General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "all men are potential rapists" [View all]Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)"all men are potential rapists". That's not about YOU, or specific male person who would never commit sexual assault, it's about risk assessment and avoidance of strangers in public places. If you're a woman? And you're alone, late at night, in a city? Or even in broad daylight, in some places? Then yes, in fact, all men are potential rapists. We see a lot of discussion of "white privilege"; this seems to be a case of male privilege. As a man one doesn't have to have the same degree of situational and environmental awareness and consciousness of the potential threat of sexual violence that a woman does; this is a simple and unfortunate fact. Pop quiz time: you're a single woman walking alone down a city street, it's after dark, there are two men walking about 50 feet behind you and there are two streetlamps out on the next block up. Do you, a) cross to the well-lit side of the street? b) carry on blithely without a care in the world?