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thinking back one of my first memories of experiencing someone like me being mocked to my face was at my extended family's yearly group viewing of peewee herman's christmas special when kd lang would come onscreen to do her bit.
the first time i saw her i was transfixed by her.
the first time i saw her i was transfixed by her.
she was someone i was attracted to and saw myself in. my eyes didn't leave the screen while she performed. i wasn't able to enjoy that moment long before i picked up on my family's highly negative reaction to her.
everyone made nonstop comments about how manly and unattractive she was. they bantered with the kids about whether or not they thought she was a woman. even my gay uncle joined in. this went on year after year
eventually it got to the point where i would brace myself for that portion of the show and even purposefully leave the room for it.
that side of my family was pretty liberal otherwise but that didn't matter to my developing brain which took their response to her to mean that being a masculine woman was something so disgusting that it was outside their realm of acceptance
they've never said those sort of things to me directly and i don't think they ever will because i don't think they think of me that way but i can't stress how important it is to check your tone when judging others around children because they are highly receptive
