Nyactis Mewcis Catlum

You do know that just because you've been brought up with something and society has taught it, that doesn't mean it's accurate, right? If everyone stuck to their guns with just with what they were brought up with, we wouldn't have made a vast majority of the scientific discoveries that we have and thus, not advanced as far technologically as we have today.

Halt~

I completely, 100% understand people wanting to appeal to intellectual honesty. On the other hand, I feel like people forget the reason why such facts are important to society - they'll dismiss it as "muh feelings", but feelings are what make issues like this important to us to begin with. If we lived purely logical lives, survival of the fittest, we wouldn't be appealing to the disabled, we wouldn't be attempting to figure out fringe diseases that are unlikely to affect the general populace and focus our attentions on greater threats, etc. That isn't to say we should toss logic out the window, but the pure appeal to rationality forgets the reason why we have emotions to begin with. Our empathy for each other is what makes humans special and bonds us as a species, and to completely toss it out for what may "objectively" be best for us strips things that are important to us, such as free will (including the freedom to express your opinion, as is freedom of speech), individuality, and art. I don't really have a strong opinion about transgender issues, because to be blunt, they just don't affect me. What pronoun someone else goes by only changes my life at all whatsoever when I have to refer to that person, and it's such a minor change to my vocabulary that it's really no big deal for me to just call people by what they want to be called. I view it in the same category as people not wanting to be referred to by a certain name; for some reason this subject is controversial for transgender individuals, but not for people who legally change their name for other reasons, such as being married in or just because they didn't like their names. I mean, I'm all for freedom of speech and I don't think that you should be penalized legally for calling someone by the wrong name or pronoun, but I don't know why people are so adamant about not calling people by what they want to be called. If you want my actual personal opinion on the issue, it's that I legitimately don't understand why someone would claim they're transgender when they don't have gender dysphoria, unless it's for attention. I've never felt bad about calling myself a girl, and I'm speaking as someone who historically grew up as a tomboy. I don't get an itch when I'm called by the wrong pronoun, and I usually only correct people for accuracy's sake. But I've never felt some kind of incongruence, and if I did feel out of place at all, it was just my misconceptions on what a woman was when I was a teen. Gender dysphoria is deeper than gender stereotypes; these people literally have to go through rigorous therapy to understand it's what they're feeling, and transitioning should be treated as a last resort, because a lot of the changes it makes to your body are irreversible. Those who go through with it are doing it to alleviate real distress, and I'd prefer for these transgender individuals to transition as opposed to commit suicide because it's too much for them to bear. That being said, if there are better solutions than transitioning for them, I'm also for that, as well. I especially think kids should not transition. Kids don't understand their place in the world, and their high likelihood of detransitioning rates proves this. Once you're a legal adult, do whatever you want to your body, but until then kids should be given time to explore their place in the world and understand who and what they are. But to me, it's ridiculous to let these personal notions affect how I treat someone. I don't understand why people would say they're transgender when they don't have gender dysphoria, but if they want to be called she/her then I'll call them that. I don't have any proof that they're not transgender, and quite frankly I think it's invasive and scary that people online think it's appropriate to dig through someone's personal history in order to invalidate their identity. And as for "encouraging their delusion", I mean, dude, it's not my fucking problem. If they're delusional, whatever, but I'm not in charge of someone else's mental health. And to presume someone is delusional when I've got nothing to back it up seems really weird. I just think that people spend way too much effort scrutinizing each other's personal history and actions, and there's so little you gain from doing that, so why bother? I will say one thing: the rape fear is completely bogus. There's already nothing stopping someone going into the wrong gender bathroom (I should know, I've gone into the men's room before because the women's had too long a line). In addition, a vast majority of rape cases, or at least the ones that we know about that we can glean patterns from, aren't random people jumping out and pinning you to the ground out of nowhere. I mean, shit like that happens, but it's not the most common form of it. Most commonly, a rape victim knows their rapist personally. No amount of bathroom regulations are going to fix that particular issue, especially since rape itself is a crime; when someone already is going to commit a crime, why would they care about bathroom laws at all?

