44. Be courageous. Listen first if you want to be understood

This week the GYST Life gets down to real life as we talk about; what women really want.

We don’t mean the Hollywood cliche context of what women want. We mean how the fuck do we start having real conversations that actually work to build and repair trust. Sexual misconduct in celebrity land and the ME TOO movement sparked a new level of awareness around the power struggle between men and women. Is this having the positive effect it was intended to have?

Men, what if we started talking to other men, and women what if you started talking to women about how we can honor and respect the opposite sex? Here’s the thing guys... women have let me know they experience fear for their physical well-being almost daily. When is the last time you were physically afraid?

Maybe you have a daughter or a sister. Are you aware of the concerns they have about their physical well being? And that it is very likely they are afraid of something? Do you know what that is for them?

Physical harm has occurred to women in all the places they go, school, work, even family reunions. The reality is these things are happening and it can be so subtle, that sometimes even the victim isn’t even fully aware they were abused. It’s scary shit to bring to light.

Every woman we’ve spoken to has experienced some kind of violation. Not all women talk to each other about this and many men have no clue.  What would be possible for the world if we had the courage to have the uncomfortable conversations at the "you and me" level about these large-scale social issues? We dare to say, meaningful conversations have the power to transform the world.

We need to stop pointing fingers and making people or the opposite sex wrong, We need to stop making the issues about ME, we have to stop polarizing social media movements which drown out the voice of the individual, we need to listen and work to understand the opposite sex.

This is a conversation about responsibility rather than blame. This isn’t men vs women, this is about men and women and how can we be better for each other.