Wow, the comments on here baffle me. I just wanted to say thanks for writing this. I wrote an article on here yesterday with similar ideas on how we understand and view powerlessness in these situations, and already there are some people who are flocking to the defense of the men in the interaction, when I think the problem is that we aren’t thinking critically about the larger culture that contributes to this problem. I think that people who criticize thoughts like this are working from the idea that we are villainizing an individual, when the culture is the larger contributor.

Anyway, enough of my thoughts — thank you for sharing your experiences and talking about this. It is brave and productive and it articulates, I think, what so many women, including myself, have experienced but haven’t been able to voice because of worries that comments like the ones below would arise.

Keep on keepin’ on.