I agree with you. My take on this sort of activism is this: How Dare You. How dare you take away my agency to make my own choices as a human being. So what if

I agree with you. My take on this sort of activism is this: How Dare You. How dare you take away my agency to make my own choices as a human being. So what if I am 'female'? I make my own decisions. Who my lovers are (if I have any). Where I work (my own choice). What schooling I pursue (my own choice). I will NOT list my traumas or gender or race or disadvantages as some sort of sick measuring stick of worthiness of my right to speech. I will only list my species: Homo Sapiens. If I come across people who are not like myself, my gender, my culture, etc, I approach them with genuine curiosity and openness, and allow myself to be approached. I ask questions. I answer questions. I DO NOT JUDGE. If someone won't talk to me, I will ask someone else, and answer someone else. "No" IS a complete sentence, for all people of all types. So is "YES". Don't infantilize me. Do not try to protect me 'For My Own Good'. Let me make mistakes, let me learn, let me grow. Do not try to batter down holes in institutions to make space for me. Let me earn them. Let me find my own way. You shove me where I am 'needed' as a 'token' anything, and I will suffer the worst imposter syndrome ever. I can't even cheat at card games. Why are you forcing me to cheat at life? If we apply 'For Your Own Good' Code of Conducts, we destroy open and honest discourse between people and replace it with a sick sort of Kafkaesque reality. This sort of 'Righteous Thinking' has given us Residential Schools and Dukhubour child camps in Canada, Magdalene Laundries in the UK, The Spanish Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, Zero Tolerance School Administrations, the School to Prison Pipelines, and Minimum Sentencing Policies in the USA, among so many other examples. The one thread in all these things? 'Guilty if you are Suspected in the First Place' thinking, and the invariable 'Punishment of the Innocent'. Collateral damage, anyone? Michele, I admire you, your hard work, your contributions to the world, (and they are many, large and small!) I also admire your candour, and the fact that you have opinions that are not mine. I cannot live in an echo chamber. Show me new thoughts, new views and new perspectives. I only ask the same of all other people as well. ALL PEOPLE. If we're always safe, we're weak and untried for the true tribulations of the world. With Eternal Kindness, -Anna Vit