Photo by @tank_on_e/TIkTok
July 15, 2021, 10:13 am
A video by a young woman sitting in a tech class has reignited discussions about gender gaps in STEM as well as how men speak on the topic of consent when they think there are no women around, or in this case, seem to have forgotten about their existence. The video shows the young woman’s masked face, looking around the classroom with wide eyes as the voices of her classmates make a series of rape jokes with a telling caption.
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“POV: your the only girl in a tech class.”
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The footage first appeared on the TikTok account of Kirsten Williams less than 24 hours ago and has already gained 2.4 million views. It soon spread to Twitter where it was picked up by vocal feminists who are so very tired of having to talk about this already.
“No matter how big or small your d— is, they can’t feel it either way,” says the first voice.
“Or you could just find one that doesn’t talk when you ask them for consent, and it’s yes any time,” says another.
“Or a blind one, so they don’t know where you’re at.”
It’s unclear exactly what the class (minus Williams) was talking about, but the “they” being referred to is almost certainly meant to mean a sexual partner, and in a room full of men, statistics would say that most of them are talking about women.
Only one voice in the crowd seems to say anything to object to or challenge these “jokes.”
“So you’re saying silence is consent? That if they’re knocked out it’s consent?”
Unfortunately, this is quickly dismissed with yet another crack about consent. “Say nothing if you can consent!”
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Some of the men at least express a touch of self-awareness about how messed up these “jokes” are, though that’s hardly reassuring to Williams in the moment.
“Just so you know every single one of us in this room is going to hell,” says one of the men.
“We’re already there sweetheart, don’t worry,” replies another.
Jokes about dodging consent, pretending to misunderstand the basic concept of consent, and assaulting women (particularly disabled women) are an extremely common phenomenon that women have endured for many lifetimes, often being aggressively silenced if they object. The discomfort and fear in Williams’ eyes is well-known to nearly every woman and girl growing up in the world today in spite of global efforts by feminists fighting to teach the importance of consent and end rape culture.
This video is a clear demonstration of just how far we somehow still have to go. Real sexual assault rates among women are still extremely high, and even higher for visually impaired and otherwise disabled women, reaching an astronomical 83 percent.
Many commenters have already pointed out that a huge part of the problem, and why attitudes like this persist, is because men continue to go along with “jokes” like the ones in the video while others laugh or just say nothing. Others pointed to this as the reason STEM fields continue to lack equal gender representation.
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I noticed that, too. Her eyes
— Fully Lizbonated (@lizbon) July 15, 2021
The thing I hate is that I’ve been in this situation more than once. In my college philosophy classes when I was 1 of maybe 2-3 women in a class of 50.
Or whenever I’ve worked in orthopedic surgery. Crude, cruuude jokes but you gotta pretend to be “one of the guys” and laughhttps://t.co/pjostqDadS
— Melanin Monroe (@onebadmamaijama) July 15, 2021
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“Why don’t more women get into fields traditionally dominated by men?” Exhibit 1 of countless…(captions are in comments of the OP) https://t.co/ouzvnctCmd
— Sara Moore
(@saramuffinerin) July 15, 2021
*First Published: July 15, 2021, 10:13 am
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