But Dave, no one called you a rapist, a pedophile, or a murderer. No one insinuated it.
There's a world of difference between "Dave, you're a rapist. You can't tell me different. You're a man and so therefore you're a rapist!" and "You know Dave, the reality is w live in a culture that condones, promotes rape and then protects rapists over victims. We all contribute to it in different ways. It's in how we are raised. Women are raised in ways that leave them particularly vulnerable to be victimized and men are raised in ways that leave them thinking they have the right to women's bodies and not understanding what sexual consent means or looks like. They are also vulnerable to sexual abuse, particularly as children. Our culture has missed the mark here and it's not been good for any of us. Some of us are trying to change that so people like me don't have to go through life worrying about being raped or assaulted every moment of every day and people like you don't have to worry about being seen as a rapist or abuser every moment of every day. It's a lot unnecessary drama for all of us to have to carry around. It really doesn't have to be this way."
The first one is what men like yourself are hearing. The second one is what feminists are saying.
If you cannot or are unwilling to see that distinction, then go have that beer.
Because Elle Beau NEVER said you were a rapist and she not be held responsible for every undocumented, unverified, unsourced individual uttering on the internet as an individual and more than you can be held responsible for every inane, sexist, homophobic, trash thing that male misogynists levy towards women as an individual man.
What both of us can agree to do, is not let those elements have so much power. We can not promote them, not give them space, not entertain them, we can pressure the platforms to do more to tamp down on nefarious actors, we can support to have abusive people deplatformed or demonetized so they don't have an incentive for doing what they're doing, we can vote in ways that protect marginalized people and for everyone's freatest widespread wellbeing rather than just less taxes for ourselves (or whatever), we can learn about marketing and political propaganda and how it affects the mind so we can better avoid it, we can check some of these people when and where we can, we can even work on being more clear in our own content.
These are some of the things that what collective accountability for collective problems that we all collectively contribute to because we ALL own and influence the culture we live in COLLECTIVELY.
If you can't understand that, then step out of the space and go have that beer.
