Walking down a street or into the grocery store: two every day freedoms I have come to be more thankful for. Two examples of simple things that we as humans take for guaranteed daily. Why? The best answer is why not? It’s just walking down the street right? How powerless and vulnerable could one feel on an ordinary walk? Reality is that although many overlook such important questions, there are individuals all over the world who are stripped of freedoms and liberties, such as walking down the street. It has taken me twenty+ years to experience this feeling, a feeling that I would do anything to change.
Welcome to the Dominican Republic, a beautiful, magical, and breathtaking island, located in the heart of the Caribbean. Turquoise blue water, luxury resorts, and non-stop sunshine surround lucky tourists, who spend between $700-6,000 dollars to visit. What could be better? Little do they know, the Dominican Republic is country that faces everyday challenges of poverty, lack of education, unclean drinking water, a corrupt government, and an extreme machismoculture. After living in the Dominican Republic for the past ten months, I have become uncomfortably familiar with machismo culture to the point where it has become internalized.
What does this mean? It means that while my fellow Americans walk down the street independently, shop in the grocery stores, and spend time with their significant others without being bothered, I am mentally preparing just to leave my apartment. As soon as I leave the house, I can feel their stares. It’s like I’ve just walked into the lions den and I’m on the breakfast menu. They are not staring because I am American, but because I am a woman. Just waiting for the moment where I drop to my knees and fall madly, deeply, and hard in love with them. My sole purpose in life is to successfully fulfill men’s desire, lust, and needs. I’m a walking toy. When living in a small town in New Hampshire, I could walk down the street independently or in the grocery store without being eye fucked,cat called, or spoken to as if I was a product of men’s desire.
As a woman, walking alone is the last thing I want to do in the Dominican Republic. Everyday on my walk to work, I do not feel the sun as it beats down on my skin, leaving sweat all over my forehead. But I do feel their eyes. I feel the intense, slow, and sanctioned, examination of my body. Every curve and feature, inspected as if they have never seen a woman’s body before and all of the sudden craving it. I can compare the feeling to when I was an intern in a corrections facility. Anytime I would walk into the males unit, 100+ eyes would turn on me, as my body became the focus of the room. They do not just inspect my body, but any woman: white, black, Hispanic, or Asian, to them it does not matter. We are all the servants of men’s desire.
When does walking down the street or shopping in the grocery store become an everyday freedom? A freedom in which,women are able to live life without being seen as a walking sexual invitation? It is a great question and the possible solutions are what society labels “complex.” However, what I believe is that until men stop watching porn, sexually assaulting, raping, attending strip clubs, and engaging in prostitution,the simple freedoms of walking down the street, shopping in the grocery store, and living life without being classified as only serving a sexual purpose, will not go away. Some say that it takes a village to raise a child.Well in this case, it takes each and every one of us to change the negative and unfair views, expectations, and demands we hold on women and their bodies. As citizens of the world our focus should be providing and giving back freedoms to anyone who has felt deprived, vulnerable, and underprivileged.
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