50 Times Men Terrified Women Without Even Realizing It

1 in 3 women around the world have experienced violence at least once in their lives. 736 MILLION WOMEN! That's a rather scary statistic, brought to us by the U.N. Women Data Hub.

And if that stat didn't hit home hard enough, in 2022, the World Bank revealed that an estimated 245 million experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) in the last 12 months alone. That's 10% of all women, ages 15 and above. Remember that the figure doesn't include violence carried out by non-partners. And that many cases of IPV go unreported.

"The true figures are likely to be even larger because of the difficulties women face in being open about experiences of violence," explains the World Bank. "Evidence shows that violence from an intimate partner can often go unrecorded, due to social stigma and women not wanting to make things worse for themselves."

I recently watched "She Said." If you haven't heard of it, it's a movie about the two New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story and opened the floodgates for women around the world to join the #MeToo movement. It's a gripping, eye-opening film that highlights how women suffer in silence, often too afraid to speak up against the men who do them harm.

For decades, Weinstein took advantage of vulnerable actresses and other women he worked with. His despicable acts went under the radar, as he paid his survivors to keep quiet, while some of those around him helped cover his tracks. But the movie also shines a light on the bravery and courage of women in the face of what can only be described as pure evil.

The disgraced film producer and Miramax co-founder was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020. But New York's highest court last year overturned his conviction and sentence. It was a move that left #MeToo activists shocked and angry.

"The court found that the original trial judge allowed prejudicial testimony," reported the Guardian. "That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench."

73-year-old Weinstein is currently being retried in a Manhattan criminal court. And this time, the jury is majority female...

"She Said" got me thinking about how prevalent gender-based violence (GBV) is. And how it would be hard to find a woman who hasn't been in a scary or uncomfortable situation with a man, at least once in her life. I come from a country where the government has labeled GBV a 'national crisis' and a 'second pandemic.' So that should tell you a lot.

“We have amongst the highest rates of intimate partner violence," said South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, while addressing the nation in 2020. "This is a scourge that affects us all: young and old, black or white, rich and poor, queer or cis, rural or urban. It pervades every sphere of our society... We are in the throes of a deep crisis that must be brought to a decisive end."

But the following year, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found that "the failure of South Africa to prevent and protect women and girls from domestic violence constitutes grave and systematic violations of rights under international law."

The Word Bank notes that the two regions with the highest-known prevalence of IPV are Sub-Saharan Africa, "where 33% of women aged 15–49 years have suffered IPV in their lifetime and 20% in the last year alone, and South Asia, where 35% of women in the same age bracket have experienced it in their lifetime and 19% in the last year."

It adds that young women aged 15 to 19 are the most affected by IPV. Stats show that by the time they are 19 years old, 1 in 4 adolescent girls who have been in a relationship will already have suffered at the hands of a partner.

A growing number of women are single, and many of them are living alone, notes Daniel A. Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life, adding that they are less likely to be attached to a community such as a religious congregation, and many live far from immediate family members. Cox was commenting on statistics that show women have become more afraid of men since the #MeToo movement.

"Young women today are also more likely to live in cities surrounded by strangers, specifically strange men. With the rise of dating apps, their dating experiences more regularly put them in contact with men who have no connection to their offline lives, making personal safety a legitimate concern," writes Cox.

He says that even though much is being done to protect women in the workplace, bullying and exploitative behavior online is increasingly common.

Cox says while it's a good thing that more women are speaking up about their fears around men, it's less ideal that so many conversations about the topic occur online. "Social media algorithms segregate these conversations in ways that reinforce pre-existing world views," he explained, adding that women are inundated with stories while most men hear little or nothing about these incidents and how they impact women's lives.

"It's especially unfortunate because an open conversation would help bridge the gap in understanding," said Cox. "Men might come to better understand how these fears influence decisions that women make."