Respect of Femme Sensabilities

[MsDemeanor]

*crosses 'pedestal upon which delicate femme may be displayed' off list of possible birthday gifts for Snow*

[evolveme]

Unrelated to the topic, except kinda not:

Are people generally more offended when they hear/read femmes/feminine people cussin' and a'swearin' than when they hear/read masculine people doing it? How about in the referencing of sex/use of vulgarity, generally?

I just wonder what y'all think.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by evolveme

Unrelated to the topic, except kinda not:

Are people generally more offended when they hear/read femmes/feminine people cussin' and a'swearin' than when they hear/read masculine people doing it? How about in the referencing of sex/use of vulgarity, generally?

I just wonder what y'all think.

I have experienced and this is me talking for ME..

I have experienced that when I choose to be vulgar, sexually open open, I get the shaking of the head in disapproval due to be being feminine. The ol' ladies don't talk that way shit.

It's like that damn Madonna complex....

[Liam]

Originally Posted by evolveme

Unrelated to the topic, except kinda not:

Are people generally more offended when they hear/read femmes/feminine people cussin' and a'swearin' than when they hear/read masculine people doing it? How about in the referencing of sex/use of vulgarity, generally?

I just wonder what y'all think.

I don't appreciate vulgarity or profanity, period—it doesn't matter what their gender is, or how they identify. However I learned long ago that my mouth is the only mouth I can (hopefully,) control.

[TenderKnight]

Originally Posted by evolveme

Unrelated to the topic, except kinda not:

Are people generally more offended when they hear/read femmes/feminine people cussin' and a'swearin' than when they hear/read masculine people doing it? How about in the referencing of sex/use of vulgarity, generally?

I just wonder what y'all think.

You know, honestly, I don't care who cusses and makes sexual comments.. We are all human and all over 18 (I assume). I doubt very much if some femme is going to read something a butch or transguy says and faint dead away from shock, falling upon her fainting couch to be saved by a fan and a sniff of smelling salts.. Nor will a butch implode into a shocked shell if a femme says "fuck"..

I *get* the idea that some folks feel the need to act a certain way in front of other people and groups.. I don't get why there needs to be a thread(s) created to teach or couch folks on how to act in "polite" company.

It has been said before, manners and respect are just that.. Using your head and gut to know when a topic or even the TONE of a topic isn't where you'd start flirting or throwing around curse words for no good reason (diffrent from using curse words for impact or to add flaver to a heated post), is something that is learned as you grow up and are socialized as a person.. If someone hasn't learned when to keep thier mouth shut or when and where something is uncalled for, then by god, let them learn here.

The creation of ethical/moral threads irks me. I have my own personal morals and ethics, as we all do.. I don't handle femmes with kid gloves just because they are femmes. God knows, there are some femmes on here that scare me shitless! In a good way, mostly, lol. Do I tangle with them? No, I don't.. There are also some femmes that are softer and I treat them as such..

That being said, the same goes for Butches, Transgender peoples, Lesbains, and Queers.. Hell.. It goes for the whole human race, as far as I'm concerned. People are people.. Some people like to scream and shout, even when they aren't really angry, some people never raise thier voice at all, even when they want to do murder..

My point is, I try to use my best judgement in my interactions with the rest of humanity.. If I cross a line, I own it and try to correct it. If someone steps on my toes, I let them know, or don't, depending on if that person really matters to me in the long run.

That's all I got.. For the record, I don't own kid gloves, but I do own a pair of vampire gloves.. So usually, I just keep them off

-Tony

[evolveme]

ABC has a show called What Would You Do, which is premised in the research of social psychology and which tests people's real world biases like racism and sexism. Maybe you've seen it. Often if you ask someone whether they'd help a woman in distress (i.e., being publicly abused by her boyfriend) no matter who she is, most people will tell you that they would. But the reality is that in scenarios where the woman is demurely dressed, some people do help, and in scenarios where the woman is more provocatively dressed, nearly no one offers to help. It's in their bias.

