Erin
What does life as a woman or girl look like in your country / city / town / village? Any issues / challenges / exciting milestones?
Life as a woman in the United States varies greatly. From what little I know of major cities like NYC, a woman can be almost completely equal to a man. But where I am, in a rural part of Texas, we have a bit to go. We have a teen pregnancy rate double the state average, and yet almost every girl I know claims to be a devout Christian having never had sex. Sex before marriage is still seen as a massive taboo. Almost everyone still believes doctors can check for virginity in any woman, not just young children. We have much to learn.
What would you like the world to know about YOU? What life experience, challenge or achievement do you want to share?
I live in a small town in the Bible Belt, where Christianity is an expectation and sex education is not only abstinence-focused but full of lies (like tampons taking virginity). I was repeatedly molested a year ago by my then-boyfriend who confessed to having a porn addiction, and having undergone therapy. I feel better sex ed, some which defined consent and taught about sexuality and protection, could have prevented my case and the hundreds of others like it I’ve encountered in my area. Even though I said no, it’s not about no; it’s about yes. It’s so important the world understands that.
Complete this sentence: "To be a girl or woman today, is to be..."
... at the center of a battle. No woman can really avoid eventually supporting feminism. We constantly make advances in all parts of the world, and while we still have more to go, we are so united, how can we not succeed?