I am beginning to be concerned about the number of times I've found myself in angry confrontations with random men lately. By actions, words and demeanour, these men have publicly, loudly and aggressively proclaimed their misogynist, homophobic, narrow minded bigotry in an effort to convince everyone around them that they are superior. The poor guys, I mean can you imagine feeling so small and impotent and useless that you are driven to impose your own fear back onto those you view as inferior to you? They are cowards, every one of them.
They throw around racial, religious and sexual epithets with a refreshing lack of discrimination. The one constant in their behaviour is that it is always a woman who is getting the brunt of their ignorance.
My immediate response is to want to suddenly acquire some kind of superpowers, and tear him limb from limb. I enjoy brief visions of watching the fear in his eyes while I show him who is really in charge. But I am not Buffy, and I am soon beginning to wonder about the ways he might find to hurt me if I don't back down. And that makes me angry. I am more disturbed than I can say by the realization that I'm easier to scare than I used to be. Last week, a TTC special constable told me to stop talking to people. Can you imagine?
And that's the crux of the issue. Of course I am beginning to resemble the bullies; I am letting myself become almost as frightened as they are. I can't let that happen. Nor can I pretend that there's nothing to fear. I guess I just have to learn to pick my battles.
They throw around racial, religious and sexual epithets with a refreshing lack of discrimination. The one constant in their behaviour is that it is always a woman who is getting the brunt of their ignorance.
My immediate response is to want to suddenly acquire some kind of superpowers, and tear him limb from limb. I enjoy brief visions of watching the fear in his eyes while I show him who is really in charge. But I am not Buffy, and I am soon beginning to wonder about the ways he might find to hurt me if I don't back down. And that makes me angry. I am more disturbed than I can say by the realization that I'm easier to scare than I used to be. Last week, a TTC special constable told me to stop talking to people. Can you imagine?
And that's the crux of the issue. Of course I am beginning to resemble the bullies; I am letting myself become almost as frightened as they are. I can't let that happen. Nor can I pretend that there's nothing to fear. I guess I just have to learn to pick my battles.
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