I've always been one of the girls to say "not all men are like that" and I guess it only just hit me. That yes, when I see someone walking towards me in the dark I cross the road, that I do take a headphone out to hear if im being followed. That yes. I do infact feel that fear. And I guess my father did too, I grew up learning to remeber the ID number of the taxi drivers, the number plates. I call people on my walk 2 blocks home when its not light out. And I thought it was normal, I thought it was okay, I thought it was just what we had to do because I am a women. And thats not right. To an extent, yes stranger danger. And im not saying men are not victims to assault, abuse, rape etc but can a man tell me if he sees a lone women walking towards him, would he feel anxious? Would his fight or flight reflex be ready to engage?

I agree, its not all men, but I guess its all women that are in fear. And no, its not a "shit bricks" fear. Its an anxiety, its a worry when you're out by yourself.And I dont know how I feel about it, I dont know what the answer is. Its insane, we are not calling all men bad, we are not saying you will hurt us. We are saying we have seen far too many women become victims, or ourseleve have been victims of sexual assault, abuse, murder and it scares us, we are taught to be scared and growing up to be scared. Not all men are bad. But its feeling like all women are scared to an extent of men.

I saw a post of a woman on Facebook saying that she wont debate these topics (abortion, feminine hygiene products, menstruation, etc.) with men because they dont concern male body, therefore, their opinion is not valid. I asked my best friend (he's a guy) about it-- if it's too much because the post was shared by my classmate (a guy) with a caption of "overly feminist 👀👄👀". I was expecting my best friend to agree that it's too much or 'overly feminist'. But he didnt. He told me that he thinks that the post's concept is better and that he also has been hearing some of his peers (guys too) talk about menstruation or breastfeeding when either concern them, seeing that it's not their body, and how he had stopped talking to them once he found out that they're like that. He also told me that maybe a man's opinion on these topics would be counted if he was an expert on that field. I almost cried at his response because I was scared as hell. I was scared that I would lose him the moment I asked that question, because once I've lost a guy friend over him telling me that I'm being an 'overly feminist' and that he'd rather me be an lgbt than be a feminist, which hurt me so much back then that I just completely cut him off my life.

I'm just so glad that my best friend is so understanding and he keeps on giving me hope that the world can still change. He's really sweet and kind and brave as he stands for his beliefs, and he is also open for a discourse when asked. He actually changed one of his friend's political stance, which I was utterly impressed at.

Not all men.

So a woman comes to 2x to ask for opinions and support. She's been harassed by a man who's escalating his behaviour and is just upgraded to stalking her co-workers. Scary, scary dude.

There are lots of comments that empathise with her, but make sure to explain that it's only because he's escalated in such a manner:

In the beginning when he was texting you, then apologizing and saying he was drunk, I gave him leeway. People do stupid and annoying things when drunk. This in no way excuses his behavior, it just doesn't rate anything other than a talking to about his behavior. After that, his behavior of slander and other such things completely warrants your actions.

Yeah, a guy texting you about how he wants to rape you is no big. That's not worth reporting, cause people do stupid shit when they're drunk. But escalating to slander and stalking, well, then he's finally crossed the line. Oh, btw, this lovely comment comes to us courtesy of /u/RandGoodfellow, just to hammer home the point.

I made this account for you. [Here follows a paragraph of really supportive stuff] I want you to understand not all guys are bad. I myself am a 20 year old straight male. I may be considered a womanizer but the way he has made you feel is wrong and you need to be proactive and tell people how he has made you feel.

/u/ProactiveisPower made an account just for this post! ::sigh::, not even gonna comment on how even his user name is putting responsibility onto the OP and not the guy harassing. The supportive stuff really does try, but he focuses entirely on her scared feelings and not at all on how the guy's actions are problematic. And it finishes with a lovely, NAMALT, with a bonus for levels of bad behaviour. Don't worry OP, one day you'll find a nice guy who respects women just enough not to stalk them. I have faith in you.

Then, we have this prince, /u/IndianaJables:

You did the right thing for sure. I've been in his position before where I "liked" a girl in class and I can proudly say that I never pulled any kind of this behavior. If what you've described is the truth then this individual is obviously deeply disturbed when it comes to social interactions with attractive women or just women in general. People like that deserve to be punished. Try not to let this bad experience cloud your opinion of all men, a lot of us aren't so bad.

I can proudly say that I've never stalked a woman. Give me cookies, I'm not a terrible human being! Don't worry, if you're telling the truth, you're not at fault. Remember not to be scared of all men, NAMALT.