By that logic, you are also preaching to the choir. I don’t need to be reminded that there are some bad apples out there. I take necessary precautions each and every time I go out — this incident happened in broad daylight, on a paved bike path in an affluent neighborhood and I was scanning my surroundings, wearing no headphones as I always do. Placing the burden on women alone to be responsible for their safety in the face of a larger cultural issue is not helpful and has little to do with my personal confidence.

I’m not asking for, nor proposing a solution, I’m simply asking that the men in this world acknowledge that these are factors that the women in their lives are dealing with on a daily basis. My point is being further proven each time a comment like this is issued in response; the way a man disregards a woman’s experience and lectures her on what she “should” do contributes to the problem.