Prompt: What is your worst fear?

My worst fear is definitely men. Specifically, being kidnapped and held prisoner by a man in his custom-built torture dungeon. I fear being locked in a cage and repeatedly violated by some psychopath. I also fear attractive men who try to pick you up at the grocery store by pretending to have a broken arm and then turn out to be serial killers.

I fear being stalked, harassed, doxxed, and threatened, especially online, which I have experienced multiple times. Have you ever had your phone number posted on 4chan and woken up to a barrage of text messages telling you to kill yourself? I have.

I fear men who react with anger when I have rejected them. I fear men who react with anger to the words I write. I fear acts committed in retribution for my stories, such as calling the cops on me and telling them an elaborate lie about me being a danger to children. And how much did it cost me to make all of this dumb, imaginary, made-up bullshit go away? Oh, only about $1700. Meanwhile, the rapist and womanbeater who these lies were protecting got off with nothing and are allowed to roam the Earth free. Fuck men, especially the kind who you repeatedly confront to their face so you can honestly explain your side of the story, only for them to turn around and make up a bunch of crazy bullshit to make you look bad.

I fear being attacked, raped, and killed. I specifically fear being attacked by men I know who pretend to be a friend but force themselves on me when we are alone. This happened to me YET AGAIN recently, when I went to a male friend’s house and he forced a kiss on me in spite of the fact that I have told him repeatedly that I am not interested. Do men care when women say no? Of course not. No doesn’t mean no, it just means try harder!!! /s

I think all of this is very reasonable. After all, men are the worst. This is a fact. If I hadn’t already survived rape and assault, perhaps I would still be naive enough to trust the men I meet. Instead, I look at all men I meet with suspicion. This is a wise choice, as it is only a matter of time before most of them try to cop a feel or make suggestive comments. Men will always find an excuse to ask you to have sex, even if you are doing something neutral like moving a table into a new apartment. They cannot be trusted until after many, many, many rounds of very thorough and extreme background checks. This is just how I feel after living 31 years on this earth.

I also fear living through another terrorist attack, but that’s another story for a different day.