I am a woman living in 2018.

I fear for my safety and I clutch onto my pepper spray everywhere I walk.

I see a man and I immediately think of the worst possible outcome — no matter where I am; no matter what I am wearing; no matter who the man is.

And I am not alone in my fears. There are millions of women and men who feel the same way as I do.

And. That. Is. So. Sad.

But something that is equally as sad and talked about significantly less is the male perspective on being an innocent man who scares women in a man-fearing world. This was something I have first introduced to merely a week ago as I was sitting and chatting with a male friend one evening.

How the conversation began is hardly memorable but the conversation progressed and I was told that my friend would much rather halt his travels through a parking garage to make a woman feel safer, I was shocked. I was sitting there, jaw dropped, and he finished his story with a shoulder shrug and nonchalantly put his phone in my hands with John Mulaney's Chase Through the Subway pulled up.

The video is humorous, for sure. John Mulaney is wonderful at making his audience roar at his own misfortunes, and I was no exception to his comedic prestige — I chuckled as the video was making a lasting impression on my psyche. And I was horrified.

I have been that woman. I have felt her fear. I have done the "over the shoulder" and the "picking up the pace" and not because I heard a train or felt it in my feet like the Native Americans do in the movies, might I add.

But, I have never been the one who was scared of making the other person fear for their life.

I have never been the person who was worried about being thought of as a rapist or a "creep."

I have never had to stop my journey due to coincidence because I just happened to be going to the same destination as someone else.

I have never been screamed at out of fear.

I have never made someone run away from me.

I have never been forced into acting a certain way because other members of my sex have tainted the concept of safety in our world.

But men have. And men have to deal with this all of the time.

Which is wrong.

Men like my friend should not have to worry about scaring woman as he travels from building to building because of the men that prey on women in parking garages late at night. Men like my father should not have to worry about being too nice to women because of the older men who use authority as an excuse to prey on younger women. Boys like my little brother--the kindest person I know--should not be stigmatized as a formidable being as he grows up because of the horrible men before him.

Something has to change. I should not have to be scared every time I leave the safety of my home. Hell, I should not have to be scared even when I am in the safety of my own home. And good men should not have to carry the consequences of the cruel and disgusting men that taint the world around us.