It’s been about ten years since I went on a solo hike. It’s not something I regularly do. I want to — I love being alone in nature.
But it can feel scary.
Yes, I’m afraid of bears, even though we don’t have many in this area. I’m afraid of rattlesnakes. Badgers. Ticks. Wasps. I’m absolutely terrified of cougars, which are prolific here.
But more than anything, I’m scared of the biggest predator of them all: men.
I never would have guessed that 2023 would be the year I decided to venture back out into the woods all by myself. After all, I’ve never been exposed to so much violent misogyny as I have these past four years that I’ve worked online. The sheer enormity of it has forced me to face the fact that this isn’t coming from a few angry men — this hate is coming from the majority of them.