UN Survey Says Home Is The ‘Most Unsafe Space’. So Where Do I Go?

If even a woman’s own home is unsafe for her then where does she go?

A new UN study shows that more than half the women murdered worldwide last year were killed by their partners or family members, making home "the most dangerous place for a woman.”

It’s ironic because most women are instructed to stay in their homes as it might be dangerous for them to be outside.

No matter what age you are, you should be wary of the outside world and try to stay home because that’s where you are supposed to be ‘safe,’ right?

Even though the study talks about the statistics on homicide worldwide, by now we know and have read extensively about a number of cases of sexual assault and domestic violence – among other crimes committed against women.

If the outside is unsafe and so is the inside, I would just want to ask, as a woman, where do I go?

Where do I go?

"In by 7," they said,

"You are unsafe on the streets. You are a woman."

This was before I knew what being a 'woman' meant.

But rest assured, I had already been harassed, molested and cat-called.

"You are safe at home," they said. I believed them.

When I was a teen, they said again, "In by 7.

You might entice men. You are a woman."

By now, I knew and had learned the hard way what it meant.

My body had to be their wonderland.

For men are entitled and I should not fight it off.

But 'home' was still supposed to be safe.

I was 20, and knew all about what happens in homes.

The monsters do reside under the bed, apparently.

But still "In by 7," they said.

Now when they say the home is the most unsafe place,

I just wanna know, where do I go?

Is there an abyss, a parallel land

– Neither outside nor inside –

Where I can exist and exist in peace

Without worrying about what I wear, eat, speak

Or how I breathe?