Safety Rules

The experiences of the women interviewed and the interviewers stuck with me for many days after reading the Campbell article. I am hypersensitive to my surrounding as it is and this article only further reminded me that despite all precautions you might never be safe. In this post I will discuss the two things that have remained in my mind: safety and “the rules” women must follow.

The interview with the woman whose rape resulted in a pregnancy changed the interviewers idea of safety. Campbell writes “that’s how she spent her birthday that year: doing an interview for her research practicum that forever changed how she understood her safety in the world” (43). This really struck me because I began to reflect on how my understanding of safety had changed over my lifetime. Had it been specific events? Had it just changed over time with maturity? For me it was a combination of the two but with certain events resulting in drastic changes in my idea of safety. The woman who was interviewed said her rape occurred in a house that had other people in it. Many people would have considered this setting a safe space and I think the woman may have even considered it one. Where will this woman ever feel safe again? The fact that women everywhere have to be constantly narrowing how they understand safety is infuriating.

Campbell talks about the rules that women live by. “We start learning these rules as little girls and grow up in their shadow” (48). This reminded me of my aunt that all throughout my childhood would tell me before she would drop me off anywhere, including my house, to “not talk to strangers, take candy from strangers, go anywhere with strangers, and always go places with a friend.” When I was younger it seemed like a joke, just something my aunt always said, but as I grew older I saw the validity in her statements. I not only follow her advice today but have added many more rules that I must follow day-to-day. Campbell mentions after discussing the assault on the woman who lived on the fourth floor of her building, that “the violation was so egregious that it left us wondering why we even bother trying to follow the rules at all” (50). Thinking about all my rules and then reading this article with these stories of how those rules are utterly useless also made me consider why I even bother with my rules. 

This post is primarily venting and I wish I could list some solutions about how to handle these issues but I am at a loss. Campbell’s article was great and I think I will continue to think about it throughout this course.