Dear men, please understand that sexism is the unjust air we breathe

In this air, every woman is an asthmatic

A striking feature of the last few weeks has been the number of well-meaning men who, before this current round of the #MeToo phenomenon, ‘had no idea’ that sexual harassment, abuse, and assault is so rampant. Their blissful ignorance is as enraging as the violations that women face all their lives, because it goes to the very heart of male privilege. 

That privilege is that they never needed to know, because they are unaffected by it. Those who know, severely underestimate its extent—most stories circulate among women because male privilege has fashioned a world in which being uninformed about these