I Don't Usually Feel Like A Victim Of My Own Gender...

but when I do it's because of men like this.

It seems like only two days ago that I wrote an open letter to the man who attacked two women near my house.

Oh wait. It was.

Just yesterday another woman was attacked on her way home from Sydney Rd by a completely different man.

I do not have the patience to write another open letter to this other guy nor do I have the intelligence to figure out how to fix this problem. I just have many, many questions. This entire situation leaves me frustrated because:

a) I now have to change my habits to avoid potential sexual harassment or assault after dark.

b) I am almost constantly concerned of the whereabouts of my three other female housemates after dark.

and

c) It leaves me with most uncomfortable thoughts. Do all men have the urge to sexually assault women? Are some just better at suppressing that urge? How many times have I walked around at night alone and been very close to being sexually assaulted?

It feels incredibly unfair for me to have to feel afraid for myself and my female friends just because we are female. I've never felt the negative implications of being female until today and I would very much like to change this situation.

But I feel that even if I talk about it, educate myself and other people on it or get angry about it no change will happen unless the attitudes of males change. We need them to realise what is appropriate and inappropriate. We need them to see us as different from themselves but no less important. I feel that women have done as much as they can to show men how to respect us. It is their turn to step up, be real men and realise how to value women because we are people of worth, not just sexual objects to be used.