Oof! I wrote a response to you and it disappeared, Michael! Thank you for anchoring me in the sea of defensiveness. I appreciate you reaching out in earnest.

Suffice to say, I agree with you. I LOVE comics — but perhaps this argument is too concise for the broader scope of what it all really means — like you said, change. Our roles are definitely changing. We’re all trying to hold on for dear life and figure things out, but humans HATE CHANGE, so here we all are, in this weird purgatory hellscape of angry defensiveness on the internet hahaha

On that note, I get why “mansplaining” can be offensive. I do. A gender specific negative name is not great. As a lady I think a lot of us just grew up with that though… on the internet and in person a lot of us get called the usual smattering of gender specific derogatory terms (Bitch, whore, skank, the GREAT C WORD, feminazi— and don’t forget all of the female related names men call each other to make them feel weak (pussy, “you throw like a girl”, adding the word “little” in front of bitch haha), I know the list is incomplete, but I hope you understand why it’s hard for me to have too much sympathy (Yes, perhaps I am being defensive myself!).

ALL THIS TO SAY — Words DO matter. YES, this comic probably should have been a comprehensive article and not a 3 minute read. YES, we all need to do better to do LESS attacking, less of this “what about this problem over here instead” and more understanding. I totally sense the hopelessness some of these dudes feel. I feel the same about so many things. I am trying my best to read through these comments without taking personal offense because it’s just a mess no matter what way you slice it. Anyway. Thanks for reaching out. Much appreciation, Sarah