1. Andrew’s gesture was done in the spirit of friendship and so I assume he would do the same for a gay male friend who was being harassed on the street.

2. When I was a young woman I was subjected to this sort of routine sexist abuse. On the street. In the Boardroom. In the hallways of the university in which I taught (male students passing just audible comments, etc.). In faculty meetings where a woman’s contributions to a discussion were ignored and then repeated by a male ‘colleague’ five minutes later–at which time the wisdom of the comment would get recognition. At the local telkom where my payment of phone bills for five years did not qualify me for a ‘waiver of fees’ for a new phone but men who had never had a phone before did not have to pay a fee at all! (I won that battle in the end!) At the bank where it was assumed that I would share an account with my husband and my insistence on having my own account marked me out as a ‘difficult woman’. And a lifetime of such treatment that would take volumes to itemise.

Back then, the insults on the street were an annoyance not an issue. But even so I did not retaliate with a ‘f— you’ or an ‘up yours, mate’ for fear of being thought rude. These troglodytes could insult women with impunity but I would be considered ‘rude’ if I retaliated…hmmm.

Women were supposed to be ‘above all that’. So I kept walking and never confronted the bastards,

I guess if a man had offered a ‘f—- you’ on my behalf I would have been grateful. But I would also have been embarassed and a little afraid that he might provoke the jackasses into responding with physical aggression. So, I guess that ignoring them would still be my response. But it is refreshing that Andrew felt strongly enough about the insult to his friend to shout back at the offenders. Good for you, Andrew.

This does not deter from the fact that women need to be treated neutrally. Give respect to those who deserve respect, and treat all others with the same neutrality.

Another option is to send only woman to war. That will decrease supply and give them the weapons…

Certainly Africa is more than a bit behind in this whole post-feminism regard when you leave the nice middle-class suburbs, but then bringing that up is another political minefield. I just think that Africa can and should learn from how the sexual politics in the West has failed both men and women. It won’t obviously, but one can still dream.

Please bear in mind that I’m playing devil’s advocate here. Explanations are not excuses and I’m not taking sides. But if people feel there is an issue, then there is.

Big, necessary changes in sexual politics have been effected for women, but almost nothing has changed for men, which is why many are, in fact, still such unrepentant troglodytes.

Perpetrators of domestic violence are officially split 70/30 with complications from what many sociologists believe is massive underreporting from men too embarrassed scared to seek help.

Men are frequently raped – by other men. The law didn’t even recognise it until recently. Being sodomised was considered merely another form of assault.

Boys have fallen substantially behind girls in the academic space. Male-female enrolment ratios at universities are if anything skewed towards females.

Many, many men feel that their workplace is socially hostile, but there is no safe means for them to speak out, due to issues of male sexual identity and an institutional bias towards the side of women in social conflicts.

You’re probably laughing and rolling your eyes, reading some of those things, but the men who perceive themselves to be victims of the aforementioned issues are not. Cue a rise in alcoholism, rape, and violence. Treat men like monsters and that’s how they behave.

And no, I wouldn’t dream of painting a rapist as a victim, but addressing causes is better than simply regarding rape as inherent to masculinity and trying to fix things after the fact.

I think the following article brings up some of the issues better than I could: http://www.reason.com/news/show/29521.html