I am an older woman, and have dressed “down” and worn sensible shoes and avoided skirts and sexy presentation for most of my life. I am married with children and I am respected in my university position. I have covered up my sexuality all my life, because I am afraid of men. No one would know this about me. But the fact that every man is potentially going to to harm me, and is physically stronger than me, and that the system encourages and excuses sexual harrassment, abuse and domestic violence as “it’s none of my business” and “boys will be boys”, means I must regard every single man I meet with distrust. It’s a survival thing.
What if every woman WERE able to smile openly and be welcoming to men without the fear that she would be taken advantage of, labeled, or raped?
It would be a better place. Women could be their best selves. But they can’t, and so the men miss out on some really good relationships.
It is the men that should be crying foul and loudly marching in the streets at the way the senate judiciary committee hearings went this week. Those men (emblemized by Trump and Kavenaugh) are traitors to the male gender. They discredit every man and create an unsafe world for all of us.