Not All Men

You say 'not all men'
like you think that is the problem,
but the problem is the one in six.
One in six women raped in their lifetime.
One in six:
only the number actually reported -
a conservative estimate.

One in six raped,
but one in three abused.
One in three physically hurt by an intimate partner -
not a stranger.

You say 'not all men'
like we shouldn't be scared.
Like we shouldn't be worried
unless it is all men,
when no one would look down on you
for being too scared to play Russian Roulette.
One in six.
Not all chambers in the gun,
but you don't like those odds
when the violence could hurt you
instead of me.

Why can't you see
that in your naivete and ignorance,
you become part of the problem
'Not all men' places the burden
on my shoulders -
not ours.

One in six.
One in three.
But what woman can truly say,
I have never been raped.
I have never been sexually assaulted or harassed.
I have never been hurt by a man bigger and stronger than me.
I have never walked to my car with my keys between my fingers.
I have never comforted a friend
when those thing happened to her.
Wondering as I held her tears when my time would come.
When would it e my turn?
Because walking out the door each morning
is a round of Russian Roulette.

Yes, we hear you -
Not all men.
When will you finally hear us saying -
But it is all women.