WHY ARE MEN AFRAID TO SPEAK UP?

Why has it come to this? A death to instigate a national campaign to prevent this from continuing. Women not being able to take public transport, or an Uber or even walk on the roads at any time without the persistent thought in the back of their heads of “What if…” or “Could this happen?”.

Men need to realise that we are in constant fear, even if we look or feel strong, there will always been that sense of could anything happen to any one of us.

On numerous occasions I have felt this underlying feeling of whether I am safe by myself on a road walking home from school or even in at train station where multiple people are and I am very sure I am not the only one. The reason why women are cautious of men whilst in their presence alone is because we don’t know which men could harm us.

As a 17-year-old female, this should not be what I am most fearful at this moment in time. I should be living my life without any fear that I may have any unwanted encounters by a male.

Now men should realise we understand it is ‘not all men’, but those men who make this feeling within us are the ones who make us feel scared to be round ‘all men’. They may feel too nervous to publicly talk or post about it without their friends as they do not want to feel judged or out of sync of the conversation. Would you rather be friends with misogynistic males than diminish female fear? It has mainly been women voicing their concerns around their own safety, but the amount of male presence within this campaign is upsetting. During the uncertain times of whether Sarah Everard was alive, I was shocked to see how little the men that I follow on social media were talking about the subject of female safety in public by either writing their views about it or resharing posts on Instagram and what confused me even more was how other topics seemed more important to them. Do you not care that females who may not know you think you are targeting them if you alone on an empty road? It is the bare minimum that as males should be doing to stop this damaging stereotype growing anymore. Women should not have to change their travel route, wear something they weren’t planning on wearing, wear more makeup to impress a male, be silenced when they are being harassed or scared when they are walking alone.

Sarah Everard will always be remembered as a prime example that it is not because of whether the woman was wearing revealing or inappropriate clothing. She will always be remembered as a woman along with thousands of others who lost their lives to male violence. She will always be remembered for her death initiating a national campaign that was long over-due to be broadcasted for the fear of women’s safety.

BY REBECCA BURTON