Last week, I attended what has been the sixth sexual assault/harassment workshop of my freshman year. This is in addition to the numerous rape-awareness emails, PSA’s, conversations with my family about safety, and grade school safety campaigns that I, as a female, have been subjected to for the last 19 years of my life.

At this point, I now know all the tips and tricks to save myself should predators set their sights on me: scream, walk with my keys between my fingers, carry pepper spray, always have your phone charged and ready to call 911, always go out with friends, tell at least three other people where I’m going, don’t go out too late at night, say no, struggle, fight, use a safeword.

Society has spent so much time and effort teach me about consent, harassment, and assault.

I have to wonder: do males have these conversations?

My parents sat me down and explained that the world was dangerous, that some men just don’t understand that no means no, but why not? How come these men never learned what "no" meant? Why haven’t parents taught their sons the intricacies of consent the same way they taught me?

While the world taught me to keep my head down when being catcalled and to hurry inside, were the boys ever taught not to catcall? That no matter who I was how I was dressed, that I did not deserve to be demeaned?

While my sorority hosted a workshop about date-rape drugs and how to keep your sisters safe from would-be abusers, did fraternities host similar events were brothers were taught about what actually did constitute as a yes, and how to keep their guests safe from being roofied?

I’d like to believe this happened, but the world I live in makes me doubt it.

I had feminism and modern-minded, empowered women to teach me that my sexual experiences or the way I dressed did not dictate my worth or mean that men had any rights to my body.

The world, sadly, has taught most males the opposite.

Music, movies, and our overall culture glorifies overly-aggressive men who objectify women. Slut-shaming is such an integral part of the world we live in that it’s sadly become commonplace. Young men grow up with media that teaches that it is acceptable to refer to a woman as a “hoe” or a “slut.”

So many girls are taught that if a boy is mean to them, it’s because the boy likes them. Intentionally or not, this teaches children that abuse equates affection. It teaches that instead of being open about their feelings, it is more acceptable for males to lash out either verbally or physically. It teaches girls that males will not be open with their feelings, but if they do, that is abnormal and he is somehow less of a man.

Society spends so much time shaming natural, normal things like period or breastfeeding that people can't even see those parts of life as normal anymore. Somehow the human body is shameful and deserves to be covered. Instead of seeing a feminine body as skin and sinew and cells, refined by thousands of years of evolution, it is perceived as a sex object. Something that is only skin with no intrinsic extraordinariness is marketed as a dirty secret, like collar bones or bare thighs are somehow forbidden fruit meant to be locked away

Plenty of people say that girls acting “slutty” should be condemned, but what does that even mean? Her bare shoulders are visible? She “looks like” someone who is sexually active? How could you possibly know what she is truly like? And even if she is sexually active, how is that possibly an invitation for insult and abuse? How could you possibly be ok with you son viewing a women's’ bodies so hypersexually?

As a female in the modern world, I have had so many social movements to empower me and keep me safe from dangerous situations. The time has come that the male catches up.

Parents, teach your son consent. Teach him that women are people too, and deserve just as much respect as men. Teach him not to sexualize women's’ bodies. Teach him that she doesn’t have to be fighting and shrieking “no!” for it to be rape. Send your son off into the real world armed with the knowledge of what harassment is, and how to truly respect women. Teach him the intricacies of sexual consent the same way you teach girls.

Most importantly, teach your son that his worth does not come from his aggression, dominance, or how often he gets laid. As an adult, men should know that women are their equals.

I am grateful for these conversations about safety and rape-awareness. This education has protected me from danger countless times. However, all the safety workshops and lectures in the world cannot save me if we continue to produce rapists, harassers, or abusers if men remain ignorant of what is appropriate behavior.

You have taught your daughters. Now teach your sons.