The tragic murder of Sarah Everard has been a godsend for undereducated white women, who as dutiful followers of every trend & fad have been feeling a bit neglected lately. Quite frankly, they don’t feel they have been getting the attention they deserve. Their magazines and social media accounts have been telling them that this year’s must-have look is Oppressed Minority, and that you are a nobody without a grievance. While vicarious solidarity with black thugs like George Floyd – famous for violently robbing a woman after forcing his way into her home with a gang – and 16th-century slaves in far away lands, has helped them feel suitably aggrieved, it’s just not cutting it as far as feeling special and fabulous goes. They need a #MeToo.
However, their need to be seen to be fashionable has been met by this sad event – and everyone knows that there’s no better way of making someone else’s misfortune all about you than emotional displays entirely unrelated to the facts.
After all, no man ever walks in fear at night. No man has to keep a keen awareness of what’s going on around him just because a man is many times more likely to be the victim of violence than a woman. And if you think men are somehow immune from sexual attacks then I invite you to consider the Sheldon report, published this week, on sexual abuse in football. Four times as many men as women are murdered. Apparently, a white man can walk alone and unafraid at night through the streets of South London, scattering £50 notes around him, at any time of the day or night, with never any fear of being attacked. No black or Asian man ever has anything to fear wherever they may go. No straight man has ever been raped on Brighton beach by a Bangladeshi asylum-seeker. On that weekend at least two men were murdered and another left with life-threatening stab wounds in a street robbery by a 12-year-old, but protesting about that would mean criticising black people – a fashion faux-pas that would have all your friends shun you as a pariah. It is only women who are singled out for oppression in this way by the patriarchy that is also responsible for every other disappointment in their lives, from fat thighs to not being paid millions to look fabulous or not getting a job as a surgeon despite having watched every episode of Grey’s Anatomy. At least if you believe the self-appointed warriors for female equality.
It is utterly outrageous and unfair that women, unlike men, cannot do exactly whatever they want, whenever they want, without regard to the consequences. The fact that it is not a perfect world is an outrage, and absolutely no reason why any woman should be expected to take any care whatsoever, nor be expected to behave in any way other than however they feel. It makes me so angry I feel like stamping my foot and crying!
Still, now they can ignore all the restriction imposed by the patriarchal coronavirus, and all get together to share in sisterhood and have a really good cry. After all, what is the chance of catching and spreading a deadly virus compared to the need to be seen to have the right look and signal your virtue in public? Reckless endangering other people (not to mention yourself) is your right for being fabulous – after all, you did your bit by publicly clapping for NHS heroes. It is outrageous that plod decided to protect us by enforcing the law against such special people (as they would with anyone) when people blatantly refused to obey it despite being warned. Laws don’t apply to the sisterhood. Don’t the police know how fabulous we are? And attacking the police by throwing stuff at them isn’t a crime, It is part of legitimate protest, FFS! Women have a right to do whatever they want, but cops have no right to go about their lawful business without being attacked!
Sadly, tragically for them and their circle, women do get murdered all the time
Never mind, I am sure there are statues of men around that need tearing down – any man will do, they are all rapists. In the end, I am sure a good cry (seriously, a display of ersatz emotion for someone you have never met, never even heard of, much less care about, is better than a good weepie film) will make all the difference and, at long last, well-off white women have a grievance they can be proud of.
Update 01/04/2021 For a revealing comparison with this post, see Short Notices – No Vigil For Lorraine