Picture this: A starving person is walking. They are searching for food. For whatever reason (i.e., they are too bust working, they don’t have any money, or they are too scared to learn to walk up to a restaurant and ask for food because his previous experience with employees left him feeling ugly, short, or poor), that person has not taken the multiple opportunities to eat food along the way. He is getting hungrier by the minute. He is starving. He is hurting. Then, suddenly, a juicy, warm, freshly made hamburger is sitting on a table with no one around. The man is starving so much in fact that even though he despises stealing or making another person feel bad, he is hurting from hunger so much he eats the hamburger. While he is eating the hamburger, he cannot feel anything other than the indulgence of loving the taste of the hamburger. Oh, and I forgot: this person is vegan and they haven’t ate any meat for ten years (the amount of years is irrelevant but I am telling a story so exaggerating a detail describes an important feature). Right after eating the last bite of the hamburger, the person snaps out of the pain of hunger and comes to great disappointment and fear. Fear that they stole something from someone else and that they would get in trouble. Disappointment that they ate meat even though they were strongly against it. It was a double bacon cheese burger with pork and even though the starving man discriminates against carnivores, a series of unfortunate events (his environment) pushed this man into committing two “crimes”. He was forced into an unfavorable situation where in order to end his suffering, he must go against his higher spiritual / “educated” beliefs and fall down to his primordial needs: to eat food. A situations arose (symptom) showing a systematic problem in society (disease) that is leading people to these extreme situations, or at the very least, making them much more likely to be put in these situations. He shouldn’t eat another person’s hamburger, especially if that is a federal crime in this world. So, it is his responsibility to understand he needs to take care of himself and feed himself before he “explodes”. However, when a society puts you down and discourages you from taking care of yourself or even makes it hard to understand that idea, we get people who steal hamburgers, and by the handful.
The example above is not about hamburgers, but it uses the foundational idea that humans have needs. The example makes it easier to listen to the idea I want to talk about today. I saw a video reposted on Instagram about a young woman who appears to be in a bus or train, reacting to a much older woman commenting about the way she dresses. This is the link, although I am unsure if you can watch it without an Instagram account. Essentially, the older women warns the younger women from dressing provocatively (or even if it wasn’t “provocative” just a bit “revealing”) and the younger women responds that she should be able to dress how she wants. The younger woman further explains that if a man wants to rape her (or even if she gets raped), “it has nothing to do with her”. If a man raped her that day and she was wearing what the grandma was commenting about, the offender is in the wrong and is a criminal. Rape is terrible; demeaning; and the thought of it makes me sick. That is clear. I want to make that clear. Now, a woman can wear what she wants. In a “perfect world” that is reasonable. However, if you dress provocatively (intentionally or accidentally because society encourages women to do that) in a world where men are deprived of sex; it’s like throwing a hamburger (metaphoric for wolf-food) to a pack of wolves. The professor who taught me a semester of Gender studies would be disappointed in me if she saw this. Excusing rape because of the nature of men? No, that is absolutely not what I am trying to say. What I am saying and the idea I am trying to explain is that any person who is driven through bad experiences and deprived of basic necessities will “explode” in some way, shape, or form. This can be suicide, abuse, self-harm, arson, drunk driving, or addiction to name a few. Rape is one expression of this negative idea. When more and more examples of negative reactions surface in a society; there is a problem with society. There is an underlying problem: a disease; and these are the symptoms. Yes, the criminal should be apprehended and imprisoned. Prison should be a place for rehabilitation but it is a not. A vast majority of criminals who go through the prison system come out worse and end up back in prison (topic for another day). This problem is a tiny symptom of the overarching problem and that is scary. Yes, in a perfect world a woman can dress as she wants. However, know that every action has consequences regardless if nothing happens. If you dress a certain way and you interact with no one, it might just reinforce your idea’s and behaviors consciously or unconsciously. The body listens even if you are not paying attention.
I like what the older woman has to say, but I also want to acknowledge that the younger girls voice is heard and valued. However, if I had to choose between both perspectives and teach it to a girl (if I was a father), I would choose the one that makes her realize we are living in a dangerous world. To tell her to feel empowered and stand tall with provocative clothes allows predators to identify their prey. Side note: when I mention how there are many predators in the world, it invites a whole new concept into the equation. Like before, solving a wider, wholistic problem using individual examples makes me a bad philosopher to the reader. I acknowledge that. The amount of predators and the creation of predators is a systematic-social problem as a consequence of social progression. It is not the underlying problem which is The Human Condition Problem. That is the problem we need to solve and currently focus on. If we don’t solve this, then it is like pressing the gas pedal of invention and technology without taking our foot off the brake of human nature and limitations. However, we don’t even know we have a second foot and a brake exists in this metaphorical vehicle of social progression. If we don’t solve this problem, our civilization will collapse. It is a curse we can turn into a blessing if we understand, solve, and harness our very nature. It all begins with the first step, so let me guide you.