Thursday, February 14, 2008

Look out for this guy!

I got a horrifying email from a sorority sister today.
“Not to scare you,” she writes, but a man in a red truck started parking down the street from our sorority house. He picked a spot in front of a small house where two girls live, and he pulls up every night around 8:30.
One night, the girls looked up and saw the guy standing in their window. When this creeper saw that they had a guy inside, he ran away and put a large object in his truck.
The girls called the police. They said the man is from Butler and has been driving into town to watch them. Cops told them to call next time they see him.
(Question: Wouldn’t it be better to just send a cop car in that vicinity around 8 pm to prevent an attack? Apparantly not. Just wondering.)
Last night, one of the girls drove home to find his truck parked out front. Again.
This chick is a bad-ass. She blocked the guy in and called the cops, demanding that they come take him away.
A different cop showed up this time.
He let the guy go. After all, the guy didn’t do anything, the cop said.
“He just got in a fight with his wife and needed to think,” he said.
In the words of my sorority sister: “Conveniently outside of two cute girls’ house? Weird.”
People roll their eyes when I say that women are treated as lessser humans compared to men. But think for a minute. This police officer had testimony from two people:
A) A man who drove from Butler and parked in front of the house of some random college girls, and
B) Two young women with police reports and eye-witnesses proving the suspect was a potential threat.
And this cop chose A. In a world where women are attacked and sexually assaulted and abused, where men make up an overwhelming proportion of perpetrators of violent crime, especially gendered violence – this cop chose A.
One more day of fear for a potential victim. One more day of privilege for a potential perpetrator.
You have to ask why.
Happy Valentine’s Day.

2 comments:

Katharine said...

This reminded me of the film that was at True/False this year — Very Young Girls. Aside from the majority of the film, there was a seeming 'throwaway' scene in which we see a rehabilitation class in the office of NYC District Attorney for 'Johns' who have been arrested for paying women for sex.

Basically, the men have to go through a 48 hour training program, and if they do not attempt to pick up a prostitute in the next six months, all charges against them will be dropped.

The prostitutes, on the other hand, are sent to jail or prison repeatedly, or they fall back into the life. Liberty and justice for all?

Lindsay Toler said...

Great point! It's like if a man "learns his lesson," there is no punishment. But since gendered violence is a "woman's issue," then women should know better than to get involved!