Once again, ladies, gentlemen and others... The Patriarchy hurts everyone.

Ugh. Even though women and trans* persons tend to have it a hell of a lot worse in our society, I really do feel sorry for cis men growing up these days. The ones just starting to come to terms with their identity. Because society seems to be asking them to such completely backwards stupid things to define themselves, and then trying to color how they interact with women, how they interact with people of different classes, how they interact with people that don't conform to traditional gender norms...

It's a fucking mess. There's a self-affirming system telling everything born with a penis that it needs to tear lions apart with its bare hands and be a complete jerk to everyone, and that anything else makes you less worthwhile, more of a victim... whatever. It's getting better every day as men and women in our culture make a stand and say "No, fuck that shit," but, I mean, sometimes it feels like we're trying to divert the Louisiana River with bendy drinking straws.

Trans* people have it even worse, of course. Trans* women are attacked physically and emotionally for not being masculine... Trans* men can never be masculine enough to be left alone about it. And genderqueer people... Fuck, man, everyone treats them like fuckin' space aliens if they don't start following one side or another's protocol.

... I wanna go live on a magical island where everybody gets to do what they feel like doin' and the primal quest for identity is "Am I X," not "Am I X enough that nobody'll beat me up today."

Much love to any young men reading this and feelin' these pressures. Don't give in. Don't settle for being Traditionally Manly when you could be Unconventionally Awesome.