sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
[personal profile] sonia
I had an epiphany last night. All these times guys have harrumphed and grumped and gotten difficult with me for standing my ground - it doesn't mean I was wrong for standing my ground! I've been so sure there was something wrong with me around that, ever since I was tiny.

A brief anecdote from when I was traveling with my parents at age 16. My mother was buying herself a dress, and I really liked it and wanted one too. The response was, "It's expensive. Who do you think you are to deserve clothes as expensive as your mother?" They bought me a skirt instead - it's not like I went around in rags or anything - but the point is that my immediate reaction was outrage, and later I thought, "Yeah, who do I think I am, anyway?" and I was ashamed for thinking I did deserve it. Coda: my mother gave me the dress later. Was that a sideways apology? Who knows.

Back to these mansplainin' flimflamming business people and ex-boyfriends, I've wondered if I'm supposed to let them save face, if there's some social skill I'm missing that would smooth this out. But no, the only smoothing is surrender, and I'm not wired that way. Not even surrender. Disappearance.

Well, busy dealing with web host hassles, so I'll go ahead and post this, even though it feels unfinished.

Date: 2011-09-23 05:04 pm (UTC)
dancingsinging: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dancingsinging
It's so awesome that you realized this, and that you're doing all this work to un-internalize that it's your fault when someone treats you badly. I deal with this all the time myself. It feels so good as the layers of self-repression peel off!

Date: 2011-09-24 04:35 am (UTC)
laughingrat: Little old lady witches drinkin' tea and plotting. (Consciousness-Raising)
From: [personal profile] laughingrat
*vigorous nodding*

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sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
Sonia Connolly

June 2025

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