This post is different. It’s not about an encounter with a woman. Rather with a man. I always feel that how comfortable you are with dealing with men is an indication of how comfortable you will be with dealing with women.

Anywho, this is the story.

23 year old male here. Currently enlisted in the military. Not the US military FYI. A military of a third world country let’s say. Just doing my mandatory service.

The incident happened when I was in the training camp.. training me to become a soldier. I was head slapped by one of the officers. This isn’t “legal”but officers do it solidiiers maliciously.. and you don’t really get your rights back even if you report it because no one really cares. The only way to gain you rights back is by slapping them as well. This may seem trivial to some of you but in our culture this is a very disrespectful thing. When a man does this to another man.. it means downright disrespect. Of course they clown it and sugar coat it as joking but for me it never is this way. I never allow anyone to get near my face. Period. Joking or not. Well.. until that happened.. i was faced with option of slapping the fuck out of him back and gaining my self respect and most likely facing jail time (because that’s just how it goes.. he’s an officer and im a soldier) or reporting it and not really getting anything but shameful judgements from other men’s face like you’re a bitch lol. I looked the man straight in the eyes.. and demanded an apology.. while almost tearing. He apologized after some discussion. But obviously it’s not even close to getting the respect had so muxh demanded from myself. This happened 4 months ago. I still think about it and how much I’ve failed myself. The way I see it if I can’t protezt myself then how can I protext my wife or kids or famaily from rapists. If i’m just scared to fight them cuz i feear the consequenxes. He apologized.. but I still feel the pain. I always have carried so much pride in myself until that confrontation broke me... cuz till now i still don’t know if i made the right decision. Im basically here asking for your validation cuz i cant find it in myself. I havent spoken word about it to anyone.. and I don’t want to. But I can’t stand the fact that a man blatantly disrespected me and I just took it.