A friend of mine is currently going on her quarterly dive into how it sucks to be a woman because she doesn't feel comfortable walking alone, especially at night, and how there's so many things she does as a woman that men just "don't have to think about".

And every time this conversation happens, there's a whole list of things that men "don't have to think about"... and I've done about 90% of them. I should probably mention at this point that, believe it or not, I'm a man.

I'm not frustrated with the decision to be cautious about personal safety, or want to imply that the risks of being assaulted are nil considering I've known people who were attacked in broad daylight. It's fine to be cautious and there are risks out there, for sure.

I'm much more frustrated with the complete dismissal that I, a man, don't ever feel fear when I go outside. I absolutely do. I walk past a lot of bars to get to my current apartment. I'm afraid I'm going to get involved in some drunken brawl or that people are going to victimize me because I look like an easy target with money.

The whole thing just reeks with oppression olympics. If someone wants to have a discussion about personal safety, or precautions women take relative to men, then go for it. Just don't write off a whole fucking gender as living such different lives they couldn't possibly imagine what it's like to be worried.