If you want a revolution, don't appeal to men in the hopes of getting them to see our POV. Instead, open other women's eyes to the stark reality of dating and gender relations.

I've seen feminists on social media who say that the solution to toppling the patriarchy is educating men about the toxicity of the system, and to make them see how they're also victims of it, therefore, they should help feminists fight against it. They say to:

• Teach men the root cause of female oppression and how women still face a multitude of issues that threaten our autonomy, happiness, and humanity.
• Teach men how we're still hurting even though feminism has made great strides to bring us the freedoms that so many of our female ancestors never had the chance to possess.
• Teach men what male violence is, how men need to keep other men accountable, and how sex work/porn exploit women.
• Teach men that it's getting worse for women out there because of the growing incel and men's rights movements that seek to take power away back from women.

But here's the thing: getting your oppressor to listen doesn't work. You can explain all you want to get them to understand, but it will fall on deaf ears. Just like how your emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend won't listen to you after you told him how his actions hurt you and how he could protect your feelings. He'll just argue with you. Men have a difficult time empathizing with women's plights because they haven't experienced the objectification, prejudice, and harassment themselves. They've gone through their whole life not experiencing what comes with being a woman. Naturally, they assume that whatever we claim to experience must not exist. It's so easy for them to brush off what we bring up. Instead of empathy, we get denials and a lack of an attempt to understand our point of view.

Women, on the other hand, give men plenty of chances, give men the benefit of the doubt, give men the opportunity to explain themselves. Throughout our life, we've tried empathizing with them even though we haven't received the same consideration in return. Men downplay other men's cruelty and women's oppression, but they're so quick to demonize us when we show the slightest bit of resistance to the dominant narrative that benefits them.

Appealing to men's sympathy won't bring us the cultural change that we need. It's not going to stop men from abusing, killing, and degrading women. What will stop it is redirecting our energy in spreading the word as much as possible -- talking to other women about feminism and the nature of men, giving each other guidance that will protect us from abuse and being taken advantage of. Other women are easier to convince than men, because they've had similar experiences growing up. They just haven't connected the dots. Before FDS, I was a liberal feminist pick-me because that was the only brand of feminism I knew, but as the FDS culture began to take shape, my views evolved. I'm not the same person anymore. Just like how pre-FDS, we had this vague feeling that something about mainstream feminism doesn't feel quite right, there are so many women out there who feel these frustrations that they can't quite articulate just yet.

It's why feminist movements like FDS generate such ire from men. We prioritize the female point of view so it doesn't get drowned out by the voices of men. We tell women to put themselves first and to not tolerate low effort and misogynistic behavior. As more women choose to walk away from men who don't add value to our lives, men will feel the consequences of their misogyny.