Harassment and Sticking to the Truth
There are tons of personal accounts of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and men just generally being douche-bags and making life tougher for women posted to the internet every day. Many are powerful stories that clearly illustrate problems endemic to modern societies. Others...
If you're going to tell your story, please, please tell YOUR story. Don't exaggerate for dramatic effect. Don't conflate a bunch of small incidences or things you've heard happen to others into a more gripping tale. And for the love of God, please, never make something up out of whole cloth and pass it off as truth for the sake of making a point.
Because, here's the thing, if it's not exactly true it won't sound true. It may even stray into wildly implausible. And that, to me, is unforgivable. You may have the best of intentions, but what you're really doing is trivializing the experiences of real victims and giving your opponents the ammunition necessary for dismissing all such complaints, valid and not, as the imaginings of hysterical women.
Always, always stick to the truth. If you just tell it like it is, that will make your point clear enough.
If you're going to tell your story, please, please tell YOUR story. Don't exaggerate for dramatic effect. Don't conflate a bunch of small incidences or things you've heard happen to others into a more gripping tale. And for the love of God, please, never make something up out of whole cloth and pass it off as truth for the sake of making a point.
Because, here's the thing, if it's not exactly true it won't sound true. It may even stray into wildly implausible. And that, to me, is unforgivable. You may have the best of intentions, but what you're really doing is trivializing the experiences of real victims and giving your opponents the ammunition necessary for dismissing all such complaints, valid and not, as the imaginings of hysterical women.
Always, always stick to the truth. If you just tell it like it is, that will make your point clear enough.