The process of reflection and retrospection is one that I, as a young woman growing up in this ever-changing society, have become increasingly prone to. For obvious reasons, the past year has provided numerous opportunities for time spent uninterrupted with our brains. But in more recent times, this reflection has become tainted by the inescapable, and sometimes upsetting turn of events on the world stage.
Amongst other issues, I am of course referring to the awful story of Sarah Everard and what has come to light following her death. Extreme cases like this one are thankfully quite rare, but like many women, it caused me to look back at times where I have felt uncomfortable or taken advantage of – in a public or even familiar setting. I began to discuss the problem more openly with my peers after news of her death and subsequent demonstrations, and I must admit that the palpable sense of unity that we shared in those moments spent explaining what had happened to us was an odd one to come to terms with. On the one hand, it was comforting to know that I was not alone in my experience; there were countless others surrounding me who could just as easily describe the sensation of being aggressively leered at in public or choosing a specific and extremely convoluted route home to avoid an unwanted encounter for example. But on the other hand, it was becoming extraordinarily obvious that we shouldn’t have even had to have those discussions. It should never have come to the point where it took a woman being kidnapped and murdered for people to take the discussion about harassment and anti-social behaviour towards women seriously.
I should also point out, that when I talk about ‘reflection’, I do not mean to say that it took me a lot of time to realise that this was happening to the vast majority of young women on a fairly regular basis. On the contrary; the fact that many, if not all of my friends can describe at least one past encounter that involves being yelled at, touched inappropriately, unduly commented on or worse, was not news to me. But what I can say, is that despite the extent to which it happens, there has never been any urgency to fix it. Despite the level of support available from the authorities, charities and our own domestic support systems, this behaviour has become so trivialised by people, that victims of it very often feel that their experience warrants no remedial or disciplinary action on the perpetrator.
Needless to say that this issue stretches far beyond the reaches of our Jersey coastline, and further still into the rest of the world. It is a case of misogyny in the work place, gender stereotyping, unequal pay, and countless other ways in which living in a world that is undeniably biased towards one type of person can cause problems. So whether we like it or not, gender-based violence is just one part of a very large puzzle. But the with a plethora of experiences, from the relatively serious to the minor, but nevertheless distressing, the ongoing conversation surrounding this topic has made it all too clear to me that this opportunity to re-evaluate and re-shape what type of behaviour we accept as a society is in fact long overdue.
To someone living in the midst of women who, in retrospect have blamed themselves for the untoward actions of others in life, it seems crude to place these experiences into a statistic. But if 97% of women aged 18-24 in the UK have experienced sexual harassment (according to the UN), then it is, in my opinion, reasonable to assume that a similar figure is true in Jersey. If this is the case, and indeed I expect it is, then clearly it’s not just reflection that is needed, but action.
My thoughts on many topics, this included, might appear warped to those of you that have experienced life in a different time frame to me. It is understandable, that at the age of 17, with the vast and diverse shadow of the online world following me wherever I go, I will feel differently to those who take in information from other sources. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether having the internet at hand is a blessing or a curse, but regardless of ‘internet echo-chambers’ or ‘internet activism’, I believe young people and certainly young women must have a voice in deciding how we move forward as a society for the better of everyone – and move forward we must.
This article was originally published under the Weekend Essay section of Saturday's Jersey Evening Post, but has been transferred here for your viewing purposes :)
Written by Tamsin Hollyman, Yr12
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