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Screenshot of a Tumblr post by indigosfindings:
imagine if someone just like started addressing you as Dipshit, like youre just talking about your day & they say "no way Dipshit, that's crazy." and then maybe you say to them that you would prefer not to be addressed as Dipshit & their response is "well in my major metropolitan area 'Dipshit' is not considered an insult. im not saying i think youre stupid when i call you Dipshit, i call my mom dipshit all the time" so you say Thats cool but please dont call Me that. and then they just repeat that it's something they say daily, they call all of their best friends & lovers dipshits & are called dipshit in return. "my grandma calls me dipshit at the dinner table, it doesnt mean anything." so you say Yes i understand that your friends & grandma arent bothered by being called Dipshit but i am, & i would prefer if you didnt address me as that. and they say "it's literally not possible for me to stop calling you dipshit, and it's not reasonable for you to ask me to, dipshit." anyway this post is about nothing in particular
Language is owned by the group.
Individuals don't dictate to the group.
This individual is asserting a definition of "dipshit" that contradicts the definition held by the group.
are you saying it's unreasonable to ask not to be called something you don't want to be called?
Depends, I've had people request I stop calling them "dude" or "man." The first of which being my dad, who insisted when I was young that it was disrespectful and I should call him "dad" or "father." This did not go well for him, even to this day, spoke to him last night and at one point said "Dude so I was reading this article the other day..." My grandma also requested the same, as ironic as that is in this post, and was met with similar resistance. It's like asking someone to quit saying "like," it can be done but it takes active effort to change their speech pattern, to which I say "no, it is neither disrespectful nor gendered, and I will not actively change my entire speech pattern to satiate an unreasonable demand from one person that I know, so you can either get over being called dude just like literally everyone else I talk to, or we don't have to talk, dad." I'm not doing it to piss him off, it is just how I talk.
There's a certain societal inertia you have to push against, and it's unrealistic to expect everyone to change these patterns for you instantly. Friends/family/kind acquaintances will take some time, and others may never change for your sake.
I get that it's challenging for some people, but the actual difficult part is just getting people to have the baseline of respect to even try.
Like at any larger social gathering, even among "woke" commies, etc, someone is going to be misgendering someone else like every other minute, but we're all doing our best and actually trying. We just muddle through.
I think most peoole that agree with OP understand the societal inertia, and complications occured by having a prefrence contrary to the majority.
I think the point of this post is to be part of that pushback. To have those who have never been in the minority to have some empathy. So that when we meet somebody who has a prefrence that makes you do some work, people may be more inclined to accomidate and support othrs.
It would require a feat of marketing to shift the definition used by the group. I think that's how it's generally done. Call it reasonable or unreasonable or whatever you like.