I thought I knew what I was saying when I claimed that people (men) don’t necessarily have to “respect” women – because that inhibits friendship, and enforces the belief that they are fundamentally different from men, and cannot be treated as similar to.
But I’ve undergone a slight change of opinion. While the above viewpoint holds true in innumerable instances, what also holds true is the fact that women, in equally many situations, do not enjoy the same respect that men do. Eight-year-olds (boys) I encounter do not accord me the same respect they accord my male counterparts. Eight-year-olds think it’s funny to tell girls twice their age how they aren’t “fit to be their girlfriends”.
And if eight-year-olds – normal eight-year-olds, with an average upbringing – eight-year-olds who’ve barely experienced the world as it is – are this free to insult women and bring them down, then things like the Epstein files and online rape academies are no wonder. Call me dramatic, but I think that instances like these prelude whatever’s wrong – two examples are cited above – in the bigger world today.
