“Are you gonna move?” He asks two women parked next to me at the crag as he leans out of his busted van. “I’m a local.” As he moves past the men standing in the parking lot, he shifts his focus onto me and he asks again - “So...are you gonna move?” My eyes harden as they look past the other two men chuckling in the vehicle to meet his. I ask him plainly, “What gives you more of a right to be here than I do?” He scoffs as his van rolls forward to park in an open space just a few cars down. A man approaches me and proceeds to excuse his friend’s behavior because that is “just how he is.” Another man overheard me talking about the experience and asked me to “leave him alone.” In just the past two months, standing up for myself in various cities, towns, and crags has led to being harassed, called a narcissist, having a lit cigarette thrown at me, being told I was a f*cking c*nt, and being asked to leave a crag because I was an “outsider.” You’d think we would be done with all of this in 2022 but all around me I see women being talked over, paid less, and generally being undervalued. Not to mention women’s and trans rights have been stripped from them by men who know nothing of their experiences. It feels like we are sliding back into the early 1900’s. Ya’ll it is beyond infuriating, it is scary. Words matter. Supporting someone who perpetuates the silencing and labeling of women is saying something. Laughing it off is saying something. Making excuses for someone is saying something. Saying nothing is saying something. It not only perpetuates harmful behavior but it also invalidates the folks on the receiving end and deepens their trauma. I know we can do better. ****to clarify, this was NOT in Ten Sleep! 📸: @bentommat #humanrights #crushthepatriarchy #speakup