You're right, I'm not a troll.

My religion is compassion, and my ethic is civility. To be a gentle, humble, and decent person seems to me the minimum of what we owe our fellow human beings.

What you call the power I derive from the oppression of women is no power to me but only loss. Of course I know that power exists. It harms people I know and billions more I don't know, and it blocks me from the hearts of many I admire. My life is dedicated to resisting it, not by participating in the corrupt system, but by attempting (through my writing) to create a better one.

Thank you also for the conversation. I appreciate being challenged to examine and defend (or change) anything I publish.