Lena Headey

Lena Headey Instagram – Repost from @florakenney
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One of the first pieces of advice I was given to survive as a young girl was to stay in a big group. As I got older, I was advised to ignore catcalling and to not retaliate. When I started to go out, I was advised to bring a coat; not because it was cold, but to not have any attention drawn to my ‘half naked’ body incase ‘men get the wrong impression’. Further advice I have received is to ‘call me when your there,’ pretend you’re on the phone, cover your drink, don’t drink too much just incase, never download a dating app they’re too dangerous, keys between your hands, be polite and never answer back, take the joke, remember to please him, ‘give us a smile,’ the list goes on. It has been intertwined into my mind from as young as I can remember (by society), that it is my responsibility to be safe. Yet we see tragic stories such as Sarah Everard, a women who took every precaution I and every other girl has been taught, yet her life was still taken. As a woman, I live in constant fear of when I will be next; it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Which is scary as fuck, and I am so so tired of living in fear just because of my sex. So when boys turn around to say ‘not all men,’ it hurts. No, it is not all men, but it is all women and always men: 97% of women have been sexually assaulted, 87000 women and girls were killed in 2017, on average 83000 women are raped a year. And then boys feel the need to turn around and apply a victim status onto themselves when they could actually make a change. Every boy who is reading this, please take the time to ask your sister, girlfriend, mum or any girl in your life and they will have a story to tell on sexual assault. I was 9 years old when I was first sexually assaulted: a man came up to me and my dad and said to me ‘you better not wear those shorts again, you are making us men excited.’ I’m surprised my dad didn’t knock him out cold but he was so shocked, and I was in a place of such vulnerability that all I said was ‘thank you.’ My own mum woke up to someone groping her on a plane at 13. I know people who have been raped. Girls who have been forced to do things they aren’t comfortable wi | Posted on 14/Mar/2021 01:56:58