I always considered myself a feminist, but it is only since I had my daughter that I have started to get really really angry about the world we live in and how women are treated. It is the sense of powerlessness that bothers me the most, and I don't know what I can do to help make a change. I have never felt so unsafe in the world as I do now, and that is almost entirely down to being a woman, I carry a Swiss Army knife wherever I go and will be sending dd to do martial arts and self defence as soon as she is old enough. It's terrible that I feel the need to do either of these things.
I believe that reports of rape may have increased but there are a huge number of women who will have been raped or sexually assaulted that don't report for whatever reason. I was raped by an ex as a teen, I was staying with him at his university drinking and smoking weed with his friends, at some point I passed out. When I woke up in the morning I was sore and asked if we had had sex, I had no memory of it. Boyfriend confirmed that we had, but his friend later told me they carried me home unconscious so it was very likely I was still unconscious when he had sex with me and I certainly was not in a fit state to consent. I didn't consider it rape until recently, I hadn't actually thought about how it was unacceptable to have sex with someone unconscious and now I am appalled I stayed with my rapist for 2 more years. I know a shocking number of my peers who have been raped in similar circumstances and from discussion none of them think it is that serious, they think rape is an unknown man dragging you into an alleyway at knifepoint. This attitude needs to be changed and rape needs to be seen as a serious and abhorrent crime, jail time needs to be increased to reflect this. Of course rapists will behave well in jail, there are no women to rape and they want to get back out as soon as possible, it in no way means they won't do it again.