A personal reflection on A Rapist in Your Path, a Chilean feminist protest that has become a world wide phenomenon:
When I was a child, I have memories of sitting in my dad’s car, listening to him rant about different political beliefs that he had. Some had basis in fact and seemed to make sense as to how they could help make the world into a better place, but most of the time it was a belief that had a basis in sexism, or homophobia. One of his beliefs that I remember distinctly was on the women in New York City who walked around with their tops off in protest to the patriarchal society that allows men to walk around shirtless but not women. He told me that the women who did it should be allowed to, but that they shouldn’t because they would be raped, and they should go in knowing that fact. When I watched the anthem, A Rapist In Your Path, all I could think about was him telling me that women who did things that society views as risque, got what was coming to them when they were raped. Unfortunately, we are raised in a society that holds this view, and I don’t believe it necessarily comes from a lack of education. I believe that the problem is much more deep rooted, and is in essence what A Rapist In Your Path is addressing–the idea we live in a patriarchy that is our world order. Men all over the world are put on a pedestal that is higher than women, and that is the problem we should be addressing today. While the problem isn’t a lack of education, the answer to the problem is to educate everybody on what it means to be equal, and to truly live in an equal society. We should be teaching women to stand up for themselves like the Chilean protesters have been doing, and we should be teaching men to respect and love the women in their lives. We should be trying to make this world better, because a world where women are raped and murdered for being women, is not a world that I want to live in.
