I am getting extremely tired of this.

Advocating the use of violence against men in 'retaliation' for a 'history of oppressing women' is not and will never, in my view, count as feminism. Neither does consistently denigrating men. This is not feminism. This is not standing up for equal rights. This is an inane and pointless act that has every risk of perpetuating a mindless, useless cycle of hatred and violence that neither side truly needs.

The concept of dealing out 'retribution' or 'payback', particularly against a broad, general group of people who have done nothing to deserve said payback except for the simple fact that they share one or a few characteristics, be it physical or mental or psychological, with a person who might have had made a victim out of another, is just as disgusting as the fact that someone had been victimized in the first place. Simply put? You do not stop bullying by bullying others. You do not stop sexual assault by assaulting someone in turn. And you do not damned well stop sexism by perpetuating and supporting sexist concepts, regardless of which side of the coin you are on. Painting all women as bitchy whores is just as damaging as painting all men as chauvinist pigs.

Do you see why this is so annoying to me? My entire understanding of social issues has always been to condemn the act and not the perpetrator. Using a negative experience, personal or otherwise, as an excuse to inflict misery on others, as a means of mollifying an old injury, as a method to boost a low self-esteem or ego or hell, even as justification for wallowing in a one-person pity party - that is probably the very thing that should not be done, and it fixes absolutely bloody nothing.

This is neither being naive nor optimistic. This is being realistic. Many of these issues work both ways - men can be raped, women can be sexist pigs, homosexual couples can be just as prone to abuse and domestic violence as heterosexual couples, women can be violent, men can be bullied. The shape and format of how exactly these issues take place can change. But the fact that it happens does not.