I like to make excuses for people when they do something wrong or questionable. Maybe if they're "just a little off." Bad phrasing – it's a habit of mine that I'm trying to shake.

I don't always like trying to find the best in others if they really don't deserve that perception. Perhaps it has something to do with my taught obligation to give the benefit of the doubt. Assume that everyone is good because you've yet to meet anyone to prove otherwise.

And on the off chance that you do encounter this type of person, we attempt to qualify it. I definitely don't like assuming that I took something the wrong way or that I'm the one to blame instead, especially when it's someone we thought we knew. God forbid someone we trust. We often don't want to run the risk of calling someone out and being reprimanded for taking something too harshly or having assumed any of their intentions. Suddenly, we're the bad guys for having a guard up. And as soon as it's forced down, we learn why our mothers instructed us to build it in the first place.

And you know what, let's just say I'm also not a huge fan of always having to be attentive enough to steer clear of situations that put me, as a young woman, at risk for being treated less than such.

I'll go on. Since we're on the topic, we can talk about other things I don't like. Jelly beans. Running. Doing the dishes. My boss making a masturbation joke.

We sweep it under the rug because we've been warned by women who have previously been burned to not stick our necks out, put ourselves on the line while, of course, the whole notion of opening up one's mouth in the first place should actually be putting them in such an uncomfortable position.

Those who harass should keep their words to themselves. Those who assault should keep their hands to themselves. We shouldn't feel an obligation to defend ourselves.

We deserve to feel safe or at least to trust that harassment won't be normalized any longer.

Even if we view ourselves as hypothetically combative of sexual harassment, the situations we're often caught in subdue us. Silence us. Bind us in a way that seems to put our reputations and jobs at stake, even if it shouldn't feel like it's us who's on the chopping block.

No, not all men — believe me when I say I don't particularly like automatically approaching any male stranger for the first time with a biased skepticism. It very well could look unjustified for never having met him, but maybe it has a little something to do with the fact that I don't like to smile when another man I've never met before had told me that I'd look prettier if I did.

I don't like apologizing for being this way.

As a matter of fact, for as long as this keeps up, I should never have to.