Same is true in scenarios where people witness white boys committing an act of vandalism (few people intervene) as opposed to when they witness black kids committing an act of vandalism (LOTS of folks call 911). Still, they *say* that it didn't matter whether the boys were black or white, they would have done the same thing. But in reality, people didn't actually do the same thing.

So when people tell me that they make no judgment between a male or masculine person who swears or uses vulgarity and a feminine person who does, when our culture tells us that feminine people are supposed to behave demurely and to be good, I disagree. I think that our true biases are other. In spite of what we think we feel, I just don't buy what we're saying we feel.

[Corkey]

So you are basically questioning peoples honesty with your own bias? Yea I can see how that would be a problem.
I don't care if a femme, butch str8 gay trans what ever label you want to attach cusses. I'm an adult, if it offends me I'll say something. Thing is it usually doesn't unless the (word) in question is racist, sexist, agist, fat intolerant, or in other words is attacking another human being.

[evolveme]

Originally Posted by Corkey

So you are basically questioning peoples honesty with your own bias? Yea I can see how that would be a problem.
I don't care if a femme, butch str8 gay trans what ever label you want to attach cusses. I'm an adult, if it offends me I'll say something. Thing is it usually doesn't unless the (word) in question is racist, sexist, agist, fat intolerant, or in other words is attacking another human being.

Well, Corkey, I utilized the term "we," in order to show solidarity and in an attempt not to "other" my listener. I knew that whether I did that or not wouldn't matter, because more often than not, and quite unfortunately, people tend to personalize the opinions of others, as you appear to have done here.

See, I use profanity quite often. Perhaps it's a matter of class conditioning and that I've never made the attempt to rewire my language so that others could feel more comfortable or accept my language as less-offensive.

As a result, and like Snow, I've been told, that I should use more appropriate language for a "lady" more times than I can count. In nearly every relationship that I've been in, when my then-partner wished to hurt me, I was told I was "trashy," not that it hurt. Corkey, I'm not trashy, but my mother was born of poor and not-even-working class people.

Subsequently, I've witnessed how much more free men and masculine people are to use profane terms and expressions. Further, if a masculine person does not hold to certain Emily Post-like protocols, well, s/he/hy's just being a guy. But far be it for a woman to let fly a "good goddamn" on a Sunday morning, brother. My opinion is that folks really don't feel the same about it. And I think there is a perfectly patriarchal, socially-conditioned reason for it.

Which means it isn't personal. Not one bit.

[Corkey]

Why are you calling it patriarchy? Adults cuss, my mom cussed often at my dad, he didn't return the favor. Perhaps it is your situation and not patriarchy at all.

[blush]

I reallyreally don't need anyone to protect me from words.

One of the reasons I continue to participate in these forums is I appreciate the rawness of them. How boring the world would be if we all talked and wrote like newscasters.

As far as manners and decorum go, we all know people who have "perfect" manners and slit throats. I appreciate good manners, but I appreciate proven integrity more.

I've also noticed we've(the community "we") have gotten into the habit of referencing apocryphal posts that have existed in threads and may be taken out of context and used to prove points. For me, it's confusing because I don't know the context or intent of the mystery post. Has anyone else felt this way, or does this cheese stand alone? (rlin, I'm not calling you out. It's a trend I'm seeing.)

[Nat]

Before (and if) this thread gets shut down, I wanted to thank the OP because the opening post reminded me of some situations I found myself in several years ago.

There was a certain group of people I would hang out with at times - usually go to the bars with and sometimes go to parties with. Except for one person who actually is a member here, these were all lesbians (at least that's my memory) - some of whom appeared butch but didn't seem to claim it necessarily and were not part of the community.

A few (most) of this group didn't seem to know what a femme was. To me, when I was around these people, I felt like I was in mixed company, but they didn't see our interactions through the same lens. They would ask me why I was wearing a dress at a party, and I remember trying to imagine what in my closet they thought would qualify as appropriate with them. It seemed like crudity was a goal at times with this group, though as individuals they were quite nice.

