We’ve all seen it, we’ve all heard about it, we all have an opinion on it. But have we all really thought about all angles of the Jordan Neely story?

An article Kate shared with us this morning prompted my brain to go into overdrive. Society’s “#MeToo Movement” currently dictates that every woman who claims to have been sexually assaulted or assauled in general, must be believed.

But as enlightened, forward-thinking, strong women of the new millennium, aren’t there a plethora of females who would also feel urged to step in when an erratic, strange man hurling threats toward multiple people wasn’t in control of his faculties? What if it had been a woman who applied a chokehold to Jordan Neely until he died instead of Daniel Penny? Would there be the same level of outrage? Rioting? Parroting CNN? Would Neely’s family still be feigning concern over his style of living and life choices without the looming possibility of a payout over a lawsuit that should never exist?

No. No to all of those questions. It would be seen as exactly what it was: the protection of others from a drug-addled and mentally unstable adult male whose family didn’t care that he was a danger to himself and others.

Women need to arm themselves, and not just with firearms and tangible weapons of their choice, but with knowledge – knowledge of self protection, knowledge of their rights, knowledge of self-awareness and their surroundings, knowledge of their own strength. Daniel Penny didn’t have to step in to protect the victims of Jordan Neely, but he did, and now it will be his turn as politicians, the media, and society make an example of him.

But what if a woman had done what he did?

Featured image: Photo manipulation/Brand X Studio/used by permission.