In the wake of last week's California massacre, I've really appreciated reading what so many women have had to say about their horrors dealing with male jackasses. It's been most instructive. And it's seemed to me that the best thing I could do is just STFU and read and reflect and see about opportunities to (1) improve myself in these regards; and (2) become more adept at recognizing and exploiting "teachable moments" in which to encourage my fellow males to try to do likewise.
About the last thing I'd want to do is question any woman's right to express her outrage, horror and anger in these regards. And I don't feel particularly offended or sad when I read over and over and over again what pigs and monsters men have so very often been. Well ... no fooling.
But I should also be clear that I don't consider myself to be any paragon. I've never perpetrated anything remotely close to rape or violence of any kind against any woman (or any male, for that matter), but I'm far from pure. Despite having considered myself a vigorous supporter of women's rights since I was a young man in the 1970s, I know damn well my behavior has sometimes been far from ideal. I'm sure I personally more than deserve lots of the generalized fulmination against male nastiness I've been reading here lately.
So bottom line: I've found what women have had to say in these regards enlightening and helpful. Thanks, women.
However ...
As far as tactics go, is there a point at which repeatedly telling males that we're clueless and that we need to STFU (even though both are all too often irrefutably true) becomes counterproductive? I ask that not a a rhetorical question, but as a totally straight question. Maybe that's not really much of a concern in the scheme of things. Or maybe it is. I honestly don't know, and I'm not sure I'm in the best position to say. But I do wonder if it's a question worth considering.