Take a drink every time one of these things happens on your stories. (It doesn’t have to be alcohol; you can do coffee too. That’s what I’m doing. For now.)
Man responds to your thoughtful piece about gender issues by warning you to look out for “assholes” while insisting to you that he’s a “good guy”
Man insults you and the men in your life while asserting that he is, by contrast, a “real man” or a “good man”
Man responds to you baring your soul about your abuse or sexual assault by asking why you hate men or why you jumped on the #MeToo bandwagon
Man responds to your essay on pop culture by accusing you of making some popular TV show, movie, or song all about women’s victimhood
Man “helpfully” suggests you look up some book or movie that tells you how much worse it is for women in other places
Man insists that well actually, men have it much worse than women
Man regurgitates your core argument and pretends that he has to explain it to you
Man ignores your carefully cited sources and dismisses your research as “anecdotal”
Man comments some variation of “not all men…”
Man leaves a rant about feminism totally unrelated to the topic at hand
Have fun! And remember, not all Medium commenters are like this…but enough are that you can play the game for awhile.
P.S. Feel free to add more in the comments!
P.P.S. I’m looking forward to the responses on this piece that provide further opportunities for me to take a drink.
