Here’s the quick story of one night in Copenhagen, when a friend and I just wanted to go out and dance. Now, Copenhagen is a pretty safe town (besides the gang wars) so my friend and I felt pretty comfortable walking the streets on our own, even while wearing clothes to go out in and drinking out of cans of Carlsberg. But of course, for many men we encountered, this was an invitation for them to talk to us, which I don’t necessarily mind. If I’m at a club, and someone asks me to dance, I’ll say yes or no (ok, mostly no) and if they respect my decision I can still feel comfortable. But when I’m on the street and someone says hi to me, I never really want to talk to them and I generally try not to respond or respond politely but clearly that I don’t want to talk. More so, I definitely didnt want to talk to the man who said hi to me and then continued to follow us for over four blocks. Or the man who was all dressed up who followed us out of the club and down the street, finally asking us, hilariously if we were psychokillers. I have to admit, I was proud of myself for responding, “well, we’re not the one’s wearing a wig and following people we don’t know home, are we?”, which I was rewarded for by another few blocks of lurking about 50 feet behind us. These are clearly inappropriate and threatening behaviors, but these interactions influence all my interactions with unknown men. As Phaedra Starling describes, based on these experiences all men become “Schrödinger’s Rapist”. I really encourage you to read her article, if you haven’t yet, which is addressed to men, detailing why women are so on guard when meeting someone new, and what men can do to be respectful of this need for self-protection.

In class this week we have been discussing Michel Foucault, and his concepts of sexuality that only has meaning within a social context and biopower , the means by which the state gains power over the body by regulating it and disciplining it. I was thinking about his defintion of power in relation to the threat of sexual violence, because we all know that rape is about power, not sex. This power is exercise over women at all times, not just at the point of rape. The constant threat of sexual violence leads women to constantly have to regulate and discipline their own behaviors. We chose wear to walk, what to wear and who to talk to based on this threat. The other night, we switched streets when we realized that ours was at the center of the redlight district and that we were surrounded by groups of men, with few women in sight – clearly, not a safe place to walk. This self-regulation is a form of male oppression and men are constantly exercising this power over women, even if they don’t mean to, because they are all “Schrödinger’s Rapist¨”. Women participate in this system of regulation to, in the ways we socially sanction women who deviate from proper female sexuality. Terms like “slut” and “whore” are used to degrade women who don’t protect themselves, sex workers are considered victims regardless of their situation and agency and clothing and drinking choices are all questioned in rape cases.

I would call this a panoptic system of power, but does not simply involve this disciplining and regulation. Because the threat of sexual violence is real, and sexual violence is not a “punishment” but rather torture. While Foucault historically places his theories in a way that implies today that we are beyond this public and physically violent forms of regulation by the state, we are not. The system of regulation in which women (and those considered sexually deviant) reside in is enforced by physical, sexual, violence against the women’s body. Realizing that this system of power and regulation in place, does not necessarily give me the means to combat it. Sometimes I wish that I could rebel against the system by drinking as much as I want, wearing whatever I want, talking to whoever I want and walking wherever I want. Of course, I should be able to do all these things without being punished, but in this system of power, the regulation can be more than just social sanction, but in fact physical violence. And I can’t be sure which one I’ll get.