‘What do you expect? It’s Hess’

RE: Sexual harassment

With everyone celebrating their mother this past weekend it is truly appalling that out of all the lessons and values our mothers so desperately tried to teach us, respect for women didn’t stick. Walk down Hess Village on any given weekend and young women will all tell the same story: “he grabbed my waist”, “he grabbed my butt”, “but what do you expect, it’s Hess.” With the all the media attention and anger that followed the Brock Turner rape case, you would think that people would be cautious with their actions and more attention would be paid to sexual harassment.

But on Saturday night, bystanders on multiple occasions had to step in while it seemed that security was unaware of what was going on. Fear of being followed in the streets and unwarranted advances on the dance floor are too common. It should be made absolutely clear that the security at Hess is not strictly to blame; security can only do so much. The root of the issue is people thinking this behaviour is acceptable. There is no immediate solution but something needs to be done for the sake of the mothers and women of the future. Anthony (Toby) Saraco, Hamilton