She didn’t ask for special treatment.She didn’t ask for a platform, a parade, or a prize. She asked for safety.That’s it. That’s all. But the answ
She didn’t ask for special treatment.
She didn’t ask for a platform, a parade, or a prize.
She asked for safety.
That’s it. That’s all.
But the answer?
Shame. Ridicule. Silence. Gaslighting.
Not just from strangers. But from peers. From institutions. From the very people who claim to care.
This is what women are met with when we ask for the bare minimum: the right to feel safe in our own bodies, spaces, and lives.
🛑 Safety Is Not a Luxury—It’s a Human Right
In the case of athletes raising concerns, all women asked for was a cheek swab—a basic request for transparency and truth.
What we got instead was called invasive, transphobic, bigoted, hateful.
But women endure invasiveness as a matter of routine:
Pap smears.
Colposcopies.
Dental extractions without enough anesthesia.
Sexual violence that no one believed.
And in everyday life, the pattern repeats:
A woman says she doesn’t feel safe walking home at night?
“You’re being dramatic.”A woman asks why her ex can still show up at her workplace?
“Don’t make waves.”A woman begs the court for protection from her abuser?
“We need to hear his side too.”
Everywhere you look, the question is safety—yet the answer is shame.
🔥 This Isn’t Just About Sports. It’s About All of Us.
Because what happens to women in high-profile arenas is a mirror.
And the reflection staring back is one we all recognize.
Women who speak up are mocked.
Women who report are disbelieved.
Women who survive are silenced.
Black women in particular are often told we’re too loud, too masculine, too angry—so when we advocate for ourselves, the smear campaigns come fast:
“You just want attention.”
“You’re jealous.”
“You’re anti-everything.”
“You’re bitter because you look like a man.”
We are not bitter. We are brave.
We are not against progress. We are against harm.
And when we raise our voices, it’s not to exclude anyone—it’s to protect everyone. Especially the ones the world forgets first.
🚪 We Must Lower the Barriers to Safety
Too many women have grown up thinking that suffering is our duty.
That if we are hurt, we should heal quietly, forgive fast, and move forward.
But moving forward without repair is not healing—it’s burying pain alive.
We must stop:
Shaming women for asking questions.
Shaming women for setting boundaries.
Shaming women for choosing life over loyalty to systems that harm.
We must start:
Listening to women the first time.
Believing Survivors before the evidence is unbearable.
Creating systems that don’t punish women for surviving.
🌿 Especially for Black Women
We are tired of being the backbone.
We are tired of sacrificing our peace so others can be comfortable.
We are tired of being expected to show up for everyone but ourselves.
Let this be the season where we choose us.
Where we say: My safety matters. My peace matters. My voice matters.
And if asking for protection from harm makes people uncomfortable?
Let them sit in that discomfort.
Because we’ve sat in danger long enough.
🪷
Share if you feel safe and ready—your voice might be the lifeline someone else needs.
And if you do share, remember to cite the messenger. Words carry legacy.
[rosaschildren.com] | [wesurviveabuse.com]
