I appreciate your honesty. While initially offensive, the rest of this discussion has been civil and insightful, which I also appreciate.

To the point about lashing out, I admit that it was an ineffective response based on information from a seemingly unreliable source. However, I think you can understand how emotions can get the better of us, especially if those emotions are charged.

If a hypothetical partner was accused of something that directly conflicted with your values, how would you react? For example, you find out from a friend that your partner was accused of sexual harassment at their job a year ago. Even if there is an acknowledgment of doubt, these accusations don’t come out of thin air and then our emotional reactions often supersede rationality.

This is also evident in your initial comment. My assumption is you were driven out of anger which led to you lashing out. In this highly emotional state, you said “Has your Mom read this article yet? Maybe she’ll slap some sense into your slut-shaming head.” You seem to be a very rational and articulate person so this seems very uncharacteristic, but understandable if considering the influence of emotions.