Thank you so much for jumping into this conversation and so glad you can relate! I'm currently just up the road in South Carolina and the struggle is real! I also cringe on a daily basis and retreat inwardly more and more as we spiral down this dangerous rabbit hole in the US. I went to a #StoptheBans protest in NC a few months back and passed a lovely elderly woman, easily in her mid to late 80s, fully dressed in a sequenced t-shirt, matching hat, with a protest sign tucked under her arm walking determinedly towards the protest in 100 degree heat. I couldn't help be think that this women has been fighting this oppression for decades, and she still has to do this.

NPR recently did a long segment on the double standard you're referring to, that some men commit abuse, undergo a public repentance and jump right back into public life. While others are cast aside for much less offenses and never recover. Kinda fascinating to look at the factors which determine the acceptance of the digression. I have a friend going through a #metoo situation in the court system right now and it's stunning how rigged the system is against women.

I've also been lucky to never be the victim of sexual violence, but did endure extended periods of emotional abuse from boyfriends (coercion) when I was younger. I never even knew was a form of sexual abuse until 20 years after the fact. I just silently carried the shame and berated myself for it for years. I don't even know if it was considered abuse at the time it was happening, but it speaks to that inherent submission of women that's baked into our culture. And that speaks to your point of the daily oppression that is very destructive on its own. The oppression normalizes the harmful behaviors in so many ways-- and we often don't even realize it. The tiny ways we alter behavior and berate ourselves because of this patriarchal system do add up.

It's pretty amazing that we're talking so openly about these issues now in our society so younger generations don't have to submit to men in any way in order to feel accepted or secure. I look at my friends' teenage daughters, raised by women who supported their children in non-patriarchal homes as much as they could, and see how independent minded and how accepting they are of themselves, their body's and their peers. That gives me hope for sure-- even here in the South! ;)

Thanks so much for jumping in and def continue this conversation!!