1.) just because I also care about the plight of oppressed women in America and Europe doesn't mean that I don't care about the violence women face in, say, Saudi Arabia or Malawi. I do what I can, both abroad and at home. whether it's donating to the K.I.N.D. fund to send Malawian girls to school, or signing petitions to teach boys in Kenya not to rape, or joining efforts with interfaith groups to change conservative christian or muslim practices away from misogyny. it just so happens that I can have more of an impact at home than far away. I can do both, albeit at different rates and with different effectiveness.



2.) women in America, China, the U.K., Germany, Australia... name your 1st world country, and I guarantee you, women are statistically WAY more likely than men to be the victim of violent assault, rape, murder, abuse, and so on. we're talking U.S. Census data, RAINN statistics, Pew Research data analyses... and the most likely perpetrators of these assaults, according to these same statistics, are white men. even other men are more likely to be assaulted by white men than by women. additionally, women are even MORE likely to be assaulted if they are lesbian, or trans, or black, or latina, or asian. this is in the 1st world. in fact, the most common cause of death for women is at the hands of men. meanwhile, the most common cause of death for men is heart disease.



3.) as attempts to push for equality of the sexes, and for LGBT rights, and for racial justice, have increased, so too has the violent conservative pushback. white male terrorism, and evangelical terrorism, have both erupted in response to calls for equality and social justice. this is true in America, the U.K., Australia, even in socialist countries such as Norway and Sweden.



4.) other men are also victimized by the patriarchal and misogynistic social standards we have in our cultures. a deep social pressure and anxiety around masculinity and gender "morality" leads to men being pushed to act macho and violent and entitled, under the threat of being attacked by other men if they do not, because they will be perceived as weak and "effeminate" if they don't. there is a hatred of all things deemed feminine, and a hatred of kindness in our society. men are expected to be monsters, or else they aren't considered manly enough. because men are strong and women are weak, according to our cultural beliefs. because men take what they want. women are for taking, and men are the takers. when men get raped, it's anti-feminists who say that they should suck it up, that it wasn't that bad, that they should man up. it's feminists who sympathize and say rape is wrong, even when it happens to men. it's feminists who rush to the aid of male rape victims. it's feminists who support efforts to care for male victims of rape. and when a woman commits rape, it's anti-feminists who say women can't rape, who say that a woman especially can't rape a man, that any man who was raped by a woman should consider himself lucky. it's feminists who acknowledge that anyone can rape and anyone can be rape. it's feminists who acknowledge that every rape victim's experience and feelings are valid, no matter the gender.



so you want to say you don't feel pity? you want to say that 1st-world women don't have anything to fear? check your fucking facts. do the fucking research. see the fucking numbers.