A dear friend of mine was complaining about Greta back when she was still a kid, saying what right does a kid have to complain to nations? I huffed. I pointed out she has more right than any of us- the most of her years are ahead of her. She can't control what world she inherits, only the people she's screaming at can do anything.
Back in the 90s, when I realized what shape things were in then, my adults just told me to shut up. They said they didn't care. Greta had supporting players who let her express herself on these, the things that matter. I wish we had more kids whose parents let them address the world like this. It's going to be theirs. They should have a say in what it looks like.
If you're interested, there's some fascinating psychological work done on people like me who were kids living near and in OKC at the time. Not surprisingly, kids who were allowed to watch the live footage of the news that day tended to have higher incidences of PTSD and anxiety disorders as they grow up!
I recommend to anyone (who wasn't living there at the time) to check out the Memorial. It's absolutely gorgeous. But they play news footage from KFOR that we all watched on TV and that is... stressful!
It just occurred to me I should write this down somewhere for posterity...
If I see that sort of thing, I try and correct it. Gently. It never feels good when you get hit with a generalization meant for someone else, but especially when you dislike that generalization, too.
I still argue, especially when my ADHD meds wear off, and my impulse control goes out the window, but we can all at least try to be better to one another.
A male friend of mine who confides in me was complaining to me about how there are these 'feminists' talking about 'toxic masculinity.' Apparently he viewed some video where a guy was intentionally conflating masculinity with toxic masculinity. I didn't know that at the time, I was just shocked, because he's the biggest victim of toxic masculinity I know. When I said that, he asked me to explain, and I pointed to the fact that his father burned his sketchbooks (this was the 70s) because art is "for girls." Which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
When I explained that toxic masculinity is that, the emphasis to conform to some harmful version of masculinity, he turned on a dime so fast in rage at the asshole who conflated the two.
The thing that hurts my feelings most is when men are taught to forward toxic masculinity that harms them. When they're forged into links in a chain that they would never wield if they knew better.
Well, no. I make sure to always emphasize men's mental health, and I especially love talking about it in the context of Klingons. But... I can't make every month mental health awareness month.
I'm a person with C-PTSD who volunteers with local veterans. I really hammered home mental health awareness month. I mean, I talk about it all the time, but NAMI does some cool stuff during May. I even recall seeing some busses that had NAMI wraps on them talking about it in May!
Eta: I said elsewhere, and I'm saying it again (hope it sinks in), next May I'll try and generate content and memes and stuff. Hearing that some of you didn't see or hear anything during May has really had a massive dampening effect on my day. Ya'll deserve outreach, same as everyone in my meatspace.
Of course it was. There's a subsection of people who want to divide the folks who believe in things like men's mental health, and also pride. You can do both. You should do both. Trying to move mental health month to overlap with pride is agitprop. Trying to make this a pride versus men issue, or a mental health versus men's mental health issue, is coordinated nonsense. Don't let them do that to you.
Advocate for mental health, and men's mental health, every day. Celebrate mental health month, and include your male friends, like I do. But don't let someone try and define men's mental health specifically to overlap with something else, something that right-wing, manosphere assholes will tell you is bad.
Edited to add: I think part of the problem is that folks don't seem to keep these things in their calendars or in their minds, and just react to 'whatever month' when they see image macros. Next year I'll try and post memes about mental health awareness month during May. I'm not as good at advocating online as I am in person- I usually use the internet to unwind and shitpost and pick fights when my meds wear off. I'll try and do better.
flicker @ flicker @lemmy.dbzer0.com Posts 14Comments 1,097Joined 7 mo. ago
Death of the author is one of my most cherished tropes.
Warning: that is a tvtropes link. Don't click unless you are somehow resistant to rabbit holes, or you feel like entering one.