Pen-Elayne on the Web

When It's Not A Two-Way Street

Bob Goodsell talks about a group of Catholic high school girls who turned the tables on a guy who had repeatedly exposed himself to them by chasing him and essentially beating him up. Bob then asks us to "imagine a 25-year-old woman showing her breasts to a bunch of teenage boys. Black teenage boys. White woman. They chase her down the street, where neighbors tackle her so the boys can beat her up. Who gets arrested?" Now, I'm not sure what race has to do with this hypothetical except to weight it even more in favor of the boys getting arrested, but it worries me that Bob (who has no comment section, else I would have asked this on his blog) thinks the scenarios of a man exposing himself to girls and a woman flashing boys are equivalent. It's not, it will never be as long as our society views male and female displays of sexuality and power so differently. When a man exposes himself, unless it's specifically in a consenting-adults, exhibitionist atmosphere, it's a power thing, it's a way for him to (usually literally) get off on victimizing women. It is visual assault, and damn it, it's traumatizing. I had it happen to me twice when I was younger and it took me years to get beyond. When a woman exposes herself, it is generally read (regardless of venue) as an invitation for others to objectify her, to "come and get it." It is vital to understand that in both cases, the women are the objects and the men are the subjects. The only difference is consent; in the first case the women are subjected to a sexual overture they have not sought, in the second the woman decides to present herself to men willingly. As long as this disparity exists, turning this scenario around by switching genders does not work. I'm surprised I have to explain this. Now, I'm not by nature a violent person but I wish to God I'd had enough presence of mind and strength as a teenager to drag that masturbating asshole out of his car and to the nearest police station, and as a college student to walk out on that bogus "science experiment" and head right for the campus cops. (At least that guy was eventually caught and expelled.) So sue me (unless your name is Luskin, I don't need the aggro) but I applaud those girls. Update: Jeanne D'Orleans has more background on the girls' school and its namesake.