February 2015 – Indecisive Youth

There is so much more going on in the world than we will ever comprehend. Bad things happen DAILY. Our eyes and ears block out the bad things and pretend that life is infinite. We are always going to be here, right? Living and loving spending our days where we want to be. I want to be at the bike trail.

I worry. I worry for the future and for the present. I worry that people won’t heed warnings in dangerous settings.

Why do I still have to worry that whenever I walk outside of my house I could be mugged? Why do I have to worry that if I walk alone, thinking; I could be raped? I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO WORRY FOR MY SAFETY EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY. This feeling is killing me. Knowing that these things are happening to others is not okay. It isn’t okay to disregard the concern others have for me. They shouldn’t have to worry about me!

In this world I cannot be independent. I can’t walk alone outside anymore. A great anxiety overcomes me as I walk outside knowing I might not return. Nobody should have to fear for their safety. No one should have to fear that they will be raped, mugged, shot, etc.. in a public place.

“An American is sexually assaulted every two minutes, and 9 out of 10 survivors are women.

I don’t know about you, but I’m profiling everyone after dark. If I’m walking alone at night and you are a man between the ages of 20 and 60 and your gait looks even remotely confident, I’m terrified of you. I’ve thought a lot about whether the fear is racist or classist, and it really isn’t. It really doesn’t discriminate much, except that the person normally falls into the above age range. No matter how tired, drunk, confident, sad, or excited I am, I get a piercing feeling in my stomach when someone of that description is walking toward me on the street. The moment they walk past me, I momentarily lose the ability to breathe as I role-play different scenarios in my head. I normally have a hand in my pocket clutching my keys or phone. The moment they walk past me I close my eyes and keep walking, ball my fists, and prepare. When they’re a distance that I’ve arbitrarily deemed safe behind me, I exhale and say a tiny little thank you to the street gods for sparing me. Then I chastise myself for a second and carry on walking.

My almost pathological fear of men in the streets after dark is something I need to continue to work on, and I recognize and own that. I also know that most people are good, kind, and just people, and that even if they aren’t, it is unlikely that they are rapists trolling the streets for unsuspecting women to assault. But in the same way that I own that, I think that if someone falls into the most-likely-to-rape people category, and he wants to show the world that he is not to be feared, or to create a world where women don’t fear for our safety in the street, then some of the onus is on him to address that inequality in his day-to-day life.

It isn’t fair to all men that random women in the street fear them just because of their gender. But, and this shouldn’t be a newsflash, they do, and that fact should make men really mad. The fact that we fear men in the street (to varying degrees), is because a portion of men do some stuff that is, if not illegal, at least a little unseemly. It’s scary to be catcalled by a group of drunken frat boys when you’re walking home alone. It’s scary to have someone slowly look you up and down when you’re walking home, chatting on the phone to your friend about godknowswhat. And when it isn’t scary, it’s an inconvenience.” (http://www.rolereboot.org/life/details/2014-08-im-sick-afraid-walk-alone-night/ )

-Ave

Branching Out (Links in post!)

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Indecisive Youth

Hello all!

It seems that nowadays people are interested in things that catch their attention right away. I’m starting to believe that this blog isn’t getting the publicity we originally wanted it to in the beginning. Blogs reach people yes, but not efficiently. We struggle with the motivation to write when we fear that nobody is really even reading these posts. Blogs are becoming like personal websites that link viewers to OTHER websites (youtube channels, personal facebooks + twitters, etc…).

So with that in mind… we have decided to join other social networks, websites to ultimately expand our viewers and obtain larger goals in the long run.

Here are our other websites:

GMAIL- yindecisive@gmail.com

GOOGLE+-https://plus.google.com/104835959347678605180/posts

FACEBOOK– https://www.facebook.com/beyondthefangirl/timeline

YOUTUBE- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2J5_UwS3is0GddmHhxvXgA

Sad Movies + Recommendations

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Indecisive Youth

Two sad movies in a row isn’t good for anybody’s attitude. Yet somehow I find myself addicted to the sadness and despair of the characters as they push their way through life and the hard times they’re facing. There’s something like sincerity in the characters faces. Revealing their thoughts and feelings, pouring into the viewers making ~~them~~ me feel exactly what they are.

The characters fill the film with a disparity of life and love.

Life- the experience of being alive.

Love- unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.

Even in the difficulty of surviving for them, they manage to put love before life and that is breathtakingly beautiful. Because even people who are hurting can think of others before themselves. Even if they’re feeling pain they can prevent it from happening to someone they love.

If you would like to watch a sad movie I recommend:

Tiger Eyes- After Davey’s father is killed in a hold-up, she and her mother and younger brother visit relatives in New Mexico. Here Davey is befriended by a young man who helps her find the strength to carry on and conquer her fears.

Gimme Shelter- A pregnant teenager flees her abusive mother in search of her father, only to be rejected by her dad and forced to survive on the streets until a compassionate stranger offers a hopeful alternative.

They might not sound like movies you normally watch, but they are truly amazing.

Month: February 2015