Society has done an awful, weak, and half-hearted job of protecting women and children. Too often, when a woman sets boundaries or takes steps to safe
Society has done an awful, weak, and half-hearted job of protecting women and children. Too often, when a woman sets boundaries or takes
steps to safeguard herself, she is mocked, ridiculed, or interrogated. Put in prison for a lengthy sentence with a violent male for an added touch of injustice.
But we ought to be praising women who make every attempt to keep themselves safe.
The shame belongs to those who sneer at boundaries. To those who laugh at women’s fears. To those who deny the statistics, use studies to justify misogyny and silencing, and dismiss the truth of violence.
Women and children deserve protection—and men and boys must be taught, without apology, that their duty is to be safe around them.
Women do not need lectures for defending themselves. They need respect.
The shame belongs to a society that laughs at boundaries, that mocks women’s fears, that refuses to teach men their duty to be safe.
If you ridicule a woman for protecting herself or her children, you are siding with predators.
Every time a woman is mocked for setting boundaries, the real failure is revealed: a culture that has refused to protect her.
Do not shame women who protect themselves. Shame the systems, the communities, and the individuals who think women’s lives are expendable.
Men and boys must be told clearly: your duty is safety.
Do not cross boundaries. Do not mock boundaries. Do not question boundaries.
Women are not the problem for insisting on protection. The problem is a world that still allows men to believe they don’t have to provide it.
For generations, women have been blamed for the harm done to them while society looked the other way.
It’s time to flip the script. Women who defend themselves are heroes. The shame belongs to those who ignored, mocked, or punished them for trying to survive.
Praise women who guard their safety.
Shame those who laugh at them for doing so.
It is that simple.
At We Survive Abuse, we say this clearly: Stop belittling women for defending life.
Place the shame where it belongs—on those who would rather silence women than protect them.