Among the reasons I'm Very Online is because I'm aware that I'm part of an outstanding but flawed organization (the US Army) and that I've participated in and benefited from the flaws in that organization. I want to do better, and I want the organization to do better, too. 1/?

Casual misogyny, male superiority and backhanded equality as "culture" has been part of the Army in ways large and small for as long as I've been in. Believing that a woman's attractiveness impacts their career prospects has 100% been part of that. 2/?

Implying an attractive woman getting a waiver/BZ for promotion because "other talents" *wink* is absolutely something I've witnessed, and, to my shame at my own ignorance, didn't address, and likely laughed along with. I'm an asshole, trying to do better. 3/?

Not recognizing this behavior as harassment as a hostile work environment undermines a woman's ability to do her job, helping to create a self-fulfilling prophecy that she can't handle the stresses of the job, stresses I don't ever have to endure. 4/?

And one less stress I don't have to endure is one more stress I can take on and overcome, helping me get a leg up. If you're not taking the time to recognize this, or feigned ignorance, no excuse, certainly not anymore. We can do better, and we owe it to each other to do so. 5/5

I messed up and forgot to include my original point: I'm here to listen. Homeschooling messed me up in a lot of ways, but 2 things it did by limiting how many people I interacted with is I never thought of people as boring, and I never got burnt out on learning new stuff. 6/5

If you think this is virtue signaling, maybe it is. I think it's trying to do a little better, and that starts with wanting to listen to people, hear their stories, and what they took from it, and try to glean some way forward to being a better person, Soldier, and Army. 7/5