…than being called “Sir” and then having the person who called you sir freak out and need desperately to apologize and continue talking about it long after the moment is over…
…the only thing worse than that moment is when I casually refer to myself as butch or “not girly” and whichever straight friend I’m speaking to goes into a nervous laugh that turns into a rant about how I’m “not butch! not butch at all! because I’m so pretty! And I’d be really girly if I just (insert one or more excuse here: tried some new clothes / wore more makeup / wore heels / grew my hair / wore more accessories…) ”
Why do my straight friends feel the need to negate what I am obviously comfortable with, even identify with, because it makes them uncomfortable? It’s not charming self-deprecation, people, and it doesn’t need a response. It’s practically rhetorical and it’s just who I am.
I don’t walk around going into titters of nervous laughter about the things they do (or ways they consider themselves) that make me uncomfortable… “Oh! no you DON’T watch TV for four hours a night! Don’t be ridiculous!”