Wow…congrats to you all for taking this challenge…and I hope you’ll continue!

But it strikes me that you all must live in a really hostile place…I’m 5' 0", and I’ve *never* been body slammed or checked like you described. Damn.

Maybe it’s because I noticed this phenomenon of men kind of expecting women to step aside at an early age. I guess I have a Napoleon complex, because I said “fuck that!” When I lock eyes with a guy heading my way, I’ll smile a little (Southern manners and all) but make it clear from my body language I’m not moving out of the way.

Human beings are animals. Specifically, we’re social animals — we evolved to learn and follow the subtle signals about how to behave with others. I began studying this in junior high (my big red flag that I might be on the autism spectrum), and deliberately copied the body language of the “alphas” in my school. Stand straight. Speak up. Etc. As Eleanor Roosevelt put it, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

I hope this is the last you’ll have to deal with being body slammed!