Me too, for knowing all too well of my complicity with this sin flashing across my social media.
Me too, for wanting to be among those men who rush to proclaim a state of innocence with their silent response.
Me too, for noticing the silence of men during this campaign and refusing to hold them, and me, accountable for embracing muteness.
Me too, for being insufficiently critical within a culture which objectifies women, which profits from young female bodies driven to unnatural states of health and commercialized product poses.
Me too, for my silence in locker rooms where talk degrades the intelligence and giftedness of women by reducing them to mere body parts.
Me too, for my cowardliness when witnessing catcalling and saying nothing out of fear of being considered “less manly” by companions.
Me too, for uncritically preaching from a text where women are reduced to property, offered up to save men’s lives, and whose only purpose is procreation to further man’s lineage.
Me too, for benefitting from being part of a culture which implements that text, allowing their sexual abuse to continue through institutional silence, and their economic abuse to continue through lower wages.
Me too, for benefitting from a system which places obstacles in front a woman’s right to make safe and healthy decisions about her body and family planning.
Me too, for refusing to hold the majority of white women who voted for and defended a sexual predator accountable — not just 45 but also 42.
Me too, for forgetting racism and classism are products of sexism, the attempt to make all — including males — effeminate for easy mounting and domestication.
Me too, for living into the construct of “manhood,” as domineering, aggressive, braggadocios, and emotionless — as opposed to creating and participating in a more humane counter-narrative.
Me too, for being unable to provide the emotional support my mother needed, as well as other women close to me, when they shared their stories of abuse, but instead, cloaked myself in righteous indignation that one of “my women” was trespassed.
And finally, simply me too — for I know all too well how young boys are also victimized by a culture which is silent and silencing regarding their sexual abuse.