Thread by @genderisharmful

A comment by a friend, about the Plymouth shooting.

Worth a read: 👇

"I haven't said anything about Plymouth up until now, in part because I just find it all so unsurprising. The horrible, terrible event. The police response. The press reporting. 1/14

The vitriolic pushback from men who are unwilling to examine their complicity in a society that allows their violent, misogynistic counterparts to commit these atrocities in the first place. 2/14

A society that *allows* men to become radicalised by ignoring the multitude of red flags that appear far sooner than anybody is willing to acknowledge. 3/14

I think, perhaps, I was surprised when, upon seeing that a child was involved in the attack, men doubled down and persisted in blaming women for it, but I'm not really sure why. 4/14

I suppose, in retrospect, I had sort of hoped there'd be a point at which the collective male would come together and say "Come on, lads. A kid is dead. Maybe *now* we can have a conversation about our complicity in all of this?" 5/14

Because the thing is, men are absolutely complicit. I see people making distinctions about how "we're" not talking about an "off-colour" sexist joke. Well, I am. I'm talking about absolutely everything that's allowed to pass unchecked which contributes to the othering and...
6/14

...dehumanisation of women.

Every time men ignore or support their pals in making sexist jokes, or ignore the rampant sexism of their peer group, they are complicit in the creation of a misogynist culture that dehumanises and others women. 7/14

This is *exactly* about the jokes, the catcalling, the division of labour in the home, the wage gap, the perceptions we carry out into the world about what boys are, and what girls are: the latter usually considered lesser than the former, in any number of ways. 8/14

It's about the justice system which practically legalised rape, and the shoddy victim support services that don't provide any support at all, if she's even able to source female-only representation or shelter; 9/14

it's about the closure of domestic violence shelters, and the "inclusion" of males at the expense of women's safety, perceived and real. It's about pornography, and the sexualisation of women and girls in the media. 10/14

It's about the outrage when women might venture to suggest that erect (or flaccid) penises ought not to be in the field of vision of little girls. 11/14

It's about job descriptions requiring high heels and makeup and skirts, and schools, too, which insist on skirts but not too short and heaven forfend she shows a shoulder-- what might it do the boys' attention spans?! It's about all of it and more. 12/14

And yes, that man was a terrorist. Just because he's terrorising the class of people they've considered less worthy than white males - see the aforementioned "more" - that doesn't make it any less terrorising for us...
13/14

...when we're out in the street at night, or even in our own homes.

We. Are. Terrorised.

And we are terrified.

14/14