There's a knee jerk "that's not me" that comes to mind when sistas complain about how trash men are. Mostly because it REALLY don't be me and moreover, it don't be none of my friends. It's DEFINITELY some men I know but I make it a point to avoid abusers of women.

The association alone is dangerous, I don't act on "it's not me" but I often feel like I'm part of a group and judged by it, that things are assumed about me. Worst of all, that I may be capable of these things simply because of the power of suggestion.

So despite who I actually am, all atrocities men are capable of are in my wheelhouse simply by bearing a penis. That's imposter syndrome & catastrophic thinking coming together. That's the effect being inundated with the idea that you're trash can have. It's palpable...BUT

It's not like women are lying. Who am I to deny their feelings or them articulating their experience?
They deserve to vocalize what's happened no matter how I feel about the "men are trash" motif #onhere

I do think though, that there's only a perceived imbalance. Because most of the men close to me have had a myriad of awful experiences with women that mirror what women talk about all the time.

My niggas have been emotionally & financially abused, stabbed, had marriages sabatoged by bitter exes AND the wives themselves. We talk about these things and I had to check myself after a while and stop telling them "told you that bitch" And consider that they've endured trauma

It never leaves the table or group chat. Therein lies the imbalance. for a cocktail of reasons we don't verbalize what we go through in relationships so we're left voiceless or having our experiences looked at through the lens of Drake or Future and invalidated (with good reason)

Should brothers be more vocal to create balance in the narrative? I'm not sure, it might just manifest the way it does for women; snappy sassy shit that we'd collectively find catharsis with, may be harmful to the innocent...and is otherwise ineffectual

No moral to this thread, Life is just fucked up sometimes. Fin