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I'm a female, and a mom of 4 young adult Gen Z sons. I've seen this shift and it's unfortunate for all. Reflexive fear may seem a reasonable response to what seems to be nearly ubiquitous sexual assault, but assuming that boys & men are likely causes of pain inhibits human relationships. Approaching fellow humans w distrust rather than curiosity & empathy isn't helpful for us an individuals, or as a society.

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Becoming?

That makes it sound like this something new.

This isn’t a shift. It’s just reality.

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author

"In 2017, 39 percent of women under the age of 50 said they often or sometimes worried about being sexually assaulted. A year later, that figure rose to nearly half (47 percent)."

That seems like an increase to me.

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Right? I heard that a young Olympian was just recently lit on fire and killed by her ex-boyfriend. Yes, that’s an extreme example, but sexism is costing women their livelihood in so many ways, and it must be addressed or more lives will be lost.

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A lot of men are afraid to approach women these days too. For every guy who's scheming to get around #MeToo there are two or three who have no idea how to approach a woman without winding up on the Internet as a creeper. So they just give up and play video games.

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Did you mean to say more women were afraid of the man not the bear?

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author

Yes. Sorry. It should say that women chose the bear over the man. We updated the post to clarify.

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