There was a UN study done in the UK in 2021,that found about 80% of over 1000 women had experienced sexual harassment of some kind in their life. This was published in the media and spread on social media as evidence of women being victims in society.

However, if you view the study yourself, you can see that there was no control group of men to compare with. If they used a male control group they would have found a similar percentage of men have experienced harassment at some point too. Even in middle school we're taught good science uses a control group, and this usually extends to the social sciences like psychology, sociology or economics, when possible. Even if women experience more, studies like this one are misleading as they create an exaggerated image of the problem and promote a false narrative of victimisation.

These were the harassment criteria, and to be included in the 80% they only had to to experienced any one of these a single time:

  1. Being cat-called or wolf-whistled
  2. Being stared at
  3. Unwelcome touching, body rubbing, or groping
  4. In-person comments or jokes Unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favours
  5. Being physically followed
  6. Indecent exposure
  7. Online comments or jokes
  8. Sharing of suggestive or indecent content online or in-person
  9. Being forced into participating in sexual behaviour
  10. Had images taken and / or shared without your consent

It's a very low bar and I'm confident in saying the overwhelming majority of men in the UK have experienced at least one of these at some point. It's just one study, but it's one of the most cited in the media and in arguments about sexism or male privilege.

The data from the study is here https://www.unwomenuk.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/APPG-UN-Women-Sexual-Harassment-Report_Updated.pdf