He Scared Me to Death The First Time We Met
But he didn’t know I was raised to be ready.
It’s 5:30 am, and I’m waiting at the agreed meeting point.
I don’t know what he looks like or what he will wear, only that he will pick me up in a weird vehicle.
It’s one of those moments when one wonders, how the hell did I end up here?
A strange man stares at me from the distance. My whole body tenses up.
But he doesn’t know I’m ready. I’m always ready.
I wanted to feel safe alone at night, but life showed me better
Women worldwide learn very early to be scared of the streets at night.
There was a time I was pissed with my parents for being so protective.
Why can my brothers party longer than me? Why don’t they need ‘chaperones’ to come back home? I just want to be an independent and strong woman!
Then I started seeing little signs.
The way men looked at me in the streets. The — almost daily — news of women murdered or raped. Men shouting “compliments” to girls and women in the street. Or how the night taxi driver waits until I’m safe inside the building because he has a daughter and “knows how it…
