As a woman, I prefer to go about my day without garnering unwanted attention from men. I wear dark and muted colors, don’t wear anything too low cut or form fitting, and try to blend into the background as much as possible. Unfortunately, when alcohol is thrown into the mix, these efforts are usually for naught. Such was the case in a beer hall in Munich, Germany. We were passing through, just to see what the culture was like before grabbing dinner. Though I don’t speak German, the men in this beer hall made their intentions abundantly clear. At least a half dozen of them called out, another tried to grab me. This was not my first experience with sexual harassment, nor will it be the last, but it was amplified by drunkenness and the vulnerability of being in a foreign country.
Pro-tip: While I don’t have a solution for the systematic misogyny permeating this world, I will say that it is important for women to know that it is not their fault. Whatever you choose to wear or not wear, drunken idiots are drunken idiots.