"Not all men," he casually argues, tossing a chocolate into his mouth.

She doesn't blink. Instead, her fingers curl around the box of chocolates between them, and she smiles. "Okay. But if I take this box of chocolates, poison one in front of you, shake the box, and offer you one", she raises an eyebrow, "would you take it?"

The chocolate in his mouth suddenly feels too thick, too sweet. A disbelieving laugh escapes him. "Good lord, you are crazy."

"Oh no no, I'm not crazy," she says trying to fight the smirk at his reaction. "I'm just working with the numbers. When one in four is poisoned, you check every piece."

l excerpts from a novel I will never write

~~~ thenevernovel, Instagram

I am pinning this to my profile. Whenever someone says "not all men", feel free to point them to this post.
@ics "Not all men" only works as an argument if "those men" are actively combating the patriarchy. Just "not participating" means standing by as injustice and harm continue. Most of the time, almost all of the time, "not all men" is just a petty excuse to do nothing and to dodge criticism instead of joining the fight. That's why the patriarchy is still there.

@celeste_42bit "not all men" doesn't work as an argument at all - until that day when women, walking through a park in the night, feel as comfortable as men.

Period.

@ics I was suggesting that patriarchy wouldn't exist any longer, and women would feel safe if all of "those men" would be actively fighting it. It's not happening tho. They're just letting it continue to wreak havoc.