82% of my followers are afraid to share my content, and I am with you on that.
Not only have I never shared a single TheTinMen post on my personal profile, but I don’t even follow my own page.
I mean, I am just a faceless red dot.
You don't know my full name, or who I am; and that, for the sake of my career and personal life, is by design.
So believe me, when I say, I understand entirely the apprehension around these issues, and the risks we all take in being here.
Yes, the things I post can be scary to talk about openly; but let's be honest, they are not nearly as scary as the issues themselves.
The fear we feel speaking out, is nothing compared to the fear of losing a child in family court; or what is felt by the millions of abused men, for whom there is nowhere to run.
It’s scary being here. Trust me, I know.
But not nearly as scary as what happens to the hundreds of thousands of men raped in U.S. prisons, or the countless many boys in juvie subjected to the same.
It’s not as nerve-wracking as sleeping on the streets every night.
Nor as traumatic as having your door kicked down, being dragged into an unmarked van by men in military fatigues, and getting sent to the frontline of a war.
These are certainly difficult, ugly topics of discussion.
The angry messages, dirty looks, and outright hostility you will receive are real, and worthy of concern.
But a baby boy taken from his parents during the first days of life; being strapped down, so parts of his genitals can be excruciatingly sliced off, without anesthesia, is unfathomably worse.
So is being falsely accused of rape, and watching your world be destroyed around you.
Or being a teenage boy, who as a victim of sextortion, is quietly blackmailed into ending his own life.
Or being a young man, given a knife and groomed into a gang.
I know the barriers we must get beyond seem unsurmountable, but they are not nearly as tall as those which entomb the millions who experience these things every day.
So, if you are reading this, then I am sorry, but you are now one of a tiny group of people who are aware of what is silently happening to our men and boys.
One of the few who's snapped out of the societal slumber, and broken the malaise that so much of the world is captured by, and trapped within.
Yes, it is uncomfortable to be here.
But no amount of discomfort is more important than another person's life.
And if we don’t talk about these things, awaken more of those around us, and put our heads above the parapet, then nobody else ever will.
Sadly, it is a lonely journey, but it's not nearly as lonely as the one walked by the men and boys whom we do it all for.