Hey Sarah, well done for having the courage to write about this, given you'd been feeling afraid to do it. It's a big deal. I'm curious—how do you feel about tackling even scarier topics now?
I'm stumbling into this topic imperfectly here. I definitely feel the overwhelming weight and complexity of gender inequity. And I struggle to know what to say, like you point out.
I felt the weight lift slightly when you started describing real issues that affect men directly—"They want their daughters to have every opportunity. They feel sick hearing about women feeling unsafe walking home."—and I wonder how you might use concreteness like this to invite more men into discussion. Any thoughts?
Thank you so much Harrison, and I need to reflect a bit more on your question... on one hand I do feel braver to tackle increasingly scarier topics, but I did get a backlash from someone I actually know in real life which was threatening and if I'd been feeling less emotionally strong could have really damaged me, so yeah maybe I need to think about the differences in how people on substack respond versus the wider public on a site like LinkedIn! ... thank you, I will ponder and come back to you and the group to explore in more detail I'm sure.
Great job, Sarah! There are some fantastic tips here to help people support the message, I particularly like the one about amplifying women's voices in meetings.
I need to give Invisible Women another read, that car accident stat is shocking!
This is one time where I wish Substack was like Medium ... I would happily take a highlighter/comment to half this article.
Thank you for the courage to write it Sarah. It takes us all to break the mold.
Point in question: Our daughter was starting university in the same year that Brock Turner - the swimmer from Stanford who raped a young woman - was being sentenced. We sat her down to lecture her on always making sure she was with friends, the dangers of drinking, walking solo etc. etc.
"I will listen to this," she replied. "But only if you also have my two brothers also sit through this same discussion. Because every sexual assault happens with a boy who is someone's son."
This is about how we choose to behave and how we stand up for one another. Irrespective of gender. And it will continue until the boys become part of the solution.
Thank you, again.
PS. I have so much more to add from the AI side too!
This comment has given me a lot to think about. I would have said exactly the same as your daughter before going to college (and she's right). Still, unfortunately, exaggerated focus on personal protection is needed now more than ever until we can sort the rest of it out.
Thank you so much Karena and I feel for you having that conversation with your daughter... very much look forward to hearing your thoughts on the AI side, definitely a topic of utmost importance to me both from my day job and passion project perspective!
Hey Sarah, well done for having the courage to write about this, given you'd been feeling afraid to do it. It's a big deal. I'm curious—how do you feel about tackling even scarier topics now?
I'm stumbling into this topic imperfectly here. I definitely feel the overwhelming weight and complexity of gender inequity. And I struggle to know what to say, like you point out.
I felt the weight lift slightly when you started describing real issues that affect men directly—"They want their daughters to have every opportunity. They feel sick hearing about women feeling unsafe walking home."—and I wonder how you might use concreteness like this to invite more men into discussion. Any thoughts?
Thank you so much Harrison, and I need to reflect a bit more on your question... on one hand I do feel braver to tackle increasingly scarier topics, but I did get a backlash from someone I actually know in real life which was threatening and if I'd been feeling less emotionally strong could have really damaged me, so yeah maybe I need to think about the differences in how people on substack respond versus the wider public on a site like LinkedIn! ... thank you, I will ponder and come back to you and the group to explore in more detail I'm sure.
Great job, Sarah! There are some fantastic tips here to help people support the message, I particularly like the one about amplifying women's voices in meetings.
I need to give Invisible Women another read, that car accident stat is shocking!
Thank you so much Claire!
This is one time where I wish Substack was like Medium ... I would happily take a highlighter/comment to half this article.
Thank you for the courage to write it Sarah. It takes us all to break the mold.
Point in question: Our daughter was starting university in the same year that Brock Turner - the swimmer from Stanford who raped a young woman - was being sentenced. We sat her down to lecture her on always making sure she was with friends, the dangers of drinking, walking solo etc. etc.
"I will listen to this," she replied. "But only if you also have my two brothers also sit through this same discussion. Because every sexual assault happens with a boy who is someone's son."
This is about how we choose to behave and how we stand up for one another. Irrespective of gender. And it will continue until the boys become part of the solution.
Thank you, again.
PS. I have so much more to add from the AI side too!
This comment has given me a lot to think about. I would have said exactly the same as your daughter before going to college (and she's right). Still, unfortunately, exaggerated focus on personal protection is needed now more than ever until we can sort the rest of it out.
And - as you said - we need the voices of men to join the conversation.
Thank you so much Karena and I feel for you having that conversation with your daughter... very much look forward to hearing your thoughts on the AI side, definitely a topic of utmost importance to me both from my day job and passion project perspective!