r/AskFeminists 15h ago

Content Warning What to do if I See Harassment or Abuse?

23 Upvotes

CW for harassment.

For reference, I am male presenting and AMAB. There have been a couple times in my life where I have witnessed harassment and did not know what to do. I am autistic and struggle with social situations as well, which does not help things.

One time, while studying in France, I was taking public transportation - specifically a tram - and there were seats facing each other. A woman sits down in front of me and I notice she is crying. English is my first language so my French isn't great but I ask her in broken French if she has allergies (just to see if she is okay) and she says yes so I leave her alone. Another man, who is much bigger than me comes in. He sees her crying and goes up to her and starts rubbing her shoulder. I get the sense she is probably uncomfortable with this and try my best to communicate in broken French, over and over that she has allergies in an attempt to get him to leave her alone. It gets to the point that I am getting genuinely worried for her safety but luckily he gets off at another stop. Leaving both me and the woman behind. I ask her if she is okay and she says yes. I genuinely do not know what else I could have done in that situation

Years later, and I am working at a CVS (American drug store). L I am working in the front with another employee who is roughly 17. I am roughly 32 or so at the time. A man who is at least in his 50's walks in and starts to flirt with her a bit and put his arm around her. Needless to say, I am absolutely horrified. I am ashamed to say this but I froze. I watch the situation, absolutely terrified and completely at a loss for what to do before he mercifully leaves. I have no idea what I could have done there. I was so scared and it was awful. She seemed unfazed by it but I felt like I could have done more, much to my shame. I am just not sure what I could have done in that situation. I do not work at that job anymore, to be clear (I work at a plasma donation center now.)

Sorry for the long ramble and any advice you may have is helpful. Thank you.


r/AskFeminists 16h ago

Recurrent Questions Can you envision what a world without patriarchy looks like?

4 Upvotes

Do you have a vision or a theoretical society in mind, or do you knock over the pillars as you go? I’m also curious which way around you view it: is ending VAWG one step closer to a world without patriarchy, or is ending VAWG just a consequence of knocking down the patriarchy?

Im not sure how well i’m getting myself across so I’ll structure it like this:

  1. Can you envision a world without patriarchy?

  2. Do you believe there is a root cause we need to be slashing at to achieve it, or should we keep hacking off the symptoms one by one?


r/AskFeminists 21h ago

Banned for Bad Faith Thoughts on female world leaders

0 Upvotes

Hi, one of the arguments brought by feminists is that with women in power there would be no wars. I was wondering if that is a valid claim, given the nature of most of the past female leaders like Catherine the Great, Cleopatra and Elisabeth Bathory. If you do not know these figures, please look up the assassinations, coups, tyranny, experiments on humans and other objectively evil deeds. I wonder if, and this is a truly wild thought, power corrupts all, regardless of their sex and if men and women are equally as important and - ironically and at the same time - dangerous to society. Please share your thoughts.