract male students, and this kind of structure teaches girls they must fit a certain mold for a male instead of teaching male's self-control.

Issues like this feed into the rhetoric that a female's body is something she must "conceal" as it can cause her trouble.

It feeds into the idea that what a female wears makes her responsible for a male's actions.

It's time to stop viewing the female body as this object of lust.

It's time to stop objectifying women's bodies at all.

Girls,  know your worth.

If you want to wear a long skirt or baggy jeans because that is what you are comfortable in, that's fine.

If you want to wear a crop top and shorts, because that is what you are comfortable in, that's fine too.

You are not defined by what you wear, and your body does not deserve anything but respect no matter what your choice in clothing is.

Boys, realize the female body does not exist to please or appease you, so stop viewing as if it does.

Respect women's bodies, clothing choices, and women in general.

(A huge shoutout to the boys that naturally practice or have grown to already practice these things.)

And society, let's stop using the "boys will be boys" argument as an excuse for boys to mistreat women and not exercise self-control.

Let's stop holding females accountable and responsible for male behavior, actions, and choices.

I like the way this one article put it best to conclude,

"Women deserve to be respected no matter their choice of clothes. We deserve to be viewed as more than just sexual objects where our worth is defined by what we wear. We need to end society's continuous pattern of constantly body-shaming women and instead working on uplifting women's self-confidence."