A facebook post from December 17, 2024
I’m not “sensitive” to people pointing out how young I am, I am profoundly **enraged** at living in a gerontocratic nightmare culture where the first thing anyone ever says about me as a 30 year old, highly skilled and educated working woman is “Oh my gosh you’re so young!” or they just ask me out of nowhere how old I am as soon as I say Any Smort Thing
Ean and I do literally the same work (pretty much always have) and not even one time has this deeply annoying thing happened to him. Because it’s not **surprising** to people that he’s smart and competent. They don’t feel the need to give him a pat on the head because he is existing successfully and having ideas at the age of 30.
That’s reserved for me. Cuz you know. I am small. And gorl. (And actually older than him and usually acting in a more senior capacity but you know. That gorl thing… )
Just don’t comment on people’s bodies.
Don’t comment on their ages.
Don’t comment on their gender.
Don’t comment on any physical or demographic information is not immediately relevant to the conversation you are having with that person.
Do take into account how perhaps that person’s demographic information (or what you perceive it to be) may influence how they perceive the world or engage in communication, but the patronizing “compliments” and inappropriate questions gotta stop being normalized. It’s deeply not okay.