Menfolk are a danger to women everywhere.
And this much is true in Europe as it is in South America, Africa, Asia and anywhere we live and breathe.
While some blokes are quite keen to exclude themselves from this malaise by saying, ‘not all men’, it is clear that sexual harassment and assault has everything to do with us.
In Palestine, The Republic of Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Kenya, Iraq and Nigeria, rape is as much an instrument of war and genocide as fiber-optic and AI-enabled drones. In ultra-Conservative India, we have seen lots of sexually frustrated men rape and slaughter their victims and here in the west, we have leading politicians speaking and acting with impunity.
During the primary elections season in 2016, millions around the world heard the then Republican front-runner — Donald Trump — boasting about grabbing women by their genitals.
As outraged as many were, his political ambitions weren’t compromised by his umpteen sexual assaults and this was also the case with the former governor of New York state, Andrew Cuomo.
But what took place a few days ago, in my view, takes the biscuit.
We saw Professor Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican president, groped publicly, with the perpetrator exposing the sheer uselessness of her security apparatus in a country notorious for its kidnappings and assassinations.
🇲🇽 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was sexually assaulted on Tuesday, while interacting with passers-by on the streets of Mexico City. pic.twitter.com/8K2u1XMJyl
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) November 5, 2025
That a highly accomplished individual (a PhD in energy engineering) and a world leader at that, is susceptible to sexual violence and humiliation, like many women in disparate parts of the globe, tells its own story.
The story that most women have a great deal to fear from their male co-workers, line managers, cousins, uncles, brothers, fathers, co-tenants, former boyfriends, Incels and neighbors than it is commonly assumed and that a vast number of these assaults go unreported, leaving the victim forever violated and the perpetrator, unencumbered by the weight of their crimes.
To every man out there, this should be a major point of concern.
We cannot rest easy in the knowledge that the opposite sex are targeted in public and private spaces; our task is to ensure that we do everything within our capability to call out fellow men, whenever they step out of line.
This is war which we must win handily and by any means necessary.
We must make our world safe for every girl and woman, everywhere.
Foreign Exchange features op-eds from writers who do not live in the U.S. They offer perspectives without a dog in the fight.