The Purpose of Freedom Is To Give It To Others

Hey Hey!

Thursday, Zybrea and I went to the panel Teaching Consent and Ending Sexual Assault at Schools and Universities, which was hosted by Feminist Majority. I felt this was a very relevant and important topic to discuss at NGO CSW 63, and I went to support Amelia. She was fantastic by the way! Amelia talked about the Netflix documentary The Hunting Ground, which talks about sexual assault on college and university campuses. One in five women in college are sexually assaulted, yet only a fraction of these crimes are reported, and even fewer result in punishment for the perpetrators. This statistic is too high!!! As a student that attends a single-gendered institution, I wonder what the stats are. I’m afraid to even ask anyone. It will be a hard people to swallow that a woman can sexually assault another woman (Hard Eye Roll).

From the panelists that were high school students in California, it is evident that students need adequate and comprehensive sex education in schools. They actually want it!!! I have a theory that if we start teaching consent early (kindergarten), then I am sure we would see a reduction in sexual assault in colleges and universities. Sexual assault is not about what a woman was/is wearing or how promiscuous a woman is, it’s about people having no respect for women’s bodies and wanting to exert power over others. Ugh, we have so much that needs to be done around this issue. More need to get involved and talk to their menfolk about this issue. Women can’t continue to fix everything!!!

I also went to the San Francisco group event on what they are working on. I love San Francisco!!! Another city after my heart (besides NYC) with their progressiveness. I specifically paid attention to the information on women, social protection, and poverty (I was kicked out an event on this due to overcrowding). According to the San Francisco group, three-quarters of the world’s population need social protection. 330 million women and girls live on less than $1.90 a day (a meal at McDonald’s and Chick-Fil-A costs more than that). Around the world, 500 million youth live in poverty (we have to change this). I would love to see Trump admiration’s active strategies for global and national social protection. We cannot continue to allow women and girls to carry the burden of unpaid care, poverty, and bad politics. We DESERVE social protection, freedom, and a living wage.

XOXO,

Aravia P