Too many people want to ignore things which make them uncomfortable. They would rather pretend that they don’t exist. You are trying to supress the experiences of all of the women, and some men, which occur on a regular basis because you are uncomfortable. And by regular basis I mean daily instances. The point does not seem to have gotten across just how mainstream, widespread, and overlooked the level of inappropriate behavior towards the female gender is. Let alone the downright abuse and criminal activity. You would rather that the world focus on the fact that there are some good men who aren’t threatening. Or, you would rather that the world de-emphasize and downplay the fact that men, and sometimes women too, can be chauvanistic, belittling, domineering and degrading towards women so often and so egregiously that the way women are brought up is so different than the way men are brought up in response to these characteristics. You are uncomfortable that we are sharing our suffering. So you want us to be silent and pretend that we are not suffering. So that you won’t have to suffer on a much smaller scale.

You know what sort of man you are. You have the luxury of knowing what goes on inside your mind, what you are capable of, what you are not capable of, what you have done, what you have not done and what sorts of things tend to provoke an emotional response in you. But how is anybody else to know whether you are friend or foe without knowing you. I’m sure your response is that you should be given the benefit of the doubt. The problem is that in the case of a woman deciding if a man is safe or harmless, it’s more than just a matter of doubt. There’s so much proof from constant encounters with other men which shows women that men are more likely to be harmful than harmless.

You likely don’t hear, the harsh warning from each and every one of your friends and family members.

“Be Careful!” Every time you leave your residence alone after dark.

“Be Careful!” Each time you chose to travel alone.

“Be Careful!” Any time you decide to go on a date.

“Be Careful!” If you ever think to meet a stranger, even in public.

Your life hasn’t been super-charged in fear. More than likely, instead, you’ve been taught that you are invincible. So it is somewhat understandable that you would dislike hearing anything which might feel directed towards you unfavorably as a man. But those who are bravely and stoicly standing up to share their experiences of what it’s like to live as a female are not exclaiming that they feel that ALL men are monsters. You seem to misunderstand and believe that society, women, or both have a feeling that men as a whole are scary, undeserving of trust, chauvanistic, and essentially potential rapists. Just because each mention of an unfortunate encounter does not also mention that contrarily a person has had wonderful encounters and can list all of the great things in contrast to the harsh subject which they are writing about does not mean that the writer isn’t aware of and/or supportive of them. It is important for audiences to understand that there is always more to the story.

The fact that you feel uncomfortable, in this instance, is a good thing. Turn your displeasure towards your fellow man and help change the behaviors which are rampant and all too easily tolerated and swept under the carpet. I’m sorry if that is the feeling you have, but I’m not sorry at the same time. You are showing how it is crucial that we absolutely DO NOT STOP sharing our experiences. And in fact, we need to turn up the volume and do it more. You shouldn’t be asking anybody to be silent about their experiences or to overlook the fact that there are an overwhelming number of inappropriate occurrences compared to the acceptable ones. That makes your behavior in itself inappropriate.

You should dislike when you hear how your grandmother, mother, aunts, cousins, sisters, friends, co-workers, daughters, and friend’s female family members are treated every single day. It should make you so uncomfortable that you should start telling both males and females to STOP when they tell jokes, make comments, gestures, and/or do anything at all which is disempowering, belittling, or overtly sexual towards another person. But do not mistake who is being harmed, who is in need of uplifting, who is at risk and who needs to be encouraged to do better, merely because you feel discomfort and you feel that the path of least resistance is to squelch us rather than to work on fixing the real problem. At least not if you want to be taken for one of the good guys.