Channel: YesReneau

Category: People & Blogs

Tags: alen hadzic

Description: Summer of Sexism - Ep. 1 I have not included links to the articles because I am still fuzzy on how I feel about calling people out by name on the internet, especially people who didn't personally sexually abuse me (and, tbh, while he probably doesn't deserve it, I have an empathy problem, and I can't help but think about his feelings while going through all this on a world stage--he's still human). However, his name is out there if the most curious amongst you are so inclined to find it. I believe this problem is bigger than him; this problem is EVERY person who has degraded woman and treated them as disposable sexual objects. While outrage over the fencer is justified, it is TOO EASY to pin it all on him. It is also our hugely enabling culture, which has disrespected women through jokes, depictions, basic language (e.g. "bitch", "slut", "thot", etc.), and more, which embolden men like the fencer to feel entitled to our bodies and/or to treat us like second-class citizens. The best place to start solving any problem is to take a big, long look in the mirror. At one point in this video, I did want to talk about where I saw my own personal responsibility in dating/enabling men like these (i.e. walking away faster and teaching these men that abuse will not be tolerated), but it didn't quite feel appropriate when spoken alongside the allegations of sexual assault, because it felt like I was comparing the victims' experiences to mine and implying a victim-blaming mindset. Which I NEVER want to imply. Abuse is NEVER the victim's fault. Sometimes we don't know these abusers for long enough for there to be warning signs... and so the abusive thing that happens comes out of nowhere. Or sometimes the abuse is forced on us even when we try to remove ourselves. So, this topic is complicated, and this was not the video for me to have a self-reflective accountability conversation (although I do believe we should all be having that talk with ourselves). This video was just one person (i.e. me) sharing what I learned from dating a man like this. It is a slightly out-of-place, corner-case perspective, but I hope it moves us all one more step in the direction of affording full human dignity to all people. Help keep the videos coming - Patreon: patreon.com/yesreneau Stalk me - Insta: @yesreneau Music - "La, La, La" by Otis McDonald