“There’s no easy chain email to send to women reminding them that some men will feel entitled to sleep with you if you’re drunk, that some men will coerce you into sex even if you’re not comfortable, that some men will initiate sexual activity and even if you’re deeply uncomfortable, you’re too scared to ask them to stop, that some men feel as though it’s completely fine to keep going even after you say no. That an absence of an answer is not the same thing as consent. There’s no easily digestible version of “Tips and Tricks for Women to Avoid Assault” that covers this material, even though that’s the arena where most assaults actually take place, and that’s because at a certain point, the tips boil down to, “Either you trust no one or you take your chances.”

And that’s where I get really frustrated. All that time I’ve spent walking with my keys in my hand, checking my backseats, knowing that ultimately, the much larger threat was something entirely out of my control.”

On Sons and Daughters.: I Am Begging My Mother Not To Read This Blog