So the other day I idly scrolled down my Facebook feed and saw a status from a girl in my acappella group.
I (along with all of Facebook) found this hysterical. I laughed for a good five minutes, and told the story to my family. Then today, as I checked in for my daily newsfeed, I saw this.
Here’s the story, according to her tumblr (http://yourfriendlionheart.tumblr.com).
“Attention assholes: don’t sexually harass a girl when she can easily find you on Facebook and send your mom proof of your perpetuation of rape culture.
Moral of the day? Don’t mess with me.”
This is immensely awesome on multiple levels. First, I actually know the person doing the awesome thing. Second, in some way or another, every single one of us has dreamed of doing this. Third, not only did she show his mother how gross he is, but she also showed his mother how terrible his grammar is.
Remember in middle school when people were terrorizing you on Instant Messanger? How many of us desperately wanted to print out those conversations and send them to parents? How many of us wish that we could record some of the shitty things guys (or girls) have said to us and show their mothers? And finally, someone did.
On her tumblr she got some hate, and on Buzzfeed there are a lot of comments being like “woah, calm down, this is kind of a dick move.” And it is. It’s kind of a really shitty thing to do to someone. But it’s nowhere near as shitty as sending an unsolicited picture of your genatalia.
“This isn’t rape, and she’s crying wolf. It was a gross move, but this isn’t rape, and I hate hearing rape culture tossed around all the time.”
First, there’s a difference between rape and rape culture. Forgive my imperfect and flawed definition, but rape culture is kind of what it sounds like: a culture that accepts and perpetuates rape. Sending a dick pic isn’t rape. It’s sexual harrassment. And sexual harassment, when unchecked, can turn into rape. Furthermore, Sarah stated she was offended, and instead of apologizing, he insulted her and called her out for being offended.
The fact is that what this girl did WAS a bold and slightly overdramatic move. She could have blocked him, or ignored him, yeah. But imagine how many girls have just blocked him instead of acting out and being over dramatic. One girl finally does something- and I bet he never sends his junk around again.
Sure, she gets called a bitch. But after an international site like Buzzfeed picked up this story, I wonder how many guys might think twice about sending unsolicited pictures? Or even better, I wonder how many girls are going to be inspired by Sarah’s “bold, overdramatic” actions.
After gaining a huge tumblr following, Sarah posted this:
“My intention was not to embarrass those involved, but merely to be a voice. A voice for any internet user who has experienced both cyber bullying and sexual harassment. The internet serves as a platform for me to communicate with people and build relationships, not to be disrespected. The decision to send me the inappropriate picture was the straw that broke this camel’s back.
Every human being deserves respect. You are encouraged to voice your discomfort in any kind of situation and not feel embarrassed about being a victim. You have the power to stand up for yourself because if you don’t, who will?”
And unfortunately, no, the mother has not responded.
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*Thanks to Sarah for letting us share her story! You can check out Sarah’s original post here.
