Read on Twitter
Ever since I started more or less reading as female in social interactions, men assume I'll find everything they say interesting. I have yet to get used to this, and it is the most jarring change from how the world used to perceive me.
A lot of patriarchal stuff that oppresses women my cis woman friends had prepared me for long ago -- cat calls, the fear of walking home at night, etc.
What I WASN'T prepared for is how men subtly assume they're the main character of every interaction they have with women.
What I WASN'T prepared for is how men subtly assume they're the main character of every interaction they have with women.
This extends to, like, walking down the sidewalk. Men generally expect women to get out of the way. This isn't aggressive, really. It's just how society has conditioned all of us to behave, and it's hard, hard programming to break.
Realizing you're not the protagonist is hard!
Realizing you're not the protagonist is hard!
Yes, man at the grocery store, tell me more about how painful it was for your mother to give birth to you I'm dying to hear about it and the fact that I am looking at my phone is an indication of nothing no
The flipside of this is true, too: Other women, when I enter into a social interaction with them, give off a sense of _relief_ I can't exactly explain, an "oh thank God" kinda thing. This was one of THE first things to shift, even when I was still mostly presenting male.
In the event that you enjoy this thread and want to read more of my musing on this topic, here's a thing I wrote called "The Protagonists" in late 2018 that never quite got the attention I wanted it to, so why not now??? https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/10/17925740/tv-protagonists-sexual-misconduct-antiheroes
(It was published under my old name, though I was rapidly moving toward coming out, so notice how I dance around ever referring to myself as gendered!!!)
