Transcript: With a picture of a snake in the background, post reads: The chances of a human being bitten by a venomous snake is 1 in 70 thousand.
The chances of a woman being attacked by a man is 1 in 3.
And somehow, your fear of snakes is valid. But a woman’s fear of male violence is dramatic.
Falling appliances kill about twice as many people per year as sharks, but if you’re more afraid of a refrigerator than of a shark, a lot of people will definitely call you dramatic. Proximity is a huge factor in the likelihood of any given occurrence.
I would be scared of a falling refrigerator.
Likewise, I’d be scared of a shark that was right next to me, or a person chasing me with exposed genitalia, but a standing refrigerator or a person behaving normally is unlikely to suddenly fall or assault you. There’s still a chance, and you can and should still be aware of it and take appropriate precautions, but being on edge constantly is going to cause more issues that it solves.
This is an extremely inaccurate framing of sexual assault, rape, and violence.
Being aware of one’s surroundings and having some methods of avoidance and self defense are good for everyone.
I’m not saying that that’s the only kind of SA, of course. It was just an easy shorthand for likely imminent SA (and ongoing sexual harassment, for that matter).
Most SA and rape is committed by someone the victim knows, not some stranger chasing people with their dicks out.
Framing the danger women face from men as “a person chasing them with exposed genitalia” is dismissive and inaccurate. 1 in 3 women will face SA or rape in their lifetime. That isn’t an exaggeration.
I would be on edge around a falling shark.