Thought: A common argument heard these days is something like "Women don't have the privilege of being able to safely walk down a dark alley at night the way men do."

Possible rebuttals:

  1. That is true, but you are saying that in the context of an example of patriarchy, when in fact this is an example of biology, evolution, and physics, because the only necessary fact in the fact pattern of human male violence is human male physical dominance. In many species the female is far larger than the male, and if one of those species ever evolves the intelligence to articulate its own thoughts and construct dark alleys, then they might say with equal accuracy "Men don't have the privilege of being able to safely walk down a dark alley at night the way women do." This privilege is determined purely by evolution and physics, and as such is not something you can really throw at the feet of men. This isn't in any way meant to deflect responsibility away from individual males who make the choice to assault someone, sexually or otherwise. Crime ultimately occurs at the level of the individual, which is the opposite of Patriarchy, and the individual still bears full moral responsibility for his actions. It should be noted that one male invention has allowed women thus armed to entirely negate male strength superiority - the hand gun.
  2. Men are actually in quite a bit of danger in those dark alley situations, because most male violence is perpetrated upon other males. Most male SEXUAL violence is perpetrated upon females, but is being raped better or worse than being repeatedly stabbed with a knife: a common result of random male on male violence in dark alleys? Think about that blade sliding into you. Is a penis actually worse than that? Think hard. I don't pretend to know "the answer", if such a thing exists, but to portray all men as perfectly safe in dark alleys is to lie. Most men are not safe in those spaces, which is why most men avoid them.

Discuss.