colechuga

It’s almost six am and I still can’t sleep. For someone who takes good nights’ sleep as seriously as I, there must be an explanation, right? I’m scared to fall asleep. My dad is gone for the weekend and my sisters are back at school and I’m all alone. 

Basically, I’m scared that somehow, some psychopath discovered that I was going to be home alone tonight and is either lurking out in the woods or is already somewhere in my house, waiting to torture me for hours and then kill me. Yea, I feel like an idiot writing that. I even have two dogs! Nevertheless, I know I’m not the only woman who is freaked out by sleeping alone (being in a big house in the woods with an absurdly active imagination doesn’t help).

I watch too much TV, right? And too many movies. And I see too many commercials, too many advertisements, hear too many songs, read too many books, flip through too many magazines, and witness too many human interactions that tell me that women constantly need to be protected. We’re told that when women are left unprotected, our physical weakness and vulnerability blatantly exposed, the result is unfortunate or tragic. Horror movies and crime detective shows make their money off this premise. In the real world, however, we can’t have a sidekick trained in martial arts with us at all times. So, we find ways to protect ourselves. In fact, we’re expected ...