4 minutes on the feminist soap box

Getting on the soap box here, bear with me.

Something that has continually proven to both astound me and disgust me is the way I've had men react to me here in Barcelona. I'm usually on my guard for sketchy looking people and/or situations, but here I feel pretty uncomfortable at times, even walking on my own safe street. Barcelona is actually a very safe city with about 75% of all crime being petty theft, like pickpocketing, yet that doesn't stop me from getting a little sketched out at times.

I would say that 6 out of 7 days here in Barcelona, I get looked up and down for longer than is necessary, called "guapa" as I walk past someone, and recently experienced men who reach out and touch my arm slightly as I walk by, though that's a new thing. I also have men who come up to me and get right in my face just to tell me I'm pretty. Gee, thanks so much. What gives you the right to completely invade my space? It makes me outraged, and I wish I could ignore it or chalk it up to cultural differences, but that mindset is virtually impossible for me to accept. Most of the time my response is just a disgusted sound and a rolling of the eyes, but sometimes if I'm feeling particularly revolted, I'll say a little something back to them, which isn't one of my prouder moments.

I guess I'm just not okay with this. Yesterday I went for a run and was sweating profusely and still had 3 men call out to me in 3 different situations, calling me guapa or making mmm mmm sounds at me. I feel like my body here is often seen as public property. Wow, this feminist soap box is really letting me rage on and on, isn't it? But it feels good, as this is something I deal with on a daily basis. I try so hard to ignore it, or not take it seriously, but its really difficult to ignore it when I'm just trying to walk down the street and get commented on or stared down, continually. I don't want to be seen as one of those "angry feminists" who take things too seriously, but actually, i could care less about that branding since I'm used to hearing that stereotype. I'm just tired of having to second guess what I'm going to wear outside for fear of having men look me up and down for a good minute, and then commented on. What, have you never seen a woman before?

Here's hoping I can let go of some of this anger and discomfort because it's not a fun occurrance to have to think about these things on a daily basis.

Off the soap box now.