Okay, um, I’m not sure this is much of a story actually, or if I’m really qualified to talk about this.
I’m 18 (well, close enough anyway; not gonna use my actual identity) and for all my life I’ve been raised in a very warm and nurturing community (well, as a whole). Never really had sexual harassment here, the most I got are vague memories of catcalling.
No, the only tale I have is from years ago: I was about 8 or 9, and I was on my first trip to China. My family hails from there, so it was always exciting when summer rolls around. Not sure exactly where we were- I remember a city and tourist-trappy lakes scattered about the outskirts- but we (My Grandmother, brothers, and I) were walking along a dirt path straddling a rather large and pretty lake when I got separated.
It was only a moment, I had lagged behind when I slowed to watch the ducks, but I guess it was enough because in the next breath a beefy hand grabbed my upper arm and began pulling me insistently off the path. I remember the sharp tang of a smell (later my brother noted it was probably alcohol, but I’m not sure) and the numbness of my fingers after (but funnily not the pain of that circulation-blocking grip), a weird sense of shock, alarm, and resignation.
Another breath and my 76 year old Grandmother was storming over the stranger, slapping the hell out of him and spewing a color-wheel assortment of mandarin threats. He was gone pretty fast.
And then we just carried on, joked about it (I joked about it- I wasn’t sure what else to do).
Later on I googling and found out the anti-natal policies of China, and the gender population differences, and the cases of human trafficking- girls and boys disappearing off the street. Sometimes it comes back to me, and I get a cold rush down my back.
I only got a taste in my little time there, but many, many girls live in China.
Maybe that’s not exactly sexism- I apologize if so, as well as with my poor quantity of experiences.