In the short of it … it’s fucking garbage.
I mean, this is what comes from what society teaches boys and men these days? That if a woman refuses your advances to have sex/form a relationship/etc. that YOU as a MALE now have cart-Blanche to react violently and physically against ANY female? And we as a society have to take YOUR side of things, and not the women you threatened/abused/killed?
No. No! NO!
I came from a generation that was raised to be polite to everyone, and to treat everyone — including women — with due respect. I was raised to understand that everyone — ESPECIALLY WOMEN — have an inalienable right to refuse the advances of anyone they do not want to have any form of interaction with (be it friendship or sexual). When faced with such rejection, you learn to take heart and move along, because while one woman may say no, at some point there will be a woman who will find you appealing/attractive and will say “Yes”.
Once I was in a situation where I was attracted to a woman years ago (she was a non-com like me, both stationed at a Navy Base), and I tried many things to gain her attention and affection. Flowers, cards, notes at her work-station with invites for lunch and dinner. I was rebuffed at every turn, to the point she actually came to my work-station (at the Navy hospital) with the bouquet of flowers I had just paid for that morning to be delivered to her. She threw the flowers in my face (in front of every other petty-officer and our unit CO who was there) and told me in blunt terms that she wasn’t interested, didn’t like me and that she was dating someone else.
To my credit, I didn’t explode in anger right then — even though every male in the immediate vicinity busted up with laughter, calling me a “failure as a man”.
I never was on good terms with this particular girl from that day forward … BUT, I never threatened her with violence, and I did my best to stay clear of her from that day onwards.
I am 45 years old now, and to this point I have been in three relationships (none of which worked out for the best), and am still a virgin. Yet, I am not going to blame women for my supposed “shortcomings as a man”.
What I am saying is that I am sickened by other members of my gender who believe that “Being Nice = Entitlement”, and that if you are rejected by a woman that you are the victim in the equation.
To use an old quote … Bullshit!
Due to the terrible event with this shooting, the girl being stabbed for refusing to go with a guy to the prom and everything else, it’s high time the ENTIRE SOCIETY heeds this as a long-overdue wake up call! Male Entitlement and the so-called “Male-Rights” movement needs to be cut off at the quick. Women are not property or required to cater to the appetites and needs of men. Men and boys who feel slighted if their “masculinity” is put down need to learn and learn quick! Being a man isn’t about how many notches you have on your bedpost, or that you “Scored” in life by getting the prettiest girl.
Being a MAN is having enough self esteem and sense of being to know what IS right and wrong where interacting with women is concerned. Just as much as YOU yourself would want others to respect YOUR choices in whom YOU interact with/have relations with, then the same MUST be accorded to WOMEN as well. Being a MAN is also knowing that violence against women — even in the face of social and sexual rejection — IS NEVER THE ANSWER. We as a society and a culture have got to change this misogynistic, outdated and critically-dangerous viewpoint in our boys and young men to stop the cycle of violence from continuing.
To quote the father, who’s young boy was killed in the midst of the LA Shooting, "When will enough people say: ‘Stop this madness! We don’t have to live like this! Too many people have died! … We should say to ourselves: ‘Not! One! More!’"
Not, One, More.
Not one more victim. Not one more woman. Not. One. More.
