“you’re missing the point ally”
i am not missing the point. you are missing the point
you’re missing the point that women are called sluts because they have sex and prudes because they don’t. that women are told not to dress the way they want, or else they could get raped, and if they get raped, it’s their fault, even if they were covered up from head to toe. that in the eyes of many men, my worth as a person is reduced to what my body can do for them, what i will permit them to do to me. that i am not actually a person at all, i am an object, a product meant for their consumption. i should look, act, and talk the way they want and if i don’t, i’m a bitch. that women should be sweet, but strong, but sexy, but demure, but kind, but not a pushover, all at the same time. that if i have breasts, i should not only expect that men will want to touch them, but that they will touch them with or without my permission and if i complain about it, i’m being whiny or overdramatic. that women like me can get raped every day, hundreds of women can get raped every day, and when they report it, they are told that they were asking for it or that they shouldn’t have been out so late or they shouldn’t have been walking around alone. and that if a woman who gets raped gets pregnant, not only should she be forced to carry that pregnancy to term and have that child, but the man who forced himself upon her should have equal claim over that child. that i, as a woman, am supposed to be okay with all of this because that’s just the world and good luck changing it.
you’re missing the point that, as it’s been said, you, as a straight person, are surrounded by mirrors. you see yourself everywhere you go. you have strong, positive representatives on television, in movies, in books. everywhere you look in the media, you have someone that shows just how great straight people are. you’re missing the point that queer people have very few positive reps in the media, and the ones we do have are often stereotypes. shadows of real people. that i should not expect to see a person like me on television unless they’re there to show the very real, very bad things that go along with being me. like the constant fear of being mocked, of being assaulted or attacked, of being killed or of killing ourself or hurting ourselves. you’re missing the point that people do those things to me and others like me not because i’m a person and that’s just how people are and i should expect that people will be mean sometimes, but that they do these things because i am queer, even if they know nothing else about me. you’re missing the point that the topic of other sexualities is treated as taboo. that it can be joked about and laughed about, but never never should we talk about it as if it’s a serious thing. that my sexuality is treated as something that is wrong or immoral or that my sexuality should not be discussed around children, even though children watch movies where the prince marries the princess or the guy saves the girl. that people who aren’t straight do not deserve to be seen or heard. that people who aren’t straight have to look for warning signs in every person they meet that that person might be something less than tolerant, not because they just don’t want to interact with nasty people who will treat us differently because of our sexuality, but because that is how people who aren’t straight stay alive. that non-heterosexual people have to fear for their life and wellbeing every second of every day not just because the world is already an ugly place (and it is) but because there are people out there who truly think the world is ugly because there are people who are not straight.
so sorry if you think all this is dramatic or that i’m making it up or taking it too personally because this is just how the world works. but i won’t apologize for not standing for it.
