I'm a Wyoming girl, born and raised, and she is not wrong. The southern part of that state is mind-numbingly boring to drive through. You know it's bad when the monotony of the landscape is only broken by the occasional rock formation and old prison.

I'm sure that they feel super welcome, too, after being publicly shamed.

I can appreciate that you don't want your church to get an unfair rap, but this is what excommunication is meant to do, whether shunning is explicitly stated as a rule or not. You are publicly shamed. Some individual church members may shun you and some may not, but you are still "marked" as a person who could be…

I'm glad to hear that isn't the case for everyone. I know quite a few people (I'm in Idaho, if that makes a difference) whose families won't have anything to do with them.

Then you have been very fortunate. I have several Mormon friends whose families do not speak to them at all.

If they throw out the old playbook that says men are superior to women and women exist solely to pop out spirit babies, what does that leave them with? Not a whole hell of a lot. Sexism is so deeply entrenched in the very ideological fabric of most religions that it would be impossible to excise. If you take out all…

That is very exciting, and I am very pleased for you. I just have my doubts about religion changing their doctrine when it is problematic. Are they going to stop teaching that Eve was the cause of mankind's fall from grace and that the wife should be submissive to her husband? The problems in any given religion go a…

Excommunication means that your family and friends within the church are no longer allowed to associate with you at all, lest they be tarred with the same brush. That's what makes it difficult for people. It's meant to break your spirit.

You're not going to change a patriarchal religious institution whose entire ideology is founded on the subjugation of women and the superiority of men. Pretty much every religion there is would rather slowly dry up and disappear than admit that they are wrong and need to evolve with the times. I suggest that if you…

But it's all part of the same cultural "soup" that we are all soaking in. Smaller instances (like unwanted touching, cat-calling, etc.) are connected to the more serious things (like rape and murder) because they are all indicative of a culture that sees women as objects for mens' gratification. You can't ignore the…

Because my mommy told me to stand up for myself and demand my rights as a human being- not ask for them nicely. That's why they're rights, not favors or privileges.

Regardless of your gender identity, an ally in this context would be anyone who does not harass, assault or rape women but still wants to do the right thing and intervene in/prevent such things from happening, either by confronting such behaviors when you witness them or addressing the cultural attitudes that shape…

Let me put it this way: if you are the kind of "ally" that holds the view that it's your duty to help prevent harassment and assault only if women ask nicely enough and try very hard not to hurt your feels, then fuck you. You're not an ally. You never were.

Again, I'm not sure that's what's being compared. Obviously one did something wrong and the other had something wrong done to them. The point that I thought was being made, and that I agreed with, is that children should not be tried as adults.

Duly noted. I've encountered trolls before, but I have to admit- that was a first for me. The fact that someone has a cache of photos like that on hand makes my flesh crawl.

To whomever dismissed that disgusting troll, my undying gratitude.

Unless you personally harass or assault women, I don't see why you would feel bashed. Decent people everywhere agree that this behavior is not acceptable. It seems like their issue is that women are speaking out about it. That is very telling.

The hashtag is accomplishing exactly what it was meant to accomplish: people are sitting up and taking note. Reactions may vary, but we definitely have your attention now, don't we? At any rate, the hashtag campaign is not meant for men who harass and assault women, but for a) other women who have gone through the…

I loathe the term "product of rape". Like rape is an assembly line that produces babies.

The only thing being compared is age and how the law treats one and not the other. Personally, I do not believe that people under the age of 18 are old enough to consent to sex OR be tried as adults for murder. If the law recognizes that one (a victim of molestation or sexual assault) lacks the maturity to make an…