“Predatory Men Can Already Access Women’s Spaces”

Argument Submitted by: D.B., PhD

“But male prison guards are already harming female inmates…”

Or “But predatory men can already go into women’s spaces if they try.”

These are instances of what I might term the Fallacy of Complacency. This type of argument assumes that we should do nothing about a problem or allow a problem to worsen simply because the problem already exists or is perceived to be inevitable. The fallacy of complacency also appears in arguments in favor of the legalization of prostitution when people argue that prostitution should be legalized because it is going to happen anyway.

The fact that a problem already exists does not justify allowing an aggravation of the problem. It also does not justify allowing additional problems to occur. Just because male prison guards have assaulted incarcerated females does not mean that we should also now allow biological males to be incarcerated with biological females. One possible response is to insist that if women are already at risk, they should not be put at even greater risk. Likewise, just because women are illegally commodified and sexually abused does not mean they should suddenly be legally commodified and legally abused.