Women say what they mean

Many males are under illusions about how the world works. They've never been on the other side of the gender divide, so they think that when women are complaining about something, they are overreacting, making things up, or what have you. After all, the world has always treated them (the males) fairly enough. They don't understand what it feels like to be disempowered and to have one's perceptions and experiences devalued.

With the males I told you I had encountered, they thought it was a game I was playing. I would say it is hurtful to be disempowered and they they thought I was just being ideological, having some fun with abstract ideas.

Unless males can experience for themselves what women are talking about, it is often very difficult for them to understand that this is not a game. When we say that as women we have been profoundly disadvantaged, this is what we have actually experienced. We are not just saying it as a form of power play.