"Not me" is a rhetoric commonly seen when sexist behaviour or harassment is discussed, and a man (or more broadly, a person that has the privilege of freedom from systemic sexism) mistakes the issue at hand as a personal objection to their person (or their gender/sex as a whole), and feels the need to distance themselves from the issue at hand.
It is often seen coupled with the "Not all men" argument, as in "Not all men are rapists, you know. I for instance would never even touch a woman unless she asked me to." This can be a form of cookie-seeking, and even when sincere, reveals a problematic mindset that ignores the following aspects:
- it's not about you
- you don't get a cookie
- you personally are not being blamed
- all men ever as a whole are not being blamed
and often other aspects as well, for instance, misunderstanding the concept of Schrödinger's rapist.
External links
Robot Hugs comic strip refuting the "I'm offended you assume I could be a rapist" rhetoric (TW: examples of rape culture speech)
