Ten Things I Hate About Being A Lesbian
1. Having to deal with homophobic twits.
2. People's assumption that I'm handy with a power drill. (I suck)
3. People's assumption that I hate men. (I don't - well, some men but not as a gender.)
4. The quandry over whether to shave armpits and legs, or not to shave. (Um, I err on the side of not shaving, blessed as I am with light body hair and next to no leg hair to speak of.)
5. The bra-less years, as a result of which my breasts hang slightly lower than they might of if I hadn't let 'em swing free for so long before restoring them to their rightful place inside relatively constraining (and gratefully uplifting) spandex/cotton.
6. Infrequent attacks of internalized homophobia, rarer and rarer as the years go by, but occasional and vitriolic when they hit. One example of this is the "internalized homophobe", who is embarrassed and even, occasionally, scared when I show physical and loving affection towards children in the presence of folks whose queer-friendliness may be in question. I never felt this way before I came out, and was instantly aware of the prohibition against loving relationships with children when I came out.
7. Answering well-meaning, but idiotic, questions from people who are "interested in lesbian lifestyles." Huh????
8. I hate it that I even have to consider whether it's safe to come out or not to come out. I try to live my life as out as possible, as I consider there to be a symbiosis between high self-esteem and living an "out" life. But there are times when self-protection wins out, and I don't.
9. The fact that I live next door to a couple who signed the Anti-marriage petition in Massachusetts. (I checked on the KnowThyNeighbor.org site for the location of homophobes in my town).
10. The fact that two years after it became legal for same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts, when hearing that I am married, people still assume my partner is a man.
2. People's assumption that I'm handy with a power drill. (I suck)
3. People's assumption that I hate men. (I don't - well, some men but not as a gender.)
4. The quandry over whether to shave armpits and legs, or not to shave. (Um, I err on the side of not shaving, blessed as I am with light body hair and next to no leg hair to speak of.)
5. The bra-less years, as a result of which my breasts hang slightly lower than they might of if I hadn't let 'em swing free for so long before restoring them to their rightful place inside relatively constraining (and gratefully uplifting) spandex/cotton.
6. Infrequent attacks of internalized homophobia, rarer and rarer as the years go by, but occasional and vitriolic when they hit. One example of this is the "internalized homophobe", who is embarrassed and even, occasionally, scared when I show physical and loving affection towards children in the presence of folks whose queer-friendliness may be in question. I never felt this way before I came out, and was instantly aware of the prohibition against loving relationships with children when I came out.
7. Answering well-meaning, but idiotic, questions from people who are "interested in lesbian lifestyles." Huh????
8. I hate it that I even have to consider whether it's safe to come out or not to come out. I try to live my life as out as possible, as I consider there to be a symbiosis between high self-esteem and living an "out" life. But there are times when self-protection wins out, and I don't.
9. The fact that I live next door to a couple who signed the Anti-marriage petition in Massachusetts. (I checked on the KnowThyNeighbor.org site for the location of homophobes in my town).
10. The fact that two years after it became legal for same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts, when hearing that I am married, people still assume my partner is a man.
posted by Sapphique at 4:36 PM
2 Comments:
I can identify with most of your list, except for #2 - I love my power-tools, but I'm pretty femm (or so they tell me). Don't feel that way, though.
:-)
And, I'm totally with you on #8 - we're totally out in our lives, but there are times when it's best just to keep quiet. I hate that, as infrequent as that is...
Bigots should not reproduce.
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