Bitter House

by Kiersten Modglin

Women still aren’t protected like we should be. Men are given pass after pass, and women are given slips of paper for protection that mean nothing. Women have to prove everything while men are given the benefit of the doubt. If we speak up, it could ruin their lives, and they’re such nice guys, so why would we do that? Instead, we hold our keys between our fingers, walk faster or take another way home, send our location to friends from the back of a rideshare, or grit our teeth and bear it while another sexist remark is made by our boss or another scene of senseless cruelty is shown on television. Because if we don’t, we’re part of the problem. We’re uptight. We can’t take a joke. It’s not all men, I know, but it is all women. A collective of shared experience, of intuition, of whispered warnings and knowing looks.