I wish more men could try to understand how much of a woman’s time is spent avoiding situations which might put us in dangerous contact with men. Solo activities like walks & bike rides in broad daylight are frequently curtailed by wish not to put ourselves at unnecessary risk.

If anything did happen, & it does happen, the first question will be “but why did you do that? Why did you take that risk?”. A risk most men never consider a risk for themselves. It will be a question you will ask yourself forever. It will be why you don’t report what happened.

It’s why when you do have small safeguards for your protection, such as the right to ask for a female doctor or the right to single sex wards when you are at your most vulnerable, you value those rights. It isn’t that you think all men are a risk. It’s because you know some are.

When women stand up for these rights they aren’t saying specific people are a risk. Just that they value this very small attempt to preserve safety. That they wish it to be preserved & if altered in any way it should be done with their consent. Because this is all about consent.

Women who stand up for rights have always been seen as shrill & inconvenient at best. Men who imagine themselves feminists but suddenly find women’s rights repellent forget this fact. They were only a “feminist” when it was easy for them. Left wing men don’t question themselves.

This makes me sad & tired. It makes me deeply pessimistic about the future of ‘progressive’ politics. If progressive politics has decided I am an enemy for wanting to retain small safeguards against ever present male violence I actively don’t want it to succeed.