I was invited to attend some online conference, which conference described itself as “a safe space” to talk about whatever bullshit the conference was about.  I immediately deleted the invitation.  Despite their invitation, they really don’t want me there.
Chief amongst my very few fears is ever being labeled a “victim.”  I have an active fear of someday being interviewed on TV because I was present at some catastrophic event and having the Chyron underneath my name say “Victim.”  I would sue the network.
I think a certain (embarrassingly large) segment of American society has it’s entire identity wrapped up in victimhood.  If you take away their identities as “victims,” there’s not much left.  And it people who have been taught and then bought into the notion of victimhood who need to be told by someone else that a certain space is “safe” in order to even consider going there.
Understand that I’m not talking about actual victims of actual trauma here…I’m talking about the delicate little entitled flowers who were raised playing scoreless sports and are now operating under the delusion that the world must bend around their delicate sensitivities so that they never ever be Offended (gasps…clutches pearls).  People whose most significant trauma to date has been the cancellation of SXSW this year.
More often than not, when some entity labels a space “safe,” that merely means you won’t be exposed to any opinions divergent from those of the organizers because differing opinions will not be tolerated.
I would think it would be extremely “empowering” (another term I loathe (because if you are “empowered,” what power you now have was given to you…it wasn’t yours in the first place, it had to be given to you by someone else, which is not real power at all, is it)), to know that whatever space you inhabit is a “safe space.”  You do this by knowing (not telling yourself, not listening to those idiots on The View, or The Talk or Oprah or whatever) it is safe because no matter what anybody says, you are unaffected.  Knowing that no matter what anybody says, you can defend yourself and your ideas and easily demonstrate why the opposition is wrong, embarrassing them in the process if you think that’s what the situation calls for.  And if you can’t do that, maybe it’s time to reexamine your ideas.

N.P.: “Saladin” – Hybrid