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By Jaylyn Preslicka, Editor-in-Chief
“Not all men” is a straw man fallacy.
It is a preposterous statement to believe that all men are inherently evil, but the statistics do not help the argument. It is frightening to believe 97% of women experience sexual harassment or worse every day.
Sarah Everard is part of the 97% that makes the statement “not all men” render useless because it is disproven. Everard’s death blew the lid on the hypocrisy of men and their need to feel validated when held accountable for their actions.
“It is only through global feminist solidarity and mass mobilisation that we will succeed in making the radical changes necessary for making gender justice our new reality,” Professor Catherine Rottenberg said.
A straw man fallacy claims outrageous points that are exaggerated in order to diminish the opposing view’s original case. While not all men commit actions of sexual assault, it is still a man’s job to call out “boyhood culture” when others are passive towards rampant sexualization of women and other men. Men as a whole are not a community; they are not mutually exclusive towards women, but in cases such as this it is crucial to criticize them as a whole.
The murder of Everard sparked a serious conversation not only in the U.K. where the crime was committed, but around the world. A satire suggestion of a 6 p.m. curfew for men was proposed by Green Party Politician Baroness Jones.
“Obviously if [Baroness Jones] was serious that's just insane but just a little part of me thinks it would be nice to be able to walk through a park at night without having my keys between my fingers,” Reddit user Smoke-Historical said.
When Jones stated this, there was public outcry as many took it at “face value.” Following this statement, many sent Jones misogynistic tweets and emails as well as added public criticism from British Conservative Party members. She stated in assurance that the proposal was “not an entirely serious suggestion.” As of now, there are no plans to set a curfew for anyone.
“Nobody makes a fuss when the police suggest women stay at home, but when I suggest it, men are up in arms,” Jones said. "Men don’t understand the pressure women are under."
The curfew may have been a bold suggestion, but it was not a sexist one. Everyone is aware that women can cause just as much harm as men, and it is not women alone who face sexual assault.
In March 2020, U.K. statistics reported 1.4 million people had been raped or had cases of attempted rape. Of those reported, 98.5% of those cases were performed by men (to both women and men victims).
This does not mean in any way that every female-identifying person is not capable of inexcusable actions. Women, however, experience sexuality much differently from men. They’re taught from a young age about predatory strangers and how important it is to remain “pure.” Boys, in general, do not receive the same education.
It is an extremely uncomfortable topic.
When a group feels attacked they resort to blaming the other side and victimizing themselves. For some, this is a small beacon of hope. This means the person under attack realizes that their stance is wrong, but are too afraid to become educated as they will learn they themselves take place in the culture. This may be a difficult position at first to reason with someone of this caliber, but if they become educated and absorb the information while applying it to their daily lives, we have succeeded.
This does not deserve praise. It is growth that does not need to be applauded when it should already be the standard.
Some men do not feel this way though, and their avoidance of the topic is no coincidence. They remove themselves from the conversation because they simply do not care. Some speak openly on the subject and continue to victimize themselves not because they are genuinely uneducated, but because they truly believe they are the victim.
To be passive to these men only further nurtures their modern-day martyr complex.
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