"I suspect it’s difficult for men to imagine a world in which their bodies have long been inextricably linked to their value as an individual, and that no matter how encouraging your parents were or how many positive female role models you had or how self-confident you feel, there is an ever-present pressure that creeps in from all sides, whispering in your ear that you are your body and your body defines you. A world where, from the time of pubescence on, you can feel the constant and palpable weight of the male gaze, and not just from your male peers but from teachers and sports coaches and the fathers of the children you baby-sit, people you’re supposed to respect and trust and look up to, and that first realization that you are being looked at in that way is the beginning of a self-consciousness that you will be unable to shake for the rest of your life.

Even if they are never verbalized, the rules of bodily conduct for females become clear early on: when school administrators reprimand you for the inch of midriff that shows when you lift your hands straight in the air or youth group leaders tell you that the sight of your unintentional cleavage is what causes godly young men to fall, you learn that your body is dangerous and shameful and that it’s your responsibility to cloister it in a way that is acceptable to everyone else. You learn that your body is a topic of public debate that everyone is entitled to weigh in on, from a male classmate telling you that those jeans make your ass look huge to the male-dominated United States Congress dictating the parameters that rape must fall within to be considered legitimate. To be a woman, and to live life in a woman’s body, is to be held to a set of comically paradoxical standards that make you constantly second-guess yourself and jump through a million hoops in pursuit of an impossible perfection."
— Stop Catcalling Me | Thought Catalog  (via ceedling)

(via dontfeedthegradstudent)

  1. be-like-the-moon reblogged this from esangue
  2. looksontempests reblogged this from sixchord
  3. siberiantick reblogged this from tinytruant
  4. tinytruant reblogged this from friendswaffleswerq
  5. la-papillion reblogged this from mumimafeminist
  6. evanescentanathema reblogged this from jsalvador
  7. 18h75 reblogged this from jsalvador
  8. quoterepository reblogged this from digitalhoarder
  9. one-hundred-percent-free reblogged this from jsalvador
  10. jsalvador reblogged this from asianmisandrist
  11. youreavicioustrollop reblogged this from myeyestoserve
  12. shelefttheweb reblogged this from alwaystrifecta
  13. alwaystrifecta reblogged this from dovahqeen
  14. myeyestoserve reblogged this from drugsandgrapes
  15. dovahqeen reblogged this from youmustbenedstarksbastard
  16. youmustbenedstarksbastard reblogged this from tickledick
  17. tickledick reblogged this from toachievemoksha
  18. darthflake reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz
  19. toachievemoksha reblogged this from chasasmiles
  20. slut-luv reblogged this from love-is-liberation
  21. dookiecakes reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz
  22. weresheepie reblogged this from love-is-liberation
  23. marinakayy reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz
  24. sanarues reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz
  25. love-is-liberation reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz
  26. anxietyanimal reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz
  27. phyllisschlaflies reblogged this from diaryofanarabfeminist
  28. cru-saders reblogged this from st00pid-vegunz