I need you to stop touching me.

I need you to get out of my rights, my mind, and my space.

I am a person. This should not be a question.

Hetero-cis-men treating femmes as tools for fantasy projection and object for ejaculation is an outdated epidemic that should have been squashed by logic and humanity. But yet, here we are, in the age of globalization and access to knowledge at our fingertips, still having to explain why Blurred Lines are inexcusable and responding to butt-grabbers at bars by putting our heads down and walking away because any other response might be dangerous.

It is not fair that I have to be cautious about the space that I take up. It is not fair that my environment at work is determined by how I react to sexual harassment, ignoring it being the best option for self-preservation.

Heteropatriarchy as we see it can be traced back to the beginnings of agriculture. As a way of maintaining control over land, product, and community, men married the mothers of their children, keeping count of descendants and inheritors, and successfully maintaining a clearly marked empire.

Men’s relationship to women is inherently about power, and requires active effort in part of men to dismantle this power in both personal relationships and in systemic dynamics. There must be consistent, active effort to fight normalized silencing and disregard of the power of women. We are all complicit.

We need to stand up, because this shit is far from dead and it is definitely fucked up.

My harasser got a new job working in security at a school.

This is the same man that commented on my butt while working at a shelter for children with a history of trauma and neglect.

This is the same man that hit on women half his age at after-work hang outs. Women at these parties were terrified and gathered at the other end of the room in order to avoid his touch.

This is the same man that admitted to participating in sexual behavior on the job on a consistent basis.

This man got a new job offer before me. And he will be working in security at a school.

Am I the only one who realizes how fucked up that is?