I was talking to a dear friend of mine who told me years ago how he has been physically abused by his wife and how hard it was for him to share this, because so few people believed his story. Or laughed when he dared to share. Yesterday we talked about how hidden these stories are. He believes it is a lot more prevalent than it seems. People are just to ashamed to share or afraid they won’t be believed.

I recognised his trouble. I was abused by my mother for years, physically and mentally, after she separated from my dad (who she abused as well). In my life I have shared this story to only a handful of people, often being disappointed by their reactions.

What made this especially difficult was how my mom managed to convince me and the people around my family that my dad was actually the aggressor. ‘Woman gets beat up by man’ is just a lot more believable.

In hindsight, it feels like such a twisted dynamic, where my mom as a female abuser used the stories of actual female victims to hide or defend her own abuse.

Of course I do not in any way want to diminish the aggression that women experience. It is a lot more prevalent, and this issue needs all the attention it can get.

I was just wondering if there are any other men here who are victims from female abusers and if you recognise the difficulty in sharing your story as well.

Not really sure where this fits in terms of topic.

My wife and I live in Minnesota, and we can get some gnarly snow and cold weather. This year she had repeatedly expressed desire for a high quality, durable boot for the winter.

I've seen various recommendations but honestly most of them feel astroturfed.

Does anyone here have a good suggestion on a boot that will last, be high quality, and keep her warm in the winters in deep snow?

I don't really have any cool articles about de Laroche besides the Wikipedia page on her, but it is quite good and a shortish read, so very worthwhile. There is also this short article from the University of Houston, complete with a 3-minute audio version.

The week of 8 March is also International Women of Aviation Week, celebrating all the female aviators (people are getting away from using gender-specific words like aviatrix that weren't necessary in English anyway), including Jacqueline Cochran, the wartime head of Women Airforce Service Pilots in the U.S. and who would go on to be the first woman to break the sound barrier; Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, the first African-American and Native American woman aviator and presumably the first licensed female pilot of mixed race to participate in air races and barnstorming stunt shows across the U.S. and Europe; Leah Hing, the first Chinese-American female pilot and who started her own flight school after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931; among many other women past and present who are earning their pilot's license.