Something I as a man have noticed personally (doesn't help that I'm about 6 feet 270): Some women are afraid of me. Not because I've done anything to them (I haven’t), but because of what the patriarchy and cruel men have done to women. Men who refuse to look at themselves or address their own stuff.

Many women were wary and scared of men before Trump. Now, a lot of them are terrified. And it makes sense.

I just wish someone could see that I’m not a threat to them. It’s very lonely being an emotionally-aware man who has worked on himself for a very long time and is over 850 days’ sober.

When I’ve shared my creations (guitar, mostly) on Reddit (that account is since closed, for my own emotional protection. You’ll see why I needed to do that shortly), I got called a “bald pedo” and “cringe” etc—these, of course, were by men who didn’t like my guitar playing and decided to take out their own projections on me. I was being my authentic self.

Note: if you want to be your authentic self on Reddit, you better have really thick skin. I don’t.

These men signaled their toxicity to me by such comments and their inability to cope with someone else’s authenticity.

So, back to women. Women don’t typically receive these kinds of comments. They typically receive veiled “I want to f you” or “I hate you because you’re you” comments. The small overlap here is the “because you’re you” stuff—tons of women have vast amounts of emotional intelligence, and this upsets lots of men.

It doesn’t upset me. In fact, I demand it in my friendships and relationships—if I ever have one again.

Patriarchy has poisoned us all.