Hey Tumblr, lend me your wisdom
I very recently started a new job, and have consequently started making new friends. And because of the place I work in, those friends are all male. And I find it a little... anxiety inducing, if only for the reason, that although I obviously like these people, they tend to now be the most #woke. I understand that they are the products of growing up as cis-men in a overwhelmingly predominantly white country, but is does result into micro-agressions. And my trying to correct those micro-agressions (or rape jokes, or other ignorace induced bullshit), it ends with an apology, because I “was offended”, not because I got through.
And although I a genuinely fond of these folks, and although I understand why they don’t understand what I’m trying to communicate, I sometimes feel like it’s not worth it. I mean I already have friends that don’t constantly predispose me to anxiety and microagressions. Those friends might not live in Finland, or be otherwise available to me every day, but I also don’t have to argue with them about rape culture, or their well-meaning, but demeaning comments.
So my question is, are fun and generally enjoyable relationships worth the sideline misogyny? Am I too demanding, if I expect total mutual respect from my friendships, even when the other party is not culturally predisposed to give it? Or am I being desperate and pathetic for even considering to look past it?
Turns out male friends are difficult...
