Women, for centuries, have experienced immeasurable oppression and suffering at the hands of men. It’s disappointing but, unfortunately, true. 

And while this has lessened in recent years, there is still a gross stain of disrespect towards women, especially in America. 

I feel that the most common place this occurs is the dating scene. And recently, it’s been getting more and more dangerous. 

A staggering amount of women have told their stories about being attacked and assaulted after rejecting a man’s romantic or sexual advances. The number is most definitely higher, though, as some women are too afraid to come forward or are not alive to do so.

In September, you may remember hearing about a woman who was hit in the face with a brick after she declined to give a man her number. This all happened while people–mostly men–stood by and watched. And while the bystander effect might have had a part in this, I believe it was also a societal thing.

It’s the silver lining. As women become independent, they start to realize that a relationship isn’t required for happiness, and as a result, men are growing desperate. 

Men fall into the incel pipeline (incel meaning “involuntary celibate”, and is a common insult used to describe men who blame their inability to get a girlfriend on women, instead of the man’s poor behavior and attitude) perpetuating disgusting things about women just because they can’t get a girlfriend.

In June of this year, a man in Egypt was executed for killing a woman who rejected him. 

Doing research for this topic has single-handedly ruined any hope I had for modern men. Just searching up on Google “women attacked by a man for saying no” gets thousands upon thousands of results. All results are personal accounts or news articles. 

I can easily connect this to the “Kill All Men” slogan, and how a lot of men will counteract it by saying “but not ALL men.” 

But then I look at all these stories of women getting hurt—or worse—just for standing their ground, and I realize that the room for error in deciding if a man is “one of the good ones” is marginally slim. We often don’t have time to make a split second decision judging a man’s character, so we have to go about life on alert so these sorts of things do not happen. 

Is it really that hard to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and feel a little bit of empathy every once in a while? I know men are conditioned to conceal their emotions, however, this generalization shouldn’t justify the jeopardy of women’s safety.

The dating scene has just gotten unbelievably dangerous for women, because you’ll never know which man is truly demented and full of hatred until it’s too late. 

I hate to end things on a negative note, but it’s hard to find the light in a topic like this. Something filled with so much hurt. 

Just be safe out there. Always tell people the location before going on a date. And always trust your gut. If a situation gives you a bad feeling, don’t risk it. 

Men are the ones who need to stop being so entitled, they’re the ones who need to change.