This archive report was first published on 8 September 2019.
Published on September 8, 2019, by Scheaffer Okore, this article highlights the challenges women face in navigating the world without guaranteed safety.
As a woman, living without guaranteed safety can be a foreign feeling, with most women being preyed upon in various settings.
The lack of consequences for those who harm women is disheartening, and women's bodies are often where scores are settled, frustrations are released, and anger is expressed.
Women and girls are constantly at risk of predatory men, and this is why they are raised with unending caution.
However, no amount of caution has ensured women's safety, and the inability to rethink women's safety as men's responsibility has limited women's freedom to live carefree lives.
Outdoor activities like walking, cycling, and traveling are terrifying for women, as they increase their vulnerability to predators.
Even simple activities like going for dinner or a drink by oneself can be challenging, as a woman sitting alone is assumed to be an invitation for unwanted company.
Parties are particularly toxic and violent spaces, where every possible harm to a woman is seen as justified.
However, Strictly Silk, a women's only party with female guards, vendors, deejay, emcee, and attendees, is a key shift in reclaiming safety in night parties.
This party provides a freeing space for women to be without anxiety and worries, allowing them to be free of fear while having zero distress over things like their drinks being drugged, being assaulted, or even ending up dead for refusing to entertain unwanted advances.
It is essential for club owners to rethink what safety is for women, as they've only created space for men to be carefree.
Women deserve to live as carefree as men and be happy doing what makes them happy without the inhibitions of lurking harm.
The nightlife and the night time need to be deconstructed and reclaimed for women, and this is why I appreciate the women who have started reclaiming the nightlife for other women.
