Sexual harassment/sexualization/rape culture has gotten out of hand

Hello :) I just want to say good luck! I am very excited to debate this subject with you! Have a good day! :-) (I meant this towards women). I will post my sources at the end of my argument. Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual advances, comments, or requests. Women face harassment every single day whether it be walking to work, getting a coffee, or even just walking down the street. This issue is not just something that can be brushed aside. It causes women to fear for their safety and is a violation of a woman's rights. It is actually a felony to make comments against a woman's gender. This has gotten out of hand, as it makes it even more difficult to enforce gender equality between the sexes, especially at the workplace. It furthers rape culture (my third point) as it continues to say "It's O.K. to sexualize a woman's body." Advocates of feminism have been working to combat sexual harassment towards women. One of the main aspects has been the struggle to gain recognition of sexual harassment as violence against women. The idea that this type of behavior is okay has gotten severely out of hand as women cannot even walk down the street without having multiple encounters with men bigger than them making derogatory and demeaning sexual comments. I myself, as a 17 year old girl, have received comments and attempted advances like these from men who are more than twice my age. At 17 years old. This video is a great study of what women actually face when walking down the street. I encourage you watch it. --> http://www.businessinsider.com... This is what women face on a daily basis. Jessica Williams does a fabulous job talking about harassment on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Here are the links. Please watch them as well. --> http://thedailyshow.cc.com... http://thedailyshow.cc.com... Sexual harassment is not inexcusable. It causes women to actually fear for their safety when doing something as simple as walking down the street. It doesn't matter whether a woman is in sweatpants and a hoodie or lingerie, she will get winks, stares, comments, and even possible advances. Sexualization: Sexualization of women severely damages both women and young girls' self image and mental health. It causes cognitive and mental function damage, as well as physical damage through eating disorders and self harm. Parents and schools often do nothing about the sexualization of their girls, as "boys will be boys." The sexualization of girls and women especially in the media causes girls to look down on themselves as well as each other and believe they aren't beautiful because they don't have a big butt, or they aren't as skinny as a supermodel. This kind of thinking leads to self harm as well as eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia as girls are taught to believe they aren't good enough. They are taught that women are meant to be sexy and wear clothing to draw a man's eye. Schools have recently been enforcing stricter dress codes for girls. Many schools have banned yoga pants and leggings as they are too "sexual" and they are a "distraction" to boys. These schools will take a girl out of class and either send her home or have her parents bring new pants for her to change into. This teaches boys that it is okay to sexualize these girls because, after all, they asked for it when they wore those pants. That teaches girls that a boys education is more important than hers. It teaches people that its okay to take away from a girls education because of the pants she is wearing. It teaches boys that its okay to stare too long at a girl, to shove their friends and say "Damn she's hot," or to make sexual comments to or about her. This behavior doesn't just last in high school. It carries over in the workplace, and during rape/harassment trials, by saying "Well it was provoked, did you see what she was wearing?" Instead of blaming the clothes, blame the dirty minds. Schools and society should not be teaching girls that its their fault they receive sexual comments or that it is a compliment. Instead, our society needs to work together to teach boys respect, as the whole situation promotes rape culture and violence towards women. Rape Culture: I'd like to start off by really clearing up what rape culture is, as many people (including feminists), do not know what it really is. Culture, in a sociological sense, means things that connects society as a whole, or arts and manifestations of intelligence and creativity that connect communities. We all know what rape means. Its hard to connect these two words in this sense because they are so different. Our society does not outwardly support rape, like the phrase "rape culture" kind of says. We don't all take part in sexual violence as a community. Rape culture discusses something more implicit than a group of people outwardly supporting something like that. Rape culture is not the verbal support of sexual violence or harassment, but rather the practices that either engage in or just excuse those behaviors. This has reached a high as there are so many aspects of society that put a lot of focus on the sexualization of women (i.e.... Kim Kardashian "breaking" the Internet because of her bare a**). Society does not outwardly say its okay to harass women but through our actions we say women are meant to be sexual beings and it is okay to say these things to them. Things like video games, where many people believe they should be able to be "exempt from being politically correct" towards women, push the idea of rape culture because of their demeaning attitude and depiction of women. If companies producing one type of product (video games) what's to say other companies won't try the same thing? What's to say other companies won't try to say they don't want to be politically correct towards women. Sexual harassment, female sexualization, and rape culture have gotten out of hand because even though it is 2014, women still have to fear for their safety when they walk down the street. They have to be prepared for any horny man who feels entitled to stare at her too long, or wink, or make a comment to her. Schools and parents also further this situation and make it worse by making the excuse "boys will be boys." This is not a valid argument. People shouldn't be brushing aside the gestures and comments. It just makes the gender inequality and rape culture worse. Sources: http://www.apa.org... http://everydayfeminism.com... http://www.ggenyc.org... http://www.stopstreetharassment.org... http://www.eeoc.gov... http://www.un.org... I'm very excited to hear what you have to say! Good luck! :)