I Pick the Bear
Harassing women, early-stage stalking and the poor judgement associated with radical Zionism
There’s a trend on TikTok where women are asked if they’d rather be alone in the woods with a bear or a man they don’t know. Not surprisingly, most women pick the bear which has drawn criticism from men of the “not all men” variety.
I too would choose to be alone with a bear rather than take my chances with a strange man alone in the woods. I was reminded of this fact yesterday when I was harassed and stalked by a man on LinkedIn. My “bear” is named Matt Schwartz, and he’s a partner and US Finance Practice Group Leader at DLA Piper, the third largest law firm in the world.
First, my rationale on the bear-man conundrum and then more insight on Mr. Schwartz.
The bear is supposed to be in the woods. He lives there and has no ulterior motive in being there. Technically, I’m in his home, interrupting his day. While the man might just be hiking like me, he’s equally as likely to be hunting for women to harass, assault or worse. Don’t believe me?
The statistics make that bear look downright cuddly in comparison. Ninety percent of people who commit violent physical assault are men. Over 85% of the people who commit murder are men. According to National Crime Statistics, almost all of the people in prison – 99.8% -- convicted of rape are men.
Likewise, men perpetrate 95% of all serious domestic violence. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 95% of reported assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men against women. Sadly, an estimated that 1 in 4 men will use violence against his partner in his lifetime.
Frighteningly, per the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), 1 in 3 women have been stalked at some point in their lives compared to 1 in 6 men.
The array of things a man might do to me alone in the woods is vast and terrifying. The bear is unimaginative: kill and eat.
Unlike the man, the bear won’t make any “harmless” overtures to me on my hike. He won’t make me feel threatened by asking to join me or call me a bitch or a slut when I say no. He won’t follow me or chase me just to make a point. Nope. The bear is a two-trick pony: maul and kill.
And even then, our chances of getting killed by a bear are extremely slim. Black bears have killed 67 people across North America since 1900. They’re are generally shy and avoid humans at all costs. They don’t go looking for women to prey on. Human men do.
That leads me to my bear, Mr. Schwartz.
Yesterday, I shared this content on LinkedIn where I have just under 35k followers. It’s the updated statistics on the Palestinian genocide and occupation from Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in Geneva, an independent, nonprofit organization for the protection of human rights. Euro-Med is a respected organization that observes and documents violations of human rights.
Mr. Schwartz took issue with my post and left a comment full of vitriol. For the record, I do not know Mr. Schwartz. He’s not a professional or personal associate.
Nonetheless, he felt compelled to accuse me of being a propagandist for terrorists and questioned my standing as a feminist. He relied on the all-too-familiar trope of the people I was advocating for being rapists who treat women poorly.
Given the level of venom in Mr. Schwartz’s comment, I was curious to see who he was. I looked at his LinkedIn profile and was stunned to see he’s a high-ranking partner with DLA Piper. He’s been with the firm for 20+ years. He’s also a proud baseball coach and has won numerous accolades and awards as an attorney.
Additionally, it would appear Mr. Schwartz has a problem with his ego and women who tell him no. That makes me wonder about what it’s like to deal with him in a professional setting. When a female associate tells him no, is this the type of response she can expect?
Hint for all you men who are scratching your head right now: when a woman (or anyone) deletes your comment and blocks you on social media, she has unequivocally told you no. She does not wish to engage with you. Do not pursue her in any manner. To do so is stalking.
As a former CEO for private equity portfolio companies and a Fortune 500 executive, I’m familiar with the DLA Piper’s work. I know from the firsthand experience of leading executive teams how destructive a senior employee with poor judgment and self-control can be to an enterprise.
DLA Piper is a gold-plated Big Law firm with over $3 billion in annual revenue. In my experience, most of those firms value their reputation above all else. Having a partner throwing a tantrum on a professional networking platform is a massive liability.
I’d love to share Mr. Schwartz’s comment with you verbatim, but I deleted it and blocked him immediately after reading it and reviewing his profile.
As an influencer who is a human rights activist and intersectional feminist with 200k+ followers across social media platforms, I frequently receive abusive and unprofessional comments on my social media platforms. I’ve found that the best policy – especially when the commenter is a man – is to not engage, delete and block. It’s akin to walking back to your car to escape the creepy man in the woods in our man-bear scenario. We women learn this as young girls: don’t engage with angry men. It’s a safety precaution, as angry men often hurt women.
Imagine my shock when I received an email at my business address from Mr. Schwartz. He was smart enough to send the communication from his personal email account, but it’s a damning email nonetheless.
In it, Mr. Schwartz called me a coward, accused me of anti-semitism and admitted to making a comment that led me to delete it and block him. He tells me I should be ashamed of myself for “supporting terrorist rapists who use women and children as tools of terror.”
For a moment, I had to remind myself that Mr. Schwartz was talking about Hamas and not the IDF. Then I remembered that Zionists’ humanity only extends to people who are like them and not the 15,780 Palestinian children or 10,091 women murdered by Israel and the US.
I responded swiftly. And yes, I cursed in my response, and I meant it. If you’re pearl clutching about my use of bad language, I’d ask you why a man threatening a woman doesn’t trigger your righteous indignation in a similar way.
This is an allegedly professional man who’s throwing rape in a woman’s face – a woman he doesn’t know and who has clearly communicated she does not wish to engage with him. And this was at 2:18 PM on a Tuesday in Mr. Schwartz’s time zone. Imagine being a big-time attorney and taking time during what is presumably a work day to harass a strange woman from your personal email account online in a professional networking platform.
My crime? Disagreeing with an indoctrinated, entitled, white man who has no self-control and far too much anger.
This is the delusion, hostility and violence of radical Zionism. It operates on threats, control and lies, a well-worn playbook since the beginning of time. And no, it is NOT anti-semitic to call out a world view that kills and maims innocent civilians with impunity. Plenty of brave Jewish people are speaking up against this genocide and occupation and standing on the right side of history right now.
Unfortunately, Mr. Schwartz is not one of them. My purpose in writing this is to assert that I will not be stalked, bullied and harassed into silence and complicity. What the leadership at DLA Piper chooses to do with this information is on them. I know what I would have done as a former CEO.
It's [a whole slew of words] that he took time out of his work day to find your personal email!!! I don't have that kind of time (I'm at the end of my lunch break here). That's A LOT of effort when he should have been working. And just to antagonize you!! It's sick.
I have 2 daughters and a son… what I worry about with my daughters is men… what I worry about with regards to him is his actions.
That said, while I agree this guy’s behavior was unprofessional and unacceptable, I would have to say your email response and then posting it here wasn’t very professional either.