Oh, not to make this even longer than it already is, but I just wanted to add that you 100% have the right to be skeptical of men.
It’s a gut instinct to fear men, because they, as a class, have never done anything to give us a reason not to fear them. They wouldn’t tell us we're overreacting if we said we’re skeptical bears, because obviously bears are dangerous creatures and humans have every reason to fear them. Men have raped and killed far, far more women than bears have killed humans, yet women are somehow shamed for fearing men.
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While I find this sad, and I refuse to live my life in fear of men, I have a hard time getting worked up about it. Most women will experience some form of unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature from an ass grab to full on rape. On the conservative side of estimates 1 in 6 women will experience an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. (RAINN) Chances are that every woman knows someone who has been raped, usually by a man. This is not some abstract fear for us, it is real and visceral. I've lost track of the number of men who have said some variation they were afraid to be alone with women because they feared false allegations of sexual harassment etc. Most people don't see anything wrong with this fear, at least IME. Now, which is more statistically likely, a man actually harassing or assaulting a woman or a man being falsely accused? Hint: It's a woman actually being harassed or assaulted. Yet women who express fear of men are the hysterical ones...
Well I do see a problem with this, calling men a class, FFS? I was gang raped by a bunch of men and I still refuse to fear them as a whole and I damn well refuse to condone such behaviour in anyone else. Men are not a class, they are not some aggresive 600 pound animals and it`s sad that some of you are apparently right with all she said.
Oh and btw. This is gendercritical so there`s a good chance what she says applies to transwomen as well with how they perceive us.
Obviously, it is a mistake to assume all men are a threat, but it seems pretty reasonable for women to be a little cautious about men as a group. We are a pretty big source of danger for women as a group.
So, she isn't being completely reasonable, but she is making more sense than, say, Stewart.
Oh and btw. This is gendercritical so there`s a good chance what she says applies to transwomen as well with how they perceive us.
You shouldn't need to know about the source in order to understand the quote. They should stand on their own as much as possible. Comparing half the earth's population to bears stands on its own. It's not the worst sexism on SSTDT, or even the worst thing from GenderCritical, but it is kind of ridiculous.
"Men have raped and killed far, far more women than bears have killed humans" is a stupid argument, for the same reason "Far, far more people have died on the toilet than from a bullet" is a stupid reason to be scared of the crapper. More women die at the hands of men than at the claws of bears because women spend far more time in the company of men than in the company of bears.
Which isn't a reason to shame people for having a traumatic phobia. If people successfully pressured her into some sort of attempt at "exposure therapy," it would probably just make her, and the unfortunate dudes she drags into it, miserable.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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