There is nothing wrong with being mindful of your own personal safety. We all have a right to feel uncomfortable, and to act accordingly. It’s okay to cross the road to avoid others, I do this myself. So too we should all be mindful of how we can make others feel safer when walking home at night – this is just basic common decency. But what isn’t okay; is to fear monger, vilify and create a cultural panic around ‘men’ as a group. To talk about men as if they’re monsters forever lurking the shadows; comparing experiences with men to walking through a room of snakes, or swimming in a shark tank, and yes, eating from a bowl of poisoned M&Ms. This is not advocacy. This is ignorance, and hate. Neither do such thought experiments help women ‘feel safe’ either. In fact, such terrifying analogies will likely make them feel the opposite. Neither do you get to tell men (who are at a significantly higher risk), that they can walk the streets at whatever time they like, without fear or consequence – under the protective shield of so called ‘male privilege’. Walking home at night is not an opportunity for you to inject your bigoted political ideas around men, or stoke fear and division. I am tired of it. I am tired of the endless pearl clutching. I am tired of seeing the conversation of violent crime centred on highly privileged millionaire celebrity women, who are not at risk, and taken away from those who are – which is young, inner city, working class black boys. I am tired of the conversation making no effort to understand what shapes violent crime, or how to reduce it, to instead fan the flames of a gender war. I am tired of seeing tragic stories hijacked for political ends, to become yet another bludgeon to hit ‘yes all men’ with. It is boring. It is divisive. And most of all, it doesn’t achieve anything. So let’s look at the numbers, for a more reasonable and evidence based insight into violent crime. ~ Images by Donny Jiang, Mathias Reding, Black Kiwi Hug, Manual Wii, [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

2023-04-20