THIS ICON EXPRESSES MY FEELINGS PERFECTLY
Just went to a College-hosted combined birthday party and had a great time, apart from the fact that ryokophoenix & another College girl and I got into a discussion with one of the guys there, who decided to spend an hour mansplaining to us about how all Australian women are indoctrinated into liberalism (he's Greek), and he prefers feminine women who pay attention to how they look, and our funny little opinions were okay now but just wait ten years and we would want a stable relationship with a husband and BABIES (the fact that both Mel and I admitted upfront that we're kind of pro-children now was ignored). He believes in biological imperative. He believes that his opinions are FACT and ours are just culturally imposed brainwashing and/or will be null and void as soon as our biological clock kicks in. He believes that if we continue to hold these views about men then we will end up alone and surrounded by cats, or else the poor, poor men we end up with will be more emasculated than him. He called us naive, and idealistic, and claimed that having lived in four countries gave him the right to generalise. He finished up by telling us that he was looking forward to going back to International House (his college) and -- DIRECT QUOTE -- all my Japanese and Korean and Chinese girls, who will treat me much better than you guys have, because they're more feminine.
(As a crowning triumph, he also uttered the words YELLOW FEVER in relation to himself. Yeah.)
And then he acted surprised when he said 'Wait, you think I am racist and sexist?' and we said UM. HELL YES.
I am so upset, because arguing with him was impossible, and it was the very first time in a long time that I've spoken to someone and come to the realisation that they believed me to be inferior to them, and wrong, and an object of ridicule.
I'm very lucky. I have a hell of a lot of privilege in a lot of areas and I spend most of my time surrounded by people who wouldn't think to express any kind of sentiment degrading women and who are perfectly accepting of my sexuality. I have quite honestly never come across this kind of concentratedly misogynistic opinion in real life, though obviously I wasn't unaware that people hold them.
And yes, it was exhausting, and infuriating, and I don't want the world to be this way.
For those of you who have to put up with this, or similar brick-wall mentalities in other areas, on a constant basis: I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine how wearing that is.
(As a crowning triumph, he also uttered the words YELLOW FEVER in relation to himself. Yeah.)
And then he acted surprised when he said 'Wait, you think I am racist and sexist?' and we said UM. HELL YES.
I am so upset, because arguing with him was impossible, and it was the very first time in a long time that I've spoken to someone and come to the realisation that they believed me to be inferior to them, and wrong, and an object of ridicule.
I'm very lucky. I have a hell of a lot of privilege in a lot of areas and I spend most of my time surrounded by people who wouldn't think to express any kind of sentiment degrading women and who are perfectly accepting of my sexuality. I have quite honestly never come across this kind of concentratedly misogynistic opinion in real life, though obviously I wasn't unaware that people hold them.
And yes, it was exhausting, and infuriating, and I don't want the world to be this way.
For those of you who have to put up with this, or similar brick-wall mentalities in other areas, on a constant basis: I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine how wearing that is.