Not this one. No.

I was right. And it does matter. There has to be some common truth of what means what or there's no point.

I will not accept tone policing or being steamrolled out a discussion or being condescended to or being goaded into "letting something go" that is in disservice of the truth.

Truth is bigger than all of us. Opinion is not fact. Adults do not need others to speak on their behalf as they know what's in their head. John Henry did NOT deserve to be infantalized like that. It will never matter what I say. Men will either choose the narrative over what or they will think for themselves. The same for women.

I am not your whipping girl, your excuse, your balm, your sacrificial lamb to restore your ego, your reason for anything, your therapist, your counselor, and I am not your mother.

I am a mother, and you know what? She was not allowed to dump her bullshit on me to make herself feel better either. She wasn't allowed to lie and she had to own her missteps rather than pin them on me for convenience. There wasn't any of this "look what you made me do with my anger" bullshit.

Something else you "don't feed the narrative" advocates are missing is that there's a word of difference between empathy/compassion and mollycoddling.

When you get down to it, you're not asking for empathy or compassion. You're asking for men to be mollycoddled.

Obviously, that's not good for women. It's not good for men either. Since I happen to both like and respect most men well enough, the answer is going to be a firm and resounding NO. And I will not let you gaslight me or anybody else about it regardless of whether that's coming from a place of ignorance, entitlement, or both.