#YesAllWomen- a Revolution Within a Hashtag

As most of you probably know, a few days ago, a college student opened fire at UCSB. The attack left 7 dead (including the gunman) and 13 wounded. Shortly after, videos made by the attacker came to light. These videos, uploaded to youtube, consisted of several minutes of the attacker going on tirades about his hatred of women and his plans to kill them as revenge for, as he worded it, "never giving [him] the sex and attention that [he] deserved". Despite this being a blatant act of misogyny and a hate crime against women- people still refused to label this guy a terrorist. We were met with cries of "but not ALL men!!! this guy was just crazy!!!" But the truth is, this is a problem involving ALL men. This is a societal problem, not just some random one-time crazy thing.

According to TIME, when there is a mass shooter or a massacre, there is a 98% chance that the perpetrator is a man. Yeah, you read that correctly. This country doesn't have a fucking youth violence problem, or even a fucking gun problem- this country has a male killer problem. And that's scary, and important.

The other day, I read something that said "No, not all men harass and abuse women- but all women have been harassed or abused by a man." Although it may not always be in the form of gunfire, violence and other acts of misogyny against women is prevalent and it is happening every day. While most men won't go as far as this man in particular, the poisonous ideals that he held are in the minds of men and boys everywhere. How many of you have ever heard the "Girls only go for jerks! They ignore the nice guys!! I'm a NICE GUY" bullshit, or something of that sort? How many of you (girls) have been harassed by a guy that just wouldn't get it and insisted that you continue to talk to him, despite your obvious discomfort? The idea that men are owed a woman's time or her affection or her body is male entitlement, and it greatly contributed to this shooting. The idea that a girl should date you or sleep with you simply because you were 'nice' to her or bought her dinner or just because you like her, that's male entitlement. Women don't have to talk to you, look at you, smile at you, or fuck you. period.

Anyway, here's my own compilation of a few reasons why #YesAllWomen:

• #YesAllWomen because 1 out of every 5 American women will be the victim of a completed or attempted sexual assault in her lifetime.
• #YesAllWomen because nearly half of all female rape victims were assaulted by a friend or acquaintance- somebody that they knew.
• #YesAllWomen because we can't walk down the street at night without pepper spray.
• #YesAllWomen because 83% of girls between the ages of 12 and 16 have already experienced sexual harassment in school.
• #YesAllWomen because one my friend was bullied and called a 'slut' and 'whore' repeatedly after a guy spread a private photo of her- and nobody said a word about him for betraying her trust.
• #YesAllWomen because a guy that I considered to be a friend attempted to drunkenly assault me at a party when I was 16, and because I immediately left and never went to another party again- and never told anybody why.

In short, #YesAllWomen because all women deserve better. We deserve to speak up and to be heard, and not to be silenced or told we are 'overreacting' or being 'crazy'. We deserve to feel safe. And most importantly, the victims of this tragedy deserved to live. RIP.