The results of the case Miya Mercano continues to weigh heavily on our minds.
When you come to the realization that this young lady’s life was taken away simply because she said ‘no’ to a man’s advances, brings the conversation of violence against women front and center, AGAIN!
Because now women can’t even be at home minding their damn business… maintenance man coming in doing BULLSHIT https://t.co/yVprDDVY3s
— I only like women with money. (@TheRealDrePapi) October 3, 2021
When women say they have real fear of saying, “no, you cant have my number”, or “no you cant touch me like that”, or “no you cant cat call me like that”, they aren’t joking.
It’s real out here!
Let’s break down the situation with the maintenance guy in the case of Miya Mercado for just a minute.
His Instagram page is still open so there is an open discussion on how his advances could have been stopped so much earlier.
Read this opinion we captured from the comment section of the now alleged deceased suspect’s Instagram:
If the comment above is true!
The question that comes to mind immediately, is if he allegedly has a pattern of behavior that was reported to the apartment complex, what did they do about it?
Should any “maintenance guy” have master key’s to all apartments?
This Twitter user thinks they shouldn’t, and if they do, they should not be accessing apartments after the work order is finished or even after hours.
Read this exchange below:
Moving into my apartment this is always something I’m petrified of. Men taking advantage of their job having a master key and potentially stalking/ hiding in my house when I ain’t there. There’s so many cases of women getting raped/ murdered cus of this it’s so sick
— spooky sex sergeant (@NAlJADOLL) October 3, 2021
and
It’s sick af. I just said the other week, I never let maintenance men in my house because they look sketchy as hell.
— Mischief Managed ? (@haleemarry) October 3, 2021
and
Girl the maintenance ppl had a key to everyone places, I literally had to stress to corporate how it’s not okay for them to just come in after a work order like it need to be scheduled and I live alone ?.
— Rum ? (@_justzy) October 3, 2021
and this guys response:
Unless you called them for something, don’t let them in you’re house for anything, have another male around if possible.
Good men are hard to come by these days, because a lot of men are conditional.
They either want sex or a relationship, no pure, genuine looking out.
— JustSam07 (@justsam037) October 3, 2021
Additionally, whenever you bring up the fact that women need to be protected on social media, the discussion always seems to get sidelined, with accusations of pandering, or giving women simple advice just to be funny.
N^ggas say you pandering because you say women need to be protected…
Bro a woman just got killed by the maintenance man because she turned him down… THAT DONT MAKE YOU UPSET MY N^GGA????
— I only like women with money. (@TheRealDrePapi) October 3, 2021
and lets not leave out the the infamous deflection tactic:
Also I’m not entertaining the whole “men cant handle rejection narrative” both genders handle rejection poorly ..I got articles of women getting down bad when they got rejected ??♂️
— Mateo_Vert (@mateodavert) October 3, 2021
How often do we see men getting killed because women cant take rejection?
How is that even relevant to the over arching problem of women consistently losing their lives because they say ‘no’?
Read this exchange on how women are handling, saying no to giving out their number:
Not to question your rationale cause I understand…but isn’t giving your real # pretty dangerous, as many (maybe not yours per se) social media accounts and other profiles that can link back to you tied to phone numbers?
— Huevos Rancheros (@PeroNoJalan) October 3, 2021
and
What would you suggest we do when the guy says he’s gonna call/text the number while we’re standing in front of him? pic.twitter.com/eZvDZgkfkG
— ђคภเŦคђ (@Suspishus) October 3, 2021
and
Yup. I used to give fake numbers to belligerent men until one time a man HELD MY ARM while he called the # and when it didn’t ring he got upset.? From now on I just give it so things won’t get out of control & block it later.
— Annalise Keating’s Briefcase ? (@_Kyiaaaaa) October 3, 2021
and
And sometimes they call why you’re standing there. Such a scary feeling if you gave them the wrong number on purpose
— MiMi✨ (@vyroseehill) October 3, 2021
The point is, to say that we have to be more careful is beyond an understatement, to say we need more protection is also a tired understatement.
So where do we go from here?
We don’t have all the answers, but one thing we can all agree on is we have to critically think about how we can protect ourselves.
That might look different for different women, it may mean taking self defense classes or heading to the range on the weekends to practice.
Whatever it takes, we simply have be accountable for our own safety and do it!
Miya’s story and every other woman who often face violence just for saying no reminds us that we do not have the luxury of sitting around, waiting for someone to save us.
RIP Miya.
