I really like statistics and they implications they have on
my life. So there are roughly 318.2 million people in the United States.
According to the website
www.howmanyofme.com there are 52 people
in this country that have the same name as me.
So 1 out of 16,319,230 people in the US will have the exact same name as
myself.
It is likely I won’t ever meet
another person with the same name.
Let’s look at some other stats that maybe put some phobias
in perspective. How about roller coasters?
There is an amusement park near to where I live and it has this old roller coaster
called Colossus that breaks down all the time.
I have seen people get stuck upside down on the ride because it stopped
working mid loop-dee-loop. I do not ever
ride that coaster. This ride is one of
their more popular rides…I just don’t get it.
I don’t think anyone has ever died on the ride, it just has a lot of
glitches. I have a 1 in 300,000,000 chance,
in the world, of dying on a roller coaster.
And I will not get on that roller coaster, the risk is too great in my
mind.
Are you afraid of lightening? I work at a pool and the way we treat people
in water when there is lightening leads me to believe that we should all fear
lightening. Yet only 1 out of every 1,428,571
people, in the world, will die from lightening. Yet we still don’t let people
swim when there is lightening. These are examples of things that are most
likely not going to kill me, yet are things I steer clear of anyways.
What if we look at things that are more likely to kill/harm
me but I still engage in anyways.
These
stats are for the United States, as reported on
www.ncs.org.
Guess who owns a dog?
This girl.
I have a 1 in 103,798 chance of being killed
by a dog.
Guess who eats food, everyday?
This girl.
I have a 1 in 3,649 chance of choking to death.
Guess who drives a car, almost daily?
This girl.
I have a 1 in 112 chance of dying in that car.
So to really understand stats like this I will try to
explain to you what those numbers really mean.
If I want to ride a roller coaster, and want to know if I will die on
that roller coaster, I am going to put 299,999,999 black pebbles in a big bag
and 1 white pebble in that same bag and shake them all up. Then, without looking, I will pick one pebble
out of the bag. If it is black I live.
If I get that one white pebble, I die.
Yeah, I most likely will live. But
300 million is still too big of a number to comprehend. So let us try with one of the smaller numbers
shall we. Can you picture 112 of
something? Anything really. How about a hundred piece puzzle. It is a green puzzle with one spot of
red. Each piece is green, but one piece
has a red dot on it. Every time you get
into a motor vehicle you shake up those puzzle pieces and pull one out and hope
it doesn’t have a red dot on it. Every
time you get into a car you take this gamble.
It is all a little sobering is it?
How about if your odds for something was 1 in 4.
Four pebbles, three black, one white.
Would you stick your hand in that bag and
play your odds?
If I spread out a deck
of 52 cards and told you to pick one and you are safe as long as it isn’t a
heart, how would you feel? Nervous, scared, like your stomach is going to come
out of your butt?
Maybe, maybe not, I
mean you still have 3 other options that are safe.
Three black pebbles.
Three other suits.
75% chance of success is actually really
high.
If you have a 75% chance of
success I hope you take it.
In fact,
most of you, like myself, do take this chance and win repeatedly.
So what is this mystical 1in 4 chance that I take all of the
time? Every woman has a 1 in 4 chance of
being sexually abused at some point in her life. So every time I walk out to my car at the same
time as the other late night gym goer, or I spend an awkward tense moment in an
elevator with a complete stranger, I am putting my hand in a bag that only
holds four pebbles and praying for the best.
If I believed that the risk was too high, much like I do
when it comes to rickety old roller coasters, I would never be able to leave my
bedroom. That goes for all women out
there. And an amazing thing about it as
well is that a lot of women have pulled out the white pebble and they continue
on, facing each new day clutching her bag in hope that she will never see that
white pebble again.
Another way you could view this chance game is to walk into
a crowded room of women.
Have them count
off in fours. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four and so on.
Every person who said a four is a
victim.
They are the one in four.
As our friends in District 12 would say, “the
odds are never in our favor.”
I bring this up not to upset people, but to make people
aware. My sister would tell you I am the
most “radical feminist” she has ever met, and I actually think that is
sad. I am a far cry from a radical
feminist. I will never burn my bra. I want to, someday, be a stay at home wife
and mother. I know that, physically speaking, I will never be as strong as my
male counterpart. Yet I want equality
and justice. I want to be paid just as
much as a man. I want to run for political
office and not be called a ball buster when I run against or disagree with a
man. I do not want to be told what I
should wear. I do not want to have to go
all “Wolverine” with my keys when I walk to my car after dark. I don’t want to have to be told to keep the
house locked up when I am home alone in the middle of the day. I don’t want to have to draw pebbles out of a
bag every time I am alone with a man.
These are real problems and statistics I face every
day.
A tag on twitter, #yesallwomen, has
recently become very popular trying to raise awareness about this issue.
Some of the things people have posted just
break my heart, but pretty much all of them are true. Yes, all women walk
quickly to her car after dark with a her keys between her fingers, bag tucked
in tight, head held high and will quickly scan her backseat before getting
in.
Yes, all women know that when a man
cat calls you, the best thing to do if you are alone is to ignore it and get to
safety as quick as possible whether it is in your car or the closest shop.
Yes, all women know that her high heels make
her butt and legs look good and can help with a confidence boost, but it does
not give anyone permission to touch her.
Yes, all women know that if you are going to a party or bar it is best
to have a secure ride home and a safety plan, but that doesn’t mean she should
have to bring her own bottled water and cover all her skin head to toe to be
safe.
And yes, all women know that
posting things on the internet about her “radical feminist ideals” can jeopardize
her current and future career.
There are a lot of things wrong with this world, and I can’t
fix them all, especially with just one blog post where I rant about my
feelings.
But maybe, just maybe, if we
open up our dialog and talk more about what is wrong, like what people are
doing with #yesallwomen, then changes will come.
We won’t be embarrassed to share when we are
scared or feel like we are being treated unfairly.
Remember, people don’t know what they don’t
know and they can’t change it either.
So
speak up and let it be known that I am tired of being afraid and I am tired of
gambling with my life.
Big changes need
to be made and it is possible if we start with small steps.
