All I seem to hear in the news is something about the statistics of deaths from some war or mass shooting, horrific murders all around the country and sexual predators getting their kicks from abusing young children. Yeah, there’s so much to be proud of.

So, what sick, perverted, lame example of a man would gain satisfaction from taking advantage of a woman? It’s a question that regularly seems to float around in my mind recently as I’ve discovered that strong, independent girls I’m surrounded by everyday at school have had experiences that send a shiver down my spine.

In all honesty, I don’t want to sound like a radical feminist and give the impression I’m against men, cause I’m not. I understand that there a lot of crimes in this world we happen to live in, but by far, the one thing that makes my skin crawl is people taking advantage of other people and violating their privacy, their bodies.

We have crime and criminals on our doorstep, and it doesn’t matter who you are in order for you to be affected by them.

You could be the most confident girl on the planet, who’s slammed enough people down with your fiery words and personality. But in a situation where you were stood alone in a dark street after a night out, alone, it probably (I’m not saying definitely because that’s not accurate at all) wouldn’t make a difference if you tried to fight back.

I often forget that bad things happen to good people, and it actually makes me sick when I even consider that these kinds of things happen on a day-to-day basis to people that have done nothing but stumble into a trap of well constructed lies from a person they happened to trust for all the right reasons. Nobody DESERVES to be abused like that, no matter what they’ve done in their past or what reputation they hold.

I know I’m not the only one who is oblivious for the most part; in fact, I know a lot of people take for granted the solidity they have from being safe and able to rely on certain friends and family who support them all the time. However, I also know that people who have the ridiculously amazing ability to hide their inner anguish and pain from their peers have seen and experienced way too much, and keep it all locked up to such an extent, nobody, including their closest, would even notice anything was wrong.

When awareness is spread, such as in the form of the episodes of ‘This Is England, 86’, the reactions from everybody were the same. A lot of people were devastated and shocked by how graphic and ‘traumatising’ the events were, but if it wasn’t for that programme, the entire issue of rape and violation would stay under the surface. The episode was raw and hit a nerve for a lot of people, I remember somebody’s status on Facebook saying, ‘I felt as dirty and used as the girl did’. Well, imagine what it would have felt like for that so called loner you have at school who’s been awful quiet since forever, but you put it down to her being a moody so-and-so. Do you really want to know what happened to her? Probably not.

I just have one last question to tie up this probably unread, purposeless article that will more than likely have no effect on you: Is it really right for us to ignore the things that are happening right under our noses?

Or

Is it really right for us to pretend that everything is okay, when actually life as we know it is falling apart?