You've got all these images of creepy looking guys, but the problem is, you can't tell a human predator by looking at him. We know bears can be dangerous, although the National Park Service says the chances of being hurt by one (not even killed) is 1 in 2.1 million. The chances of a woman being harmed by a man is about 1 in 3.
Most bears will leave you alone if you aren't bothering them. The problem with a man you come across by yourself in the woods is you have no way to know if he's just a guy out for a hike or if he went there specifically looking for women alone to prey on - because unlike bears, men do specifically do that… And since every woman you know, with very, very few exceptions has been harmed and scared by men over and over again since they were young children, the choice is pretty obvious.
Of course not all men will do anything bad, but we have no way at all to tell that until it's too late. Predators aren't creepy looking guys in dark clothing. They are our dates, and bosses, our clergy, and the man in the suit who passed you on the subway and groped you as he walked by. It’s regular everyday guys acting out mainstream scripts of masculine behavior.
32% of guys said they would force a woman into sex if they thought they could do it with no consequences. This is what we are reacting to.
It's not wrong or bad to be a man, but the way masculinity is constructed in American culture (and a lot of others) is pretty much responsible for nearly all of the violence and sexual predation and pretending it's not is just hiding ones head in the sand. All men have been messaged and reinforced over and over again their entire lives about Man Box masculinity. It's the ocean we all swim in, and boys and men are actively policed into upholding it. There are guys that reject a lot of that - but it's deeply ingrained in our culture and pretending like you probably haven't been influenced by that is again, just delusional. Feminist are the ones advocating for that shit to go away - because it harms you guys as well as everybody else.
Read this for more.
Edit: Ted Bundy was a handsome, charismatic guy. He didn’t look or seem like a serial killer — something that he used to his advantage in raping and murdering at least 30 women.
