SC
2 min readJul 3, 2023

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In that case, you already have your answer. Society has already decided how to handle that.

You blame the men for picking bad women just as society continues to blame women for choosing bad men.

Whatever happens we will not address bad faith actors who play with people's emotions and jerk their hopes around. We will blame the victims. We will not self reflect or consider the ways we contribute to an environment of romantic exploitation or how we think about ourselves and each other also contributes to normalizing poor gender relations, fostering an environment that allows the bad actors to thrive over everyone else, and even elevating ideas that prevent us from connecting with one another.

When I was a young woman, the constant refrain from men to criticism of dating dynamics and calls to make the dating environment better was always "don't hate the player, hate the game" and "She's no innocent. She knew what she was doing. Personal responsibility."

You can feel a vague sense of pity that things are so bad for these guys though. Never let that thought crystallize into genuine action though. After all, you might be falsely accused as a result.

These are the rules set forth by our predessessors. They will not change unless we change them. That's going to require thinking about greatest widespread well being for ALL our neighbors at least as much as we think about what benefits ourselves in the moment and on an individual level.

If you're not ready to really and truly do that, then your only options is familiarize yourself with the rules. I should caution you though, that the ability to bond is predicated on trust and that will be in very sgort supply in such an environment. You're going to have to work for it, it won't be automatic. You're also going to have to test for it, it won't be readily forthcoming as a first move.

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