Not all men, huh? The Not-All-Men movement is a man’s rebuttal to when women discuss Me-Too, which has the effect of invalidating women’s feelings. Nearly one in five women have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. Forty percent of women in the U.S. have experienced sexual violence in their lives. So while it may be understood that not all men are guilty of assaults on women, there are enough reported cases of assaults by men to cause fear in women across the globe. 

Lancaster High School junior, Zada Sharp said that she is disappointed and scared for women because of the number of women who have experienced sexual assault. She also believes that the Not-All-Men movement is supported by people who do not realize the seriousness and frequency of assaults on women.

“I understand why some men would be ignorant toward the meaning of the movement ‘Me Too’ however I feel that the movement Not-All-Men is created by ignorance of them not trying to understand,” explained Sharp.

One of the most ignorant things to do is make jokes about sexually assaulting others. In a recent incident on Tik Tok, there were a group of men who declared a certain day in April, “National Rape Day.” Issues like this should not be made into a joke because they are hurtful and damaging to others.

The Not-All-Men movement may represent male ignorance, but LHS junior, Emerson Frasure, provides a male’s point of view. He thinks that the Not-All-Men movement is a rebuttal and a result of men feeling attacked.

“I understand why they say this because not all men do sexually assault women, in fact, a lot of them don’t, but these people do not completely understand the movement,” said Frasure. 

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one in five women have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime while nearly one in thirty-eight men has experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.  However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 91% of all rape victims are females and nearly 99% of the offenders they described were male.

With the increased awareness of the Not-All-Men movement, there is more conversation about why it has become so prevalent. Social worker, Tonya Kraner, thinks that celebrities and social media have increased the awareness of the movement, and believes that one woman speaking out and spreading awareness may help others.

“Women speaking out against their abusers has allowed other women to not feel so alone and they have stopped questioning if they should just accept this type of behavior from men,” said Kraner.

What also needs to be understood is that men can be sexually assaulted and women can be the aggressors. The feminist movements are not to say that all men are bad and they aren’t to discredit men. The movements are to aid women in becoming equals to men.