I don’t stand up for myself.<\/p>\n
You’re probably thinking I mean I let people walk all over me, I’m quiet, I’m passive, I have no self-respect. And if you know me personally, you’re probably thinking that doesn’t sound much like me.<\/p>\n
But there it is: I don’t stand up for myself.<\/p>\n
Today I checked on my hotel reservation for PAX.
\n“Hi Miss Greene, how can I help you?”<\/p>\n
Yesterday I had archery lessons.
\n“She can go first.”<\/p>\n
Last week I went shoe shopping.
\n“You should check the women’s section.”<\/p>\n
Recently I made a new acquaintance.
\n“Girl, you know it!”<\/p>\n
I winced every time – visibly cringed – and I kept my mouth shut.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, if I’m very lucky, these things happen when I’m with a friend, and the friend says something in my stead. My friends are much braver than I am when it comes to my own existence. Why don’t I make the correction? Because it’s easier. Because it’s less hassle. Because I think I’m inconveniencing people. Because saying something won’t stop them from messing up. Because they won’t get it.<\/p>\n
Because I am so, so tired.<\/p>\n
My personality on the internet is pretty unapologetically in-your-face queer. I correct people on Twitter or Twitch no problem. I yell about how gay I am for characters of all genders. And as weird as it is to say this, I’ve made a difference by being that way. Every time someone tells me they decided to accept they were queer, or come out, or start living their truth full-time, I’m grateful I could help them get to that point. I’m happy. I’m proud of them. Trans solidarity!<\/p>\n
And then I log off.<\/p>\n
And I stop speaking up.<\/p>\n
I want to be better about letting people know they’ve made an incorrect assumption about me. I want to push society to a point where this isn’t even an issue. I want to stop experiencing a hundred tiny accidental aggressions every day. I want to stop being seen as “she.” But for right now, I don’t say a word.<\/p>\n
Will you keep standing up for me when I can’t?<\/p>\n
Please?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don’t stand up for myself. You’re probably thinking I mean I let people walk all over me, I’m quiet, I’m passive, I have no self-respect. And if you know me personally, you’re probably thinking that doesn’t sound much like me. But there it is: I don’t stand up for myself. Today I checked on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,63,53],"tags":[156,168,65,154,155,150],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-sfw","category-nonfiction-blog","category-nonfiction","tag-lgbt","tag-nonbinary","tag-personal","tag-queer","tag-queer-life","tag-real-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldottxt.com\/txt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}