Perhaps there are a lot of people acting this way, but I see no sense in not attempting to encourage discussion regardless. If there's a possibility of getting people to think, it's worth the effort. The idea that the world is beyond saving or changing in any way... I think that complacency can contribute to the problem, not the solution. Plus, if there's anything about me it's that I prefer to look at a situation in a thoughtful, understanding, and positive way as opposed to throwing in the towel. I've done the latter in a lot of personal pursuits, and it never wound up in a way that aided me in the end. Yeah, I don't think it's divided the fandom, either. I believe I said this in the journal entry itself, but this isn't the first time that they've had discussions like this. MLP: FiM definitely (generally speaking, anyway) spreads messages of togetherness and companionship, but I find often those messages are skewed by the fandom in a certain way. In some cases I understand it (Fame & Misfortune did have some awful implications, and its very premise has that kind of mean-spirited vibe to it), but there are times when it utterly baffles me that an episode is taken that way. I'm not about to suggest politics has no influence over the way episodes are written, but I do think sometimes people overestimate how much influence that is.

Skeletal

634

Adorable/10. Twilight, pls.

Hi. I'm a woman. I have told you numerous times why you're having trouble, in multiple threads. I was being fair in those responses and tried to be at-level with you. You haven't responded any of those times. Since it doesn't seem to be getting across to you, I'm going to be very blunt in this response. Women want the alpha guys because they're the ones who treat them with genuine respect. They're the ones who are outright about their feelings toward these women. Women are averse to you because it's very, very clear you resent them, and every post you make oozes with this resentment. You don't believe a word you're saying when you wax sentiment about protecting women and wanting to respect them. You say that, but your actions don't back it up. You're going through the motions because, like most people, you crave social intimacy and you think that's the way you're going to earn it. When these actions aren't met supportively, your response to it is, "What the heck? Why don't these women like me? I'm doing exactly what they want! I'm doing what they say I should do! Ugh, women are so hard to understand..." But here's the thing: you shouldn't be doing things to be a good person just to get that attention. You should be doing good things because they're the right thing to do. You're not winning women over because, quite frankly, you're transparent. And women are generally self-respecting enough not to date someone who's going to resent them or prejudge them based on their gender. Are there women out there who go for people who treat them badly? Sure. Are there women who pass up opportunities that would benefit them to their detriment? I could say so. But it's not, like, a system, man. It's not like these women are systematically against you, trying to beat you to the ground. And even if they were: why do you want to impress them in the first place? Why do you want women who won't respect you? Surely you want a partner who's going to love you for who you are, and not for an act you put on simply to make them like you? Here's my word of advice: you NEED to let that resentment for women that you have go. And don't tell me you don't have it. Actions speak louder than words. Once you start seeing women as individuals rather than a collective playing to a system, you'll find you'll have much better luck with them. Also, be genuine, to yourself and to other people - don't say things that you don't believe in and don't agree with. People can see through it, and there is literally no one on this earth who likes a phony, so if you want to be liked, be honest. And really think about why people believe the things that you're saying instead of just parroting it. Why do people believe that? Do you think it's actually legitimate? If so, why? If not, why not? Give it some serious thought, not just one to two minutes. Research into claims you see on the internet. Think about why someone is an authority figure on a subject in the first place. This is your world view we're talking about here. And lastly, have some respect for your fellow man, too. Instead of seeing these alpha men as your opponents, really examine the men with successful relationships and figure out what they have in common. If you emulate that, or at least attempt to understand it, you may find yourself having more success than you currently are treating them as enemies. You don't even know the agonized noise I just made. Add that to my list.

I've drank alcohol once in my life. It was gross.

Stereotypes don't come from nowhere. A lot of stereotypes have a grain of truth to them - how much truth depends on the subject of the stereotype. That being said, no particular group of people should be judged by a stereotype. Every individual is different in some way; some people will exhibit stereotypical traits more than others. It's presumptuous to assume that a group will all act the same, even if that group shares some similarities. It's always safest to judge a person by their individual characteristics, devoid of what you may have heard before. This is true no matter the group, gender, race, etc. It's also why sweeping generalizations of a group are something I discourage, because there will always be exceptions no matter what stereotype you're banking on. I'm very individualistic in the way I treat people. I do my best to treat everyone free of any external biases. I let people's own actions speak for themselves, and make judgments off of that, rather than what I may have heard somewhere else. It is typical for the human mind to attempt to pick up patterns in people's behavior, and sometimes those patterns ring true, and I'll even point out these patterns from time to time, but I do my best not to let these patterns make me prejudge someone before I've come to know them.