Here:
Woman’s worst nightmare? That’s pretty easy. Novelist Margaret Atwood writes that when she asked a male friend why men feel threatened by women, he answered, “They are afraid women will laugh at them.” When she asked a group of women why they feel threatened by men, they said, “We’re afraid of being killed.”
Unfortunately, this is probably true, though I am no longer so much afraid of women laughing at me. They don’t do it much anyway, but if they did, I would not appreciate it. I would much rather have a woman furious at me, cursing me out, bitching at me, even threatening to hit me or even hitting or trying to hit me in that wimpy way they have than have her laughing at me. Of course I don’t much like men laughing at me either. I don’t like anyone laughing at me. I would much rather men hate me, ignore me or think I am weird than have them laugh at me.
When you go into the World of Women for awhile you realize that they really are terrified of us, and well they ought to be. A woman is no match for a man, and men, most if not all men, have a pretty serious violence potential, even if only in their violently feverish minds. It’s been quite some time since I committed a serious violent act. Another man hit me, so I had to hit him back and a fistfight ensued. Clothes were ripped and my glasses were knocked off. May well have been over ten years ago.
In the World of Men that I live in, I actually do fear most men if not males. I accept that most males have the right to get angry at me or even hit me if I an cruel or disrepectful to them. I also acknowledge that many men may well kill me or seriously damage me if I am too hostile to them. So basically negotiating in the world of Men is all about kissing everyone’s ass, being wimpy or at least avoiding other guys, and trying to suck up to and be as friendly to other guys as possible. Because if I act hostile to another man, his violence potential may well come out, and I have been on the receiving end of lethal male violence a few times in my life. Really now, it is not a place you want to be in, a truly life or death situation.
Now if I am this terrified of other men, my God, how much women feel about us. It must be orders of magnitude worse. And even though I have not committed a serious violent act in maybe a decade, the potential, the brewing and steaming potentially homicidal or assaultive possibilities, have sadly been there nearly every day of that decade.
So I can see why women fear us. I can see why they fear me. They should fear men and they should fear me. Even if the volcano has not erupted in a very long time, it’s usually steaming and sending off ash showers on a regular basis.
We kill women. We try to kill them. We beat them badly. I have already known several women who have had men try to kill them. They are all around 50 years old. I figure if you are 50 and a female, you may well have had a man try to kill you so by now. A few of these women are lucky to be alive.
Beware the volcano!
And sympathy if not empathy at the fragile sex that trembles before it, unknowing, gazing into the steaming cone, trying to read a signal that can scarcely be read amid the noise.
Put yourself in a woman’s shoes for once. They are right to fear us. Become the woman yourself in your mind and teeter in your heels before the glowering, steaming Vesuvius of Man.
