Alan, Thank you for sharing that. It’s sad that you had to carry that unspoken burden for so many years and that the hidden anguish came out in unproductive ways like drinking.

Being assaulted/violated does screw with your head, it did mine too. I was very nervous of men for many years after I was assaulted but never became a ‘man hater’. I had a lovely sympathetic father (whom I never told about the assault because it would have broken his heart and he would have committed murder!), so I knew men could be great. Overall my relationships with men have been positive, I am sensible, avoided troublesome men as much as I could and maybe played rather safe in my choices. I have great sympathy for men though, I see how they are blamed for everything, given little sympathy unless they toe the feminist line and are ‘tamed’ on a woman’s terms. It might surprise you to know that I pay a monthly subscription to an organization in the UK called Justice for men and boys. Look it up, its a political party by a guy called Mike Buchanon. I don’t agree with absolutely everything he says but support his endeavours in my small way.