A lot of nuance and empathy in this piece, it’s worth a close read.

As women, we didn’t feel we should have to defend ourselves against such a ridiculous statement, we shouldn’t need an uncomfortable public confrontation; but why did none of the men say anything? This is where it got interesting. They felt they didn’t want to speak on our behalf, didn’t want to be perceived as jumping in and taking our voices. We were surprised, we felt they didn’t have our backs and didn’t see it as an issue. They felt confused as to how to act.

I’ve had similar experiences on both ends of that. Confrontation is wearying so usually I just do an internal eye-roll and move on. But at other times I’ve felt something ought to be said, but thought I lacked the expertise or lived experience to make a convincing case.