I Own Me: Understanding Our Property Rights to Our Own Bodies

How often do we, as women, not speak up when someone is violating our personal space, in particular when a man is touching us and it is unwanted? Our experiences of violation can be horrific or seemingly insignificant which, in reality, seems to have little correlation to whether the psychological effects are severe or mild. Yet, all of our experiences share a common message about the nature of what it is to be a woman. At its core, it is about property rights – Do I own me? Do I have a full and unfettered property right to my own body? What does that actually look like?