if you call everyone dude and a transfem person gets mad about it, don’t get defensive. just say like “sorry, i won’t do it again” and don’t argue “actually it’s gender neutral” or “i call everyone dude”. even if you do, i guarantee she’s heard that argument from someone who very much does not call people they see as women dude. i certainly have

same goes double for the word guy.

  • soli
    link
    74 months ago

    I wasn’t familiar with the rad fem angle, neat.

    I’d only personally experienced it in small groups, usually where there were more women than men. There it was definitely more akin to misgendering than the rad fem variant. There was a lot of anxiety about not being “feminine” enough, I think probably because we were teenagers, especially if some women were more likely to get called ‘dude’ than others in the group. Also a lot of friction about becoming “one of the guys” or getting friendzoned, because again we were horny teenagers.

    Horrible time for people presenting in even slightly non-gender conforming ways. I remember when one girl cut her hair short then being relentlessly teased for being a lesbian despite not being one.