Ariana Grande took to Twitter on Tuesday to speak out against the pervasiveness of female objectification in society after an insulting run-in with a misogynistic fan left her feel degraded.
According to a message the singer shared, she and boyfriend Mac Miller were out picking up some food when a young man approached the couple, excitedly telling Miller that he was a fan.
"He was loud and excited and by the time M was seated in the driver's seat, he was literally almost in the car with us," Grande recounted. "I thought all of this was cute and exciting until he said 'Ariana is sexy as hell man. I see you, I see you hitting that!!!'"
"Hitting that? The f--k??" she continued. "This may not seem like a big deal to some of you but I felt sick and objectified. I was also sitting right there when he said it."
The "Dangerous Woman" singer explained that she "felt really quiet and hurt" after the encounter and that these are the "kinds of moments that contribute to women's sense of fear and inadequacy."
"I am not a piece of meat that a men gets to utilize for his pleasure," she wrote. "I'm an adult human being in a relationship with a man who treats me with love and respect."
Grande went on to say that it "hurts my heart that so many young people are so comfortable" when it comes to using phrases that objectify women "with such ease."
"We need to talk about these moments openly because they are harmful and they live on inside of us as shame," she concluded. "We need to share and be vocal when something makes up feel uncomfortable because if we don't, it will just continue. We are not objects or prizes. We are QUEENS."