Why I’m Here

My name is Scott Gilman. I am a 45-year-old single white heterosexual man living in Austin, Texas. Writing is not my day job; for that I work on the development team of an environmental nonprofit.

They say to write what you want to read. In the wake of #MeToo and our massive cultural conversation about sexual harassment, sex, and really, everything to do with how men and women coexist, I’ve seen scores of powerful, moving, and perception-shaking essays from women on topics ranging from sexual harassment in the workplace to the existence, meaning, and consequences of bad sex.

And while plenty of men have written in support of #MeToo, what I found lacking was anything seriously exploring, from a male perspective, the implications of #MeToo on men. What does it mean to support #MeToo, and by extension, women? Once we figure that out, how do we do that? What about our behavior at home, in public, in the office, in the bedroom, has to change?

How do we, as half the population, contribute to creating a culture that emphasizes equality, respect, safety and authentic autonomy for women? How does our perception of sex need to change so that women and men equally share control and responsibility of sexual experiences and pleasure, free of shame, threats, and maltreatment?

More broadly, with these conversations taking place online and offline, what does…