Empower: Get to Know Us
Photo by Allie Jamison
My name is Steffanie, and I am a sophomore here at CCU majoring in General Science and minoring in Digital Media. One thing I want others to know about me is that I played field hockey in high school!
Last semester, I was interviewed by Carina regarding the topic of women safety and thought I would share my thoughts surrounding this topic.
“What makes you feel unsafe?”
I hate when people are walking to close to me. No matter where I am at, it makes me feel unsafe because I am unable to see what people are doing or what they look like so I automatically think people are bad until I look behind me.
“What do you do to protect yourself”
I was a little stumped because for someone who is aware of the potential dangers of being a woman but also a woman of color, I did not protect myself much. My younger self would always say “I know kung-fu” whenever I got fearful because that would ease my fears that no one would come and attack me, but I really did not know any. Mostly to protect myself, I dress modestly at all times so that I cannot bring attention to myself (although I am aware that things can happen even if I dress modestly). Before I get in my car, I like to check my surroundings and under my car. I would also. Since I recently turned eighteen, I can now get pepper spray which I hope to get. I do have a stranger alarm, but I almost never carry it with me which defeats the purpose.
“Do you think you can walk alone?”
It depends on what I am doing. When I am going on walks in my neighborhood, I love to be by myself because I know a lot of the people in my neighborhood. When it comes to night walking, I definitely do not think I can walk by myself. I think it would be irresponsible because I do not know much about self-defense. Also, when it is an unfamiliar environment, I do not think I can walk alone. However, I do hope that one day I will be able to walk by myself.
“What would you like to learn in regard to being able to protect yourself?”
I would love to take self-defense classes. Just to have the knowledge of being able to protect myself when I find myself in dangerous situations would be helpful. I have had a few lessons from my uncle since he is a cop but those lessons were mostly during dinner, so I was focused more on the food than the lesson.
“Name a place/area that you avoid when you are by yourself?”
I avoid going to new places when I am by myself. I do not want to figure out a new environment and the people without having prior experience. I personally don’t even leave my house alone because I like to feel some sort of security by the presence of someone else. You stick out more if you are by yourself even if the environment is something that you are used to. I either beg my sister to come with me, I also don’t like going places at night because sometimes it is hard to see people when it is so dark, so I just like feeling some sort of security when I am with someone else.
It was a pleasure to share my sentiments around women safety. I hope to dig deeper in this topic and help empower other women in this world!
