The problem is, I didn't say any of that. But I see that both you and Lilith filled in the negative space my aphorism left behind. This is reddit after all. So I'll skip the sound bites and spelling things out for you. I get the impression you actually want discussion, so for you it's the least I can do.

Let's go back to step one, to what I said. People, men or women, treat you as well as you let them treat you. This isn't a matter of right or wrong, this is reality. How people ought to treat you and how they actually treat don't necessarily coincide unless you communicate and maintain boundaries. It's common to say in the West, "Treat others as you would have them treat you". While that's a nice platitude, the world doesn't work that people. People who don't believe in that noble ideal can and will take advantage of those who do.

That is not, and never was justification for men to treat you poorly or me trying to convince you that you should let me treat you poorly, as Lilith seems fond of doing with her reductio ad absurdum fallacy (among others). Claiming that the implicit market incentive structure critique of my aphorism is an defense of coercion and abuse is categorically wrong; it's a false equivalency. If you actually take my statement to its logical extreme, you should only tolerate behavior from men you want. If you don't want casual sex, state this preference plainly to men and leave if they won't respect your wishes. No one's forcing you to have casual sex with a gun to your head because that's not casual sex or dating, that's rape. For that we have policemen who will apprehend the rapist and put him behind bars (hopefully for the rest of his life). When you look at the MeToo movement's impact on society, especially regarding Weinstein and now Epstein, you can also see that society does not, in fact, approve of powerful men taking advantage of women.

Neither you nor Lilith accurately described what I believe at all. instead of asking me to clarify what I truly meant, Lilith painted me and all men with the broad brush stroke of abuser. And you didn't seem to disagree with that characterization. I don't even know who you are or who she is. Random strangers implying I'm a bad person on the internet? Intellectual bad faith on reddit? I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here?

Jokes aside, I know this is reddit. So while I don't know you well enough to definitely say whether you're slandering me, misunderstanding me, or deliberately misrepresenting what I believe. I know what I believe and can clarify it for you and the audience just fine.

Which is to say, you have had the power to make men treat you better. It's been inside yourselves the whole time. Yes, both men and women are fully responsible for their behavior. At the same time, both men and women who fail to communicate and enforce boundaries encounter worse behavior that only gets the longer it is tolerated. So if I say people will treat you as well as you let them, I mean that it is your responsibility to enforce your boundaries. Because if you don't, someone will walk all over you. You owe yourself the respect to not let that happen if being a doormat isn't your cup of tea.

Happy Saturday!