Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Jay Clouse's avatar

Could not resonate with this more strongly. I think it's part of why guys like you and me are great community builders – 1.) we have a hard time finding spaces we feel like WE belong in and 2.) we have more empathy to hold space for other people in the same vein.

I've been presumed to be gay a LOT throughout my life. It used to really hurt me – but I've outgrown that pain too. I see it more of a compliment on my empathy (which dudes often read as feminine).

As I've gotten older and been in the content world, I've noticed that the audience for my content is so much more female than my peers. And they notice it too – they don't follow many men online. It's a gift that we can speak and relate to all groups (even if we don't feel like we 'belong' to any one of them strongly).

Expand full comment
Nancy A's avatar

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think all these labels are useless except for causing anxiety and division. Let's all just be who we are without percentages.

While some may say "natural", I say we are naturally many multilayered emotions and personalities every moment, but that doesn't mean anything bad. We need to except ourselves and each other as is every one of those moments.

Expand full comment
21 more comments...

No posts