At the Hands of a Stranger- by blogger Ashley from Bradley University

A few weeks ago, my roommates and I went out to dinner at one of the restaurants close to campus, so we decided to walk there. Once we sat down at our table, I realized that my female roommate looked a bit distraught and on the verge of tears. I asked her what was wrong, and she said that while we were on the block of the restaurant a random man touched her shoulder.

Actually, he rubbed her arm as he walked by. I remembered this guy walking by us in the opposite direction, and he was walking rather close, but I just assumed he was drunk. I tried to comfort my roommate, and she kept saying how she didn’t understand why he would touch her since they were complete strangers to each other.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a stranger or not, random men who find a woman attractive while walking down the street tend to make some kind of gesture hinting at the fact that they think you’re attractive. Usually there are the cat calls that are easier to ignore, or the unfortunate eyes staring at your breasts or butt, but then there are those who actually make physical contact with some part of your body that just completely violates you.

As women, we shouldn’t feel that it isn’t safe for us to walk alone, especially so close to our institution of higher learning. We are the ones who are told to never walk alone at night, wear “appropriate” clothing, be aware of our surroundings, and watch where we walk- we are the ones told to be cautious and to change our routine to protect ourselves. People should be telling the guys not to even think about touching a woman, to keep their hands to themselves. A guy walking down a dark street alone is susceptible to being robbed, while a woman is susceptible to being robbed and sexually assaulted. I’m not saying that guys aren’t sexually assaulted as well when they are robbed, but those numbers are fewer compared to women. We’ve got to have the strength to call these men out for making women feel uncomfortable and sometimes even paranoid. It’s time to make the perpetrators change their actions.