Yes, if you meet a bear in the woods it runs away. I live in the country, I've met a lot of bears in the woods. I'm a man, and I'm also afraid when I meet other men. Heck, I'm 6 feet tall and I weigh 220 pounds and other men scare me. I'm also aware that I scare other men though I never try to. My wife has pointed it out to me.

We've got a 100 pound dog so that my wife and daughters can go on walks and feel slightly less terrified. Not all the way less terrified, but a little bit.

But I think the problem is that we're so passive about these institutions that treat women as less than human. There won't be a woman pope because women can't be ordained. Imagine if every single religious leader was a woman. Perhaps there would be more lectures preaching the humanity of women rather than sermons that demand obedience.

When you preach your "right" to obedience, you enable the use of force. That disgusts me.

We aren't supposed to talk about religion or politics in polite company. It's also not considered polite to talk about sexual assault. I think our society isn't going to get better until we start having more of these conversations. I believe that there are a lot of things that we can fix that will make the world a better place for everyone... and we just aren't fixing them.

Thanks for this wonderful essay Linda!