“I’m sorry if it offends you, but it’s not nearly as offensive as being told every damned day about my own life and my own experiences and watching that happen to other women as well!”
I’m quite familiar with my own body of work and can say with certainty that I have never once told anyone how to feel or think about their own experiences and life.
“Hold on a minute,” I can hear some male voice saying. “You talk all the time about men as a monolithic entity.” Actually, that’s not true. When I do talk about societal dynamics that involve males, I always say, “some men.” Even in describing pervasive paradigms, I always leave room for individual identity and choices because that’s how I want to be dealt with.
Endeavoring to speak about Republicans, feminists, men, or anyone else as a monolithic entity is simply a defense mechanism that is used to not have to interface with someone as an individual.
No-one is saying that being a man today is simple or easy, any more than being a woman is. We’ve all been acculturated to a bunch of stupid shit that isn’t particularly helpful to anyone, but when you stop worrying so much about who you are supposed to be, you then have the chance to figure out who you really are and to enter into a relationship with other people who like you for that.
