Lately I feel ashamed of being a man. I am also ashamed for all men right now, including myself.

I believe that all people (every sungle person) deserve to be treated with equal dignity, that every person is and deserves to be the moral equal of every other, regardless of anything.

I do believe that and I still believe it. How can I keep repeating those words “equal dignity” or “moral equality” when I see (and it is so obvious) how people treat each other, and, specifically how us men (including myself at times) view and treat women (or even how men think about women and how we express ourselves about them), from the worst examples of violence and cruelty to the more subtle and more understated ways of disdain and objectification, of regarding so many human beings as instruments for gratification or advantage…it makes me feel ashamed of myself and ashamed on behalf of others.

It’s not just about abortion, and it’s not just now that I’ve been thinking about thiss, although this has brought all this to the foreground of my mind much more clearly than before. I cannot (I don’t dare even) express myself publicly about this, for fear of coming off as hypocritical, patronizing, self-satisfied, complacent, or as simply offering more ineffectual cheap talk.

I been shamed into silence by events and at the same times I feel that now more than ever is not the time for silence.