Two good observations from John Scalzi on responding to women.
I already made this observation over at Twitter, but it’s worth repeating here, as it has relevance to several current events:
If your response to a woman doing something you don’t like is to threaten her with rape and death, she’s not the problem.
I know. Seems obvious. And yet! Apparently it is not.
Let’s further acknowledge that the scope of this observation can be widened: If your response to anyone doing anything you don’t like is to threaten them with assault and death, they’re not the problem. But let’s also not pretend that we don’t know what the usual vector for threatening is, either.
Likewise, and related, and also with application to several current events:
If your response to a woman is indistinguishable from an angry 14-year-old boy with poor impulse control, reconsider your response.
Again: Seems obvious. And yet.