Viral Thread Shows What Women Everywhere Would Do If Men Had A Curfew

Women shared everything we’d feel free to enjoy if men had a nighttime curfew

Fear and anxiety is something women everywhere internalize and are forced to normalize for a variety of reasons, but especially when it comes to being out at night. Once it grows dark, no matter where we are — the parking lot of a store, out at a bar, or simply running in our own neighborhood — we have to have our guard up, at all times, because men. So when one Twitter user presented a hypothetical question to women on Twitter about men having curfews, it’s no surprise it went viral.

In light of the Terrible, Awful, No Good Week many of us had due to the Kavanaugh hearing, activist Danielle Muscato addressed her Twitter followers with a simple question for women.

“What would you do if all men had a 9 p.m. curfew?”

The answers are simple, stunning, and more than a little heartbreaking. Because mostly, women just want to do normal, everyday things we enjoy without fear.

After tweeting the latter response, Bronwyn Harris admitted, “I’m surprised how emotional that just made me.” Because we just want to live, for crying out loud. These all sound like such simple things, but they are things that are stripped away from us. Simple joys we can’t let ourselves have because of the constant and valid fear we’ll be attacked, threatened, intimidated, or accosted.

Many women mentioned bars. Think about how often we see men sitting at bars alone, enjoying a game or a paper or a book. Undisturbed. Not afraid or nervous of anyone approaching them and ruining their night.

Reading through the earnest responses, it’s hard not to feel a pang in your gut. Of sadness and bubbling rage. Because it’s just not fair.

Late-night grocery shopping would be bliss sometimes. No kids, no lines! And we can do it. But doing it doesn’t come without the anxiety. There’s always a price to pay when you’re a woman, out alone, when it’s dark. Once when I was unloading my car at night, a man approached me and asked me for jumper cables. I was torn between wanting to be a good samaritan and wanting to get the hell out of there because the thought of being stuck, alone, waiting for this man to finish jumping his car terrified the hell out of me.

So I lied and told him they were in my husband’s car. And I left.

My husband, like many, has needed to be educated on just how deep male privilege runs sometimes, especially in cases like these. And he just shakes his head and feels sad — for me, for our daughter, for all women. And probably a little guilty, because at 6’5″ he’s never had to worry for one second of his life about being out after dark. I can’t imagine the amount of exhilarating freedom that must accompany that kind of privilege.

Okay, so who do we need to call and what petitions/GoFundMe do we need to start to get this whole curfew ball rolling? Who’s in?