You are a woman of great insight, Tax-chick.
Thank you. I like to think that, at least, I develop some thoughtful conclusions after pondering all I read.
Like you, I’ve lived my life among men and women who have rumbled along more or less amicably, all things considered. The posts about women here - equal parts fear, loathing, and contempt - are like nothing I’ve come across in my real life.
However, it is the environment many teens and young adults are in. Many of them do not view the opposite sex as “persons,” really, merely as sexual opportunities or sexual threats. For example, in one book I read about teenaged girls’ use of social media, middle school girls reported that a male classmate would text them to ask a question about an assignment, and if the girl responded, the next text would be, “Send nude pix?” or “Buttsex?”
I have to laugh at the men our age (I guess ... FRs demographic skews late-middle-aged) who complain that women are fat and covered with tattoos. “Don’t they realize we don’t find that attractive?!?” Yes, they do ... and they don’t care.