Soma Sara: ‘We must act, because no woman or girl should be scared to walk home’

These experiences of abuse, harassment and violence were not rare or ‘isolated’. On the contrary: they were normalised and entrenched into our daily lives through a broken system where abusive and dehumanising behaviour isn’t punished, and perpetrators aren’t held accountable. When a woman in the UK is murdered every three days, when 136 women worldwide are killed by a family member every single day, when 56 MPs are currently under investigation for sexual misconduct, when a child is raped in school on every school day, when 9 out of 10 girls have received unsolicited dick pics, when just 1.4% of all rape cases lead to a suspect being charged or summonsed, the threat of violence against women is a daily reality. Rape culture is rife across every sector, it is alive in education, schools, universities, policing, the health sector, parliament and in the criminal justice system. It is universal. It is normal.

Following the explosion of Everyone’s Invited, I decided to write a collection of essays to investigate and interrogate the root causes of this culture to find meaningful ways to eradicate it. 

The essays explore many topics, looking at the toxic impact of overly restrictive gender scripts, the role of mainstream hardcore porn in the modern sexual landscape, the rapid rise of image-based abuse and harassment on social media where there is little distinction between the offline and online for a generation that has come of age in the digital revolution of the social world. In these essays, I highlight how the testimonies revealed a spectrum of dehumanisation that begins with harmful attitudes, derogatory comments, the rating and reduction of women to sexual trophies, to the collection of nudes, voyeurism, objectification, stalking, the abuse of power, which ultimately culminates in violence; to rape and to murder.

“We must be vigilant in our activism and recognise this as a lifelong commitment.”

So, what do we do? Change is needed on a societal level but also on an individual one. You can make a difference in your communities, amongst your friends and families. Question problematic behaviour, call it out, and challenge misogyny and sexism in your everyday life but do this with empathy, compassion and understanding. Support survivors, uplift and platform survivor voices, especially those of the most marginalised in society. Create safe open spaces where survivors are heard, and supported, where help is clearly signposted and accessible. Keep talking about it, keep raising awareness, keep the conversation going. We must be vigilant in our activism and recognise this as a lifelong commitment. We are all responsible for this culture. If we want to eradicate it, we all need to stand up and challenge it in our daily lives.

We must act, and we must continue to act because lives are at stake. Because we deserve better. Because no young girl should be scared to walk home after school in her school uniform. She shouldn’t have to change her clothes, cover up, or keep her keys between her knuckles. Women should be free to live without the imminent threat of violence always lurking, an inescapable presence looming in the back of our minds. Because living in fear isn’t really living. It’s just surviving.