Sexism and the Missing Step

Writing about sexism can be tricky these days, especially for a man. Women are quick to point out anything that feels remotely sexist to them, so men largely learn to keep quiet on the subject. But I’ll risk speaking up because I see something happening that may be creating a sexist reality. There’s a missing step in relationships, something that used to happen but disappeared, and pointing it out might help.

Hide Your Gifts Away

The Gift. It was a pair of Zuni sun-face earrings. To me they symbolized light and sunshine, a welcome to the Southwest, recognition of an amazing life journey, and friendship. But they weren’t received that way. Instead, they were somehow seen as an attempt to undermine personal safety and pick someone apart. Out of that came an idea for a whole book, or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that I came up with the idea for a new book and then this happened.