It’s pretty simple: we as men can’t tolerate talk that degrades women. I recently had to get edgy and a bit belligerent in the locker-room of my local gym. Three machismo young men in their early twenties were bantering back and forth talking a bunch of contrived and played-out anti woman nonsense. As the proudest single dad west of the Mississippi my blood was boiling. But when one of the knuckleheads started talking about girls wearing skimpy clothes, liquored up while walking through nasty areas putting a target on their backs and getting what they get, oh boy, things got really testy, really quick.

Standing in my purple boxer briefs and baller socks (with purple, pink and lime colored stripes) I had no choice but to go into Mamba mode. I belligerently and eloquently let him and his cronies know “as the single dad of a beautiful little girl, heinous talk like that makes me want to knock somebody the hell out.” I then gave all three of these clowns a little lesson on the realities of life, the struggles young people (especially young woman) face in the real world, outside the Pollyanna bubble of Bozeman, Montana, telling him he better watch what he says and be much more thoughtful before running his mouth. We cannot accept a culture where young women are objectified by far too many boys/men. It’s long overdue that we as fathers and men of the world unite against derogatory, inflammatory and misogynistic language and attitudes directed towards women.

Fathers of the world unite! Rise up. Man up. Speak up. Then and only then, can we nurture a society worthy of our daughters.

With nothin’ but love,
Michael W. Leach