Hey guys,
Ok, I know I'm supposed to be taking a break from blogging during the exam period but I couldn't not write about this.
I'm sure a few of you at least will have heard about the Elliot Rodgers "retribution" attacks in America yesterday, and I can't even begin to say how angry I am about this at the moment. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Elliot Rodgers, a college student at USCB (I think that's the name) posted a video a little while ago talking about his hatred and anger towards girls of the university who wouldn't sleep with him, or show an interest in him. He also mentioned his hatred towards the sexually active men on campus because of basic jealousy as he was a "supreme gentleman" and they didn't deserve the girls. He then goes on to describe how he plans on allienating them all, like the animals they "are" by beginning in one of the sorority houses before moving on to the streets and continuing. The whole tone of the video is basically the idea of entitlement of women to men, and it is very threatening. And yesterday, he carried out the act, killing 2 girls and 4 boys in the process before taking his own life. And at the moment the whole thing is being blamed on underlying mental health issues and as the GIRLS fault. Are you freaking kidding me?
I mean, if it was simply down to the video itself then I could probably deal with it being an opinion of a deranged man, but it isn't. What has really angered me/concerned me is the comments appearing on the video and over the likes of twitter by other men. One such comment basically stated that had 'us' girls "just given him some" that none of this would have happened and it was the females fault because we're all "too conceited when it comes to sex". Really? Is this really how men see women still? If it had just been one person then yeah, I'd have easily dismissed it. But the fact that the general gist of the comments follows this pattern is ridiculous. As a women, female, girl however you'd like to phrase it, I am NOT a piece of meat, who is useful for nothing more then sex. That's a ludicrous idea. Likewise, I will never, ever sleep with a man just simply because it is "harsh" and "unfair" to reject him, even if politely, it's bad enough that even now I have to debate with a guy for turning him down. Why? Because I said no, it's as plain as that, I shouldn't need to argue the case to you.
From being little I was always told, and still am now, that the way I dress will be some protection to things such as rape which in itself is pretty demeaning because how often is a boy told this? But on top of that, we're now being told it is our fault things like this happen because we aren't liberal with sex, the very same reason girls are tormented for being sluts over if they should do so. Come on people, it's basic logic, we're supposed to have equality.
What bugged me most about this was that as soon as I posted my comments about the matter on twitter, several messages came through anonymously on my ask.fm telling me I was a "self conceited b*tch" because I disagreed with any of the excuses made for Elliot Rodgers being reasonable. My opinion stands at the same. No name calling will change that I'm afraid.
But what do you guys think? Is it a one off incident or is this mentality if entitlement quite common?
Jess xo
