Born and bred

A lot of people like to use the rhetoric that whatever women say or do has only a subjective point of reference. This is a dangerous line to take with me, because I generally can and do accept it as a challenge to ignore whatever the other party is saying that isn’t wholly objective. My early conditioning, up to the age of 15, was very, very devoid of emotional expression. I came from the British stiff upper lip tradition in an extreme sense to the point of not knowing even what my own emotions were like. Learning to acknowledge and experience them has been an ongoing project. So if somebody wants to play gender by implying that my views are somehow more “subjective” than theirs, I can turn off the tap of interpersonal feeling faster than it takes to switch a light off. I’m particularly inured to the playful spirit of Brer Rabbit : “Whatever you do, don’t throw me into the briar patch!” It’s where I was born and bred.