Good questions lego.
(1) Actual risk? I don’t think it would be classed as high risk (but still a risk yes) if you were to sit down, look at the statistics and do an actual risk assessment, however the consequences are severe should the hazard be encountered. Perceived risk? Yes, very high – higher than the actual risk.
(2) Again – actual or percieved? I think there are two different answers. Risk of physical harm might be higher for men, but harrassment and sexual assualt much much lower. The percieved risk I would say is much lower than the actual risk.
(3) For me it’s something that should be considered as needing fixed. The labels are a distraction from the issue and can switch people off altogether.
Labelling this as male privilege would be fine in the absence of lots of other (including very trivial) things that get labelled as such. Same as what happened with sexual harrassment. I don’t think many people would start off questioning what is and isn’t sexual harrassment. But now an ugly/older/bald/fat etc man innocently looking the wrong way at a women or asking her how her weekend was on a monday morning at work has been added into the mix, or at least a concentrated effort by some to include it into the mix – people will tend more towards just shrugging off the topic altogether as the seriousness of it has been diluted.
Same goes for male privilege. Do men have certain advantages over women in the world? – most definitely. In this country? Yes, still definitely. Do white people have certain advantages over non white people – yes they do. Do some non white people have certain advantages over white people – yes they do. Do women have certain advantages over men – yes they sure do. Again the term has now been watered down – just do a google search for examples and you will see lists upon lists of trivial crap that gets included under the male privilege banner. You have got to expect people to tune out altogether if they read through some of these concerns – who can be expected to care about the male privilege subject when when things like having access to viagra to aid sex life is classed as a male privilege – completely ignoring the huge and growing inductry aimed almost exclusively at womens sex aids/toys as if this isn’t a thing? Turn it around and try and point out the double standards and hypocrisy then you are part of the problem and now the enemy. Oh well in for a penny, in for a pound and all that.
Far far better to tackle each subect individually for what it is – public behaviour issues, violence, sexual assualt etc without grouping it all together as if there is one common cause and perpetrator.
There is no doubt that such labels are now feely been used as a weapon against one demographic of society. This is undeniable and is not a way to effectivly fix very real and serious problems in society – it can only lead to creating more.