What a feminist hears....

When a woman….	And a man…	A feminist hears….
Says “That’s unacceptable!”	Says “You’re rabid/unreasonable”	A woman who is confident enough to demand respect is threatening to me. I will personally attack her in order to devalue her and her position.
Says “My body, my choice”	Says “Abortion is murder/only sluts use birth control”	I will use religion, faux-science, and violence to prevent you from achieving social and economic power. I will do everything I can to disenfranchise you and reduce you to chattel in order to maintain my privilege.
Wears a dress and heels	Says “Wow, you look great/hot/pretty/sexy”	I am titillated by a woman wearing clothes that signal sexual availability and submissiveness. That’s why I didn’t compliment you on all those days when you were wearing jeans and work boots.
Says “I disagree”	Says “Let me explain”	I don’t respect you enough to discuss the merits of your opinion/position. Instead I will lecture you until you agree with me or shut up.
Says “I disagree”	Says “That hurts my feelings/offends me.”	Warning! I am passive aggressive. I will now use emotional manipulation to try to get you to doubt yourself and apologize to me for disagreeing with me.
Says “The proliferation of guns in our country reduces public safety. We need gun control”	Says “If more women carried guns, there would be less rape and violence against women”	You should be afraid, because frightened women are more cautious and timid, thereby reducing their ability to challenge male power.
Says “No means no!”	Says “She was flirting/dressed provocatively/knew what she was doing/in the wrong place at the wrong time”	I may not be a rapist, but I will not condemn a rapist, because rape creates fear. When a women knows that every man she meets could be a rapist, she is more cautious and deferential, which protects my privilege.
Says “Women should have equal pay”	Says “Women don’t work as hard as men/don’t work as many hours as men/don’t take their careers seriously/don’t have to support themselves/take more time off from work”	If you get more, I think I get less. So I will use lies and distortions to reinforce the myth that men are better/more productive employees.
Says ‘No thanks, I’m just not into you”	Says “Bitch/what makes you think you’re pretty enough to sleep with/who do you think you are?”	I perceive that my status in the male hierarchy is dependent on being sexually attractive/successful. I am not an alpha male and your rejection terrifies me with the threat of decreased status.
Says “I am angry/upset/sad”	Says “You’re so emotional/illogical/cute”	Men aren’t supposed to feel/express/understand emotions. Rather than acknowledge that your emotions have any validity or value, I will talk about logic and label you as illogical and therefore wrong in any emotional state that you feel and express.
Says “I need a new alternator”	Says “Leave your car here for two hours. We’ll run a $125 diagnostic and tell you what’s wrong with the car”	My entire business model is built on exploiting your culturally-enforced ignorance of mechanical devices. My estimate will be padded with unnecessary parts and labor because I think you’re too stupid to know you’re being fleeced.
Turns a wrench, pushes a lawnmower, swings a hammer	Says “Let me help you with that/let me do that/let me show you how to do that/don’t you have a man to do that?”	You need to pretend to be weak and incompetent to bolster my fragile male ego, because I base my value on being able to do things that you can’t.
Says “This is what I’ve experienced”	Says “You need to cite studies/metrics/data about that”	What you have lived and experienced has no value. You must offer independent corroboration of everything you say – if you can’t, or you provide a source that I don’t agree with, I will belittle you, Because I’m doing it under the cloak of statistics and science, I’ll get the added benefit of scoring ‘smart’ points.