An Incomplete List of Things That Have Failed, Despite Mayim Bialik’s* Opinions, to Protect Me From Sexual Assault

-wearing khakis

-wearing sweatpants

-(wearing unisex sweatpants)

-wearing a hoodie

-(wearing a Shaun White for Target boys’ hoodie)

-not wearing makeup

-wearing glasses

-long hair

-short hair

-being fat

-not being fat

-being outspoken

-being well-mannered

-being intellectually serious

-being a comedian

-being a feminist

-femininity

-androgyny

-plainness

-daytime

-nighttime

-who i was hanging out with

-who i wasn’t hanging out with

-going to a religious school

-being a virgin

-not being a virgin

-believing in God

-not believing in God

-sobriety

-shortness

-whiteness

-middle-classness

-being in a rich area

-being in a poor area

-trusting authority figures

-not trusting strangers

-taking various self-defense classes

-being good at math

-reporting my first assault to police

-being in public

-being well-educated

-being from a “good family”

-being at my grandmother’s house

-believing that there was anything I could do to “protect myself” 

-knowing that there was nothing I could do to “protect myself”

*And many other people who believe that their good intentions are enough to justify the active harm they cause women and other-gendered victim of sexual predation and assault every day when they peddle this pile of unexamined garbage.