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These Women Perfectly Explained Why #NoWomanEver Wants to be Harassed

These Women Perfectly Explained Why #NoWomanEver Wants to be Harassed

“He blocked me from walking to the register when I was ignoring him in CVS and we been together since that day!” – NO WOMAN EVER

This was the tweet that started it all. @ImJustCeeJ (Miss Black Awareness) sent the tweet from her home in Atlanta and with it began a movement.

The woman, who asked to be identified as CJ on BuzzFeed, says she started #NoWomanEver out of frustration over “men on the timeline dismissing the experiences of some women discussing street harassment. I was genuinely pissed off, and just being sarcastic as a way to snap back at the guys, but also to ease some of the tension with women.” Since the hashtag’s conception on June 18, 2016, thousands of others have joined the conversation. Read on for what I found to be the most notable examples of #NoWomanEver.

#NoWomanEver wants unsolicited pics.

@indiedharry and @SuppressThis are not here for your random dick pics, and neither is basically any other woman. Why? Because being sent an unsolicited dick pic isn’t a compliment, nor is it an effective tool of seduction—it’s just sexual harassment. No woman ever has wanted that.

 

#NoWomanEver wants her personal space violated.

@anitnewblack explores the wonders of good old male persistence in her contribution to #NoWomanEver. Have you ever experienced a man drawing closer and/or getting louder when you refuse his advances? It’s already scary enough being yelled at by a random man on the street (or anywhere else, for that matter), but it can get even scarier when they just won’t quit. Most catcallers know what they’re doing is threatening; it’s more of an intimidation tactic than a flirting technique, and it’s sad that that’s how they expect to get their way.

 

#NoWomanEver wants her own story questioned by others.

@RaquelWillis_ makes an important point for trans women everywhere in her tweet. Going through the pain and social stigma of transitioning is an incredibly personal journey, not an attention-seeking ploy towards creepy men. Besides, transgender women are nearly two times “more likely to experience sexual violence” in comparison to their LGB counterparts, and made up 72% of  hate crime homicide victims in 2013 (not to mention the daily struggles of pronoun misuses, unemployment, and housing discrimination).

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#NoWomanEver wants to be greeted in this way.

Suggesting a woman gives you a blowjob before even saying hello isn’t just creepy and inappropriate, it’s also pretty dehumanizing. Doing so assumes that the sole purpose of the woman in question is to perform sexually and provide pleasure, and really, who aspires to be with a partner that thinks like that? @oliviasalyer cleverly pointed out the ridiculousness of this man’s opening line, and hopefully got him and other men thinking about what a truly kind and effective greeting should look like.

 

#NoWomanEver wants to be told that they must be on their period.

@angelllbabyyy_ understands the frustration of a man thinking a person’s cycle is to blame for all their moods. Of course we’re not mad because a man is harassing us; we’re mad because of our silly hormones! Sure, hormones do account for a lot of how we act and respond emotionally to different situations, but that doesn’t mean they’re to blame for every time we are sad, angry, or upset.

 

#NoWomanEver should have to defend her sexual preference.

Everyone knows that lesbians and bisexual women are only attracted to women because they haven’t found a guy who is attracted to them, right? Wrong. @ShinyBlackGirl1 shot down this man who thought that just by telling her she was “too pretty and that he could change my mind,” any trace of queerness would just magically disappear. Believe it or not, making ignorant assumptions about a person’s sexuality and trying to change it are not the keys to any woman’s heart.

#NoWomanEver wants to be told their experiences are not valid.

 

CJ, the hashtag’s creator, summed it up perfectly by pointing out the hypocrisy in many male responses to #NoWomanEver. She and @awesomelocks pointed out what so many men missed when responding to the hashtag; by harassing female participants with a barrage of misogynistic tweets, not only did they miss the point entirely, they also reinforced the need for hashtags like this.

#NoWomanEver gives women a space to talk openly about the experiences they’d had being harassed by men, and while some people took this as a learning opportunity to try and understand the women’s pain, others remained willfully obtuse.

Have you participated in #NoWomanEver? Link some of your tweets below, or share your thoughts on the hashtag and its impact!

Cover image courtesy of Getty Images.

By Ariel Wodarcyk on July 11, 2016
Ariel is a contributing writer for Helloflo. She is currently studying journalism at the Newhouse School of Syracuse University, and is an intern at Arts Council Napa Valley, a nonprofit arts adovacy agency. Her writing has been feautured on the Arts Council Napa Valley blog, FLURT, Naturma, and in the Napa Valley Register. You can find Ariel’s shameless self-promotion and newsy shares on Twitter.