I was reading an article about women; specifically how certain items are a higher price than mens items and how much less women make than men. It got me to thinking about two points; one, the articles' point on razors for men and women, and then clothing standards for men vs women, which had nothing to do with the article, but popped into my head anyway. A quick rundown of the article is that some states are now treating tampons and pads as non-luxury items and not taxing them, which I think is great.
They were also stating that items both men and women use are priced higher for women and cheaper for men. Plus clothing made that list as well as razors. It's true. There's a big and tall store downtown and a 3x dress shirt in a super fancy print might cost $16, but for a woman the same style and size shirt in a fancy print will cost $24. And the razor bit is true. They also added that the only real difference is that the men's razors tend to work better. That's true too. Mom used to buy me women's razors, because she's all about that gender specific ladies things are for ladies bit. I hated using them and tried dad's disposable razors out and liked them better, but she refursed to purchase razors for me that were intended for me. When I was old enough to purchase them for myself, the men's razors were cheaper. So, yep, I use men's razors. I've purchased men's clothing before and shoes too. Shave cream? You bet. It's all cheaper than the exact same things for women. Which, I suppose is why my mind went to these jeans I wore in high school. The Sister worked at The Gap and had a discount, so I had a few clothing items from there because of her discount. While I wasn't overweight, I was certainly too large for what The Gap thought a girl should be, but I could fit into their men's jeans. The Sister wore men's jeans too because they fit better than the women's and she's tiny. Anyway, so there was this one jean and it was really great looking. It was crap though. I went through three pair of them because they were so thin and poorly made, but they looked really good. They were men's jeans and I had the largest size in them and they were not baggy. They weren't tight, but they weren't baggy like they'd be on a guy. So, the problem with them? They'd rip under the right back pocket. All of them did this, whether they were snug or loose on you. How do I know? Because I had a group of guys come up to me at school one day, ecstatic that I apparently had great taste in jeans. We were all wearing the same jeans from the gap and we all had a rip under the right back pocket. It was like they were inducting me into their super secret jeans club. So, a day or two later I was out at break talking to my friend. Her eyes went wide and she was peering around me. I turned around and the principle had his head in my ass. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get away from my butt!!" He proceeded to say that my jeans were ripped and that it was inappropriate. I told him it was inappropriate to try looking up my jeans. He said I'd have to wear something underneath them or not wear them again. I reached two fingers into that slit and came out with black cotton. "You see this? I am wearing something underneath, they're called biker shorts." Apparently that wasn't good enough. I chastised him for not reprimanding that group of boys over there and for not sticking his head up their asses too. He still said I'd have to wear something under the jeans. I argued and flatly refused. I'm completely covered in shorts that bikers and athletic people wear and anything else and I couldn't get the jeans over them, and I was going to wear the jeans and he'd have to get over it. And don't ever go sticking your head up my backside again! He stated the same thing about more appropriate shorts under there and walked away. Long story shot, I did keep wearing those jeans. I caught him trying to look again on a different day and turned around so fast and said, "We already discussed this. Stop being a pervert." which I said loudly. He muttered that they were inappropriate and walked away and we didn't discuss it again. It made me so mad. He wasn't looking up the guys shorts to see if they were wearing something over their underwear and under their jeans. That would have been inappropriate for him to do, I'll say. No one should stick their head in someone else's ass like that; male or female. And an adult shouldn't do that to teens; male or female. But he didn't have a problem that the guys pants were ripped and tartan and plaid and bright blue boxers were hanging out of that ripped slit. Nope just me. He claimed it was different. It's only different because he was making it different. Those guys didn't care. No one else was looking up my ass or even at my ass. I was even in those guys ripped jeans club. They thought of me as a boy. And before you think, "You should have reported him." you can just nix that thought from your mind. I didn't know something like that could be reported. He was the adult, the authority, and children aren't necessarily allowed to go against that. I'm not saying it's true then or now, I'm simply saying that's what one was taught from a young age and how pretty much all of the teenagers on that campus thought. You were taught that adults were always right, so who would you tell about such an incident? Another adult. Would they believe you? In our thinking, they wouldn't, because we'd been trained to believe they wouldn't. Adults were like cops. Cops watch out for other cops only. They believe other cops. They don't automatically believe a civilian. We felt that adults would side with other adults and not believe us. Were we right? Technically yes. They installed these rent-a-cops after Columbine. They were to wander the school looking for misfits and also direct traffic. One was male and one was female. My incident involved the male directing traffic at the four-way stop one morning. He kept waving me to come on through, then would stop me and smirk, then tell me to keep coming and stop me and smirk. It was like this weird game of cat and mouse. If I decided not to go, he'd get angry and start yelling and waving at me to come on. Then he'd stop me again and smirk. I ended up in the middle of the road and said fuck it and went on through. Then I was called to the principles office during my first class because that asshole said I just ran through is traffic stop and flipped him off. Which I did neither. I served in school suspension for that incident. The next time he decided to do it, I just sat there at the stop sign with my arms folded and wouldn't play, what I knew how was his game. He kept getting angry, but I just shook my head no and kept my arms firmly folded. He knew he'd get in trouble if he kept it up and didn't get the traffic moving in an orderly fashion, so then he begrudgingly let me and my line go. There were no more incidents with him. The adults didn't believe me with that trip to the office. They believed a rent-a-cop. He wasn't even a real cop, the adults had never had any trouble from me before, and yet they were believing an adult, because adult. I could have even gotten witnesses and I said as much, but they refused. My word wasn't good enough because I wasn't an adult. The other incident didn't involve me, but my friends. I had already left school, having graduated early in December. My friends kept telling me how terrible those rent-a-cops were. Basically, if you've read Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (which had not come out then, I'll just remind you), that these rent-a-cops were the muggle versions of the Carrows; The Death Eater wonder siblings of Alecto and Amycus. Only instead of wands they had guns. I remember reading that book thinking, "Holy shit it's those rent-a-cops". They kept making like hard for my friends. Cornering them on the way to classes and saying they'd get them, knowing full well no one would believe my friends if they reported it. Slight incidences to induce uneasiness and terror. Until it all escalated by April. One friend of ours didn't go there when I went, but transferred there in January. He had a parking permit and would drive his cousin and their friends home. One afternoon he had to wait on one of them to get out of detention. The rent-a-cops were harassing them and slammed one of their faces into the open car's doorway. It was reported. Did any of the adults believed it happened? Nope. I wasn't even there and did I believe it happened? Yes. Do I believe it happened unprovoked by my friends? Yes, I do. Apparently things must have escalated because by the end of May (and classes) those rent-a-cops were gone weren't going to come back the next year. Was it a parent complaining or were more students reporting their actions? I have no idea. Which this went way off course, but it's primarily why I didn't report it. I wasn't aware that I could nor to whom I could report it to.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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