I remember the dude who said that to me, but I don’t quite remember why. The year was 2015, we were a group of 20–30 somethings sharing a case of beer and generalizing about gender— “genderalizing” one might say.
The conversation went something like:
Him: “Girls do [this thing].”
Me: “I don’t do that.”
Him: “Yeah but you’re not a girl… I don’t know what you are.”
I remember it made me happy when he said that. Whether that was due to internalized misogyny—like I’m a girl but not one of those girls—or because I genuinely felt seen. It was a rare instance where someone was validating the fact that I’m not quite a girl.