remi-moose: oliveracedavis: laura-thesedays:landlocked-selkie:kateordie:alaskaskellum:Someth
remi-moose: oliveracedavis: laura-thesedays: landlocked-selkie: kateordie: alaskaskellum: Something for my feminist theory class. I’d love to see the reactions to this from a crowd. I can kind of imagine a quiet, solemn understanding from the ladies and a lot of confused questions from the guys… If my memory of art school serves me. In 9th grade English we read Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Speak”. For those of you who haven’t read it, the author makes it abundantly clear that the teenage protagonist, Melinda, was raped, before the protagonist actually says it. Our English teacher asked the boys in the class what happened to Mel. They came up with the most ridiculous answers. Every girl in the class just knew. This just goes to show… Not all men menace women, but yes all women have felt menaced by a man. Every girl understands this because every girl knows the fear implicit in this image. As a trans man one of the most pivotal moments of my transition was when I was walking on a sidewalk late one night and a young lady crossed the street to avoid me. At first I was offended like ‘Hey! I’m not like them!’ And then I realized I have no right to be offended. Some man somewhere, or multiple men, made her feel like she had to do that. And I am a man so from her perspective she had to do that. It just amazes me that I went from being in her shoes to being viewed as the possible aggressor. I have seen both sides. That’s something I definitely want to be aware of when I transition. -- source link