Free Bliss Week: Yield and Surrender (Interview With Loose Women Series) by Safira Page A

prove you're
not a liar and what it says on your shirt is true.
    I: So prove you're a slut?
    S: Yes.
    I: How?
    S: I asked her that too. She just looked into my
eyes for a long time. And then she said slowly, enunciating each word—I
remember her exact words—she said, "Take whoever says that to you
somewhere private and prove to him you are a slut."
    I: Did you know this girl before this? Did she not
like you?
    S: I knew her a little. We didn't really know the
seniors too well. I think she just didn't like me because I was prettier than
her. That's how it always is.
    I: Did she say how long you have to be out?
    S: Yes, she said until the bars close., which is
2:30.
    I: Okay. So you went out wearing the shirt?
    S: First I asked her if I could do it somewhere
else. There would be too many people there that knew me.
    I: Did she let you?
    S: She told me to get on my knees and ask.
    I: And did you?
    S:  Yes, I got on my knees and said “Please I can do
this task somewhere else?” She conceded, but she said only if take the bus. She
told me to go to Durham, the next college town over, about 20 minutes away.
    I: Okay.
    S: So I get on the bus in my little shorts and the
slut shirt. Thankfully it's not that full. There are a few college girls and
they snicker and whisper and giggle. A few older guys ogle me. But that's it
and I got off at the main street where the clubs and bars are. It's Friday
night so it's pretty crowded there.
    I: So you don't usually frequent this part of the
state?
    S: No, I usually stayed near my own campus.
    I: I see. Go on.
    S: So I walk down this street for a bit. And I get
the responses you'd expect. Drunk guys yelling things as I pass by, girls
giving me various looks. Most just stare for a bit and forget about me after I
pass.
    I: What kind of things did people yell?
    S: The guys would yell things like "Slut!"
or "Come here baby!"  Some girl said, "Wow, classy," as I
walked past her group.
    I: Were you self-conscious?
    S: Yeah, of course I was self-conscious. And it was
compounded because I was alone. You usually go to places like this in a group.
That's what set me apart more. It's not like the other girls there were dressed
like nuns.
    I: I see. And then?
    S: I go into a bar, a few guys offer to buy me
drinks, they chat me up, nothing disrespectful. I'm thinking I'm gonna get
through this assignment easily. Before you know it an hour had passed and I
left the bar and went into a club on the next block.
    I: Did the guys who chatted you up comment on your
shirt?
    S: Most didn't actually. I can tell they noticed it,
it's hard to miss, but they worked hard to maintain eye contact and ignore it.
A couple guys asked and I just joked that all my other shirts were in the
laundry.
    I: Why'd you leave if it was going well?
    S: The ratio of guys to girls was getting too high.
You get too much attention when that happens.
    I: Okay, so you went into the club...
    S: I head to the lounge area and this guy starts
talking to me. He's really well dressed with this sort of newsboy hat and we're
chatting for a while and I'm thinking he's cute.
    I: Were you hoping he'd say the magic words?
    S: I think I was mostly hoping no one would say
those magic words so my assignment would go smoothly. But if someone were to
say it, I wouldn't have minded it being him.
    I: Okay, go on.
    S: So we're chatting and flirting for a while, until
these two guys spot me from the distance and come over. They're bigger than the
guy I was talking to and rudely crowd him out. One of them says, "Nice
shirt, slut." The cute newsboy hat guy tries to say something but one of
them grabs his hat and throws it into the crowd. He looked at them and then
back at me and meekly walked away.
    I: He gave up that easily?
    S: Yes, it completely turned me off him how he was
cowed so easily. He just left me alone with these guys.
    I: Okay, go on.
    S: The one doing the talking so far told the other
one to leave. "Leave me alone with the slut for a second," were