A recent Herald editorial headlined “Bad Boys,” summarized an alarming uptick in social media posts threatening violence to women, but the term “bad boys” would probably thrill the puerile punks the Herald described.
To wit, Urban Dictionary defines a bad boy as “…a teen romance [character] who wears leather jackets and ripped jeans. He…has a heart and falls in love with the…nerdy girl…”
In that sense, a bad boy is a hero that romance novelists often refer to as a “cad” or a “rake” or, even, a “stud” – attractive to some women. In reality, perpetrators of such abhorrent threats against women as “Your Body. My Choice. Forever,” are nothing less than pernicious predators, rather than mischievous and misunderstood man-boys.
They’re the type of depraved deviants profiled by melodramatic crime-shows like “48 Hours,” or portrayed on the Lifetime Network. The latter’s monthly themes, like “Shocktober” or “Hateful and Grateful,” usually evoke humor more than horror.
Real-life crimes against women are more horrific of course, but the fact that the Herald editorial contained so many references to women-as-victims concerns me. Most of the women I know are vigilant about defending themselves. They deftly attach all sorts of gadgets onto compact handbags or haul briefcases heavy enough to render an attacker unconscious if the situation warrants.
Like me, many women who watch Lifetime and real-life crime shows do so to cheer on heroines we identify with and hope to emulate. In fact, a recent New York Times article reported that more women than men watch reality-crime TV programs, in case they encounter craven creeps in their own lives. While the author (and several reader comments) noted that perpetrators of crimes against women probably watch these shows as well, my money’s on the women.
Given all that, and my tremendous respect for the Herald’s editorial writers, it was discouraging to read the “bad boys” editorial, as it seemed to overestimate the braggart bro brigade’s power. After all, now that the man-boys have crawled out of their sordid sinkholes and sociopathic snake-pits to victory-dance and prance around like proud peacocks, they’ve exposed themselves, and their shortcomings, to the entire world.
These and similarly deluded dudes should instead direct their ego-enamored eyeballs to the thousands of self-defense products and services available to any woman with a mobile device. In fact, any woman with a meticulous manicure can turn a few sharp fingernails into talons of torment against any man who even suggests that a woman’s body is not her own choice, but his.
To be sure, the Herald editorial did point out this unassailable fact: “Real men…see this faux machismo for what it is: fear and insecurity. These personalities are as transparent as a schoolyard bully, but, like the bully, they are dangerous if we give them power.”
That subjunctive caveat,“…if we give them power,” bears attention: instead of ceding their power and marching for mere minutes in kitten-eared pink hats, more women than ever are learning self-defense and seizing actual power. A cursory search I ran this week yielded the following:
- Sales of self-defense tools like pepper spray, personal alarms, and tactical pens have seen a significant uptick in the past few years, and online platforms and communities dedicated to women’s self-defense are growing in popularity.
- There has been a significant increase in self-defense services and classes for women of all ages and ethnic groups, by martial arts studios, community centers, and fitness facilities.
- In Rutland, New Story Center, whose mission is “turning the page on violence,” reports that this year it has helped nearly 800 survivors (and their children) receive comprehensive trauma-informed services – a 17 percent increase over 2023.
- Women in states where abortion is prohibited and punishable by law, are hoarding birth control pills and abortion-inducing pharmaceuticals.
The stocks of companies that market self-defense products also bear observation. Top manufacturers include SABRE, which makes pepper spray products; Mace Security International, which offers stun guns, personal alarms, and self-defense sprays; and Gerber, which makes a whole range of powerful self-defense tools that look like benign objects – pens, flashlights, and keychains, for example.
Here’s hoping that wise women – and those who love them – unite with the fiercest fervor against the “Your Body, My Choice” criminal crusade. These men are not innocuous bad boys, or rakes, or cads, or studs. Far from anything resembling a peacock, proud or otherwise, these men are bile-spewing buzzards, which Dictionary.com defines as a type of “turkey vulture” and “…a contemptible or cantankerous person.”
Surely no woman with a functioning brain cell would tolerate any guy described as “contemptible,” or a “turkey,” or a “buzzard,” or a “vulture.” Not for long, anyway.
