I'm Afraid of Men.

by Vivek Shraya

if I make myself the punchline, their laughter will sting less.

Why is my humanity only seen or cared about when I share the ways in which I have been victimized and violated?

The theme of entitlement to space that emerges in many of my recollections of men, and in my own masculine development, is colonial code for claiming someone else’s space. Whether it’s through an emphasis on being large and muscular, or asserting power by an extended or intimidating stride on sidewalks, being loud in bars, manspreading on public transit, or enacting harm or violence on others, taking up space is a form of misogyny because so often the space that men try to seize and dominate belongs to women and gender-nonconforming people.

WOW