I know some people find posts like this banal but I think they are important because they are signs of hope in a journey that often seems hopeless. Both of these things happened today:

  1. In conversation domestic violence came up with a male co-worker and I expressed my dismay at the efforts to conceal male victims and female abusers. I told him some facts about DV being reciprocal and generational and how VAWA is extremely counterproductive to preventing violence and actually disenfranchises male victims. He told me that this was the first time he had ever heard this, and encouraged me to keep speaking out on these issues. He acknowledged a couple minutes later that many Feminists were bullies and tyrants. I sent him a Girl Writes What video so we'll see how it goes.

  2. Got in a conversation with an older female who was asking me about valentine's day. We ended up getting in a long conversation about why I'm not married. She understood my perspective on divorce court, family court, etc. She also acknowledged that Feminists seem to want women to be put on a pedestal, and that this was inherently sexist to both genders. We shared much agreement on gender issues involving dating, marriage, divorce, and child custody. I sent her some related blogs on chivalry and marriage. We'll see how it goes.

I have known both of these people for a year now and they know I am a good, positive guy with good intentions for the world. So I'm sure that helps too.

So all I can say is that there seems to be a growing awareness and even hunger for these ideas and I think if we approach them in an egalitarian manner we may even surprise ourselves about how open people are.