#testosterone: week 51 I slide into the train, nearly colliding with a group of revelers. One is dre
#testosterone: week 51 I slide into the train, nearly colliding with a group of revelers. One is dressed as Beetlejuice, with vivid violet eyeshadow, a bald wig & mouth sores. After catching my breath, I plop down & compliment Beetlejuice. Faux pas to talk to strangers on the tube, but she seems delighted & asks where I’m from. Emboldened by my success, a drunk man across the aisle leans over a seat to chat up her friend, a loud redhead with bright smudged lipstick. Our awkward friendly chat is interrupted by Red’s obvious discomfort. She calls the man dull & asks him to please fuck off. I slide into the seat between them. For a moment, it works. Red adds a few parting insults before turning her attention back to her friends. The scorned drunk starts insulting Red to me but I insist we charge the topic. He’s trying to engage, but I’m laughing Beetlejuice’s joke. The wounded ego can’t take it & in a fraternal whisper, he calls the women vapid. My patience snaps & I turn, looking him in the face as I call him a misogynist. He reels as though slapped. Unfortunately, this turns attention back to him. Red gets up to give him a piece of her mind while the third companion, a round girl with long dark hair & shimmering eyeshadow, quietly takes pictures. Red sits but the man lurches forward, getting into the photographer’s space as though about to kiss her. I leap up, sliding between them, pushing him backward with my bulk. I fail to make him leave but something magical happens: a quiet pink-faced man joins us. He stands in front of the drunk, the two of us forming a wall between him & the gals. For the rest of the ride, he tells the man off, trying to get him to go, challenging his victim blaming. A dark skinned man quietly joins in, still sitting but softly encouraging the drunk to stop harassing women, calling out rape culture. Red has exited in a flurry of profanity, but the remaining pair are still en route. Yet another man has joined us, de-escalating the situation. At my stop, everyone moves to another car. I wave goodbye, my heart warmed by both gender euphoria & the feminist praxis of a group of strange men. https://www.instagram.com/p/BtgPKHLhdj3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7w4695g5cytb -- source link
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