Anyway, I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but as a femme it has in the past been awkward to me when I'm around people who think all lesbians are the same and that we should all act like fratboys and be comfy with that. I'm just not that kind of person. I remember asking the other person who's a member of the community, "Do you think they realize they are in mixed company??" I don't think this group understood butch or trans identities any better than femmes though.

I don't know, I'm not usually very prudish, but I definitely felt like a flower (stuck in a beer can) a few times with that crowd. Most of the butches I know have more decorum than I do, so at the time I thought maybe it's because they came from this worldview where all lesbians were expected to be comfortable in that kind of environment, whereas the femme/butch world allows for more difference?

Or it may have just been that little group of people. (Most likely that's the case). Have any other femmes run into this in the lesbian (non-femmebutch) mainstream?

PS. I use profane language and talk about sex probably daily. I'm trying to think what the difference was. Like, I really don't wanna be privy to locker room talk unless its femme locker room talk.

[Kosmo]

Originally Posted by evolveme

Unrelated to the topic, except kinda not:

Are people generally more offended when they hear/read femmes/feminine people cussin' and a'swearin' than when they hear/read masculine people doing it? How about in the referencing of sex/use of vulgarity, generally?

I just wonder what y'all think.

I am not offended when I read it here, but I have to say that if, my sister, for instance started dropping some crude (in my definition) vocabulary, I would be taken back by it.

My parents cussed and swore alot. Mostly when they argued which was basically very often. The language could be quite crude at best. So I think for me, it triggers bad stuff. My partner has cussed/sworn and I am taken by surprise because it's somewhat rare, but, unless it falls in my crude category, I'm ok with it.

I just never gravitated to using them in conversation on a daily basis.

[PearlsNLace]

I dont know if it makes me a delicate flower..

( I really dont see myself as one, but opinions are like sets of skin. We all have one)


I curse sometimes. But Id rather not be hanging out in an environment where every other word that comes out of someones mouth is a F*cken mother F*cker, or worse.
And I dont really care whos mouth its comming out of. A femmes, a butchs, or paphigleos for that matter.

It doesnt offend delicate sensibilities. I just feel akward and out of place in such a conversation.

I get in places in my life when I feel less articulate and the cussing increases. That usually passes when I figure out what issue Im struggling with at the time. It can take a week or 2 for me to sort it all out.

I believe I treat people with respect and dignity. I would like to be treated similarly. And I dont feel that its different across the butch femme spectrum.

That being said- there is a bit of The Dance, of being treated with extra courtesy specifically because I am a lady, that does thrill me.

I will freely admit it. I love it. If those are silly old antiquated rules, Im ok with that. If that makes me a delicate flower, well, then fine. Ill be a an Orange Poppy, my home states flower then.


I dont believe such a desire to be treated with a degree of decorum and respect makes me any more or less awesome. Nor does the lack of such desire for that treatment make anyone more or less awesome. We just roll different ways.

[rlin]

when i put this thread out here i was seriously most interested in how the fact that we knew each other vicariously thru the forum might cause us to use over-familiarity when addressing folks around here...
but... i was also obviously thinking of how [we] tend to posture when we want to connect...
i am happy to see that i have all kindsa opinions to sift thru and learn from... that is the point of this post... so that i can learn... that is why i come to this forum... to learn...

i used a quote from a public forum using very little background from the conversation it came from... i did this because i found these words as a stand-alone to be compelling... i wanted to discuss this phenomena

i want to publicly apologize to Lady Snow for opening her up to conversation... i can plead the fact that i am but... in actuality i am really more obviously a dumbass... i honestly didnt even consider the fact that folks would take this anywhere other than what i spoke of in my opener... i thought we would speak of language...

i sincerely apologize to you Ma'am... if you can think of a way that i can make this palatable for you... i will give it my damndest to do so...


rlin