No diss, but I’m so weird that I even feel weird by Hexbear standards, and that is an accomplishment.

I can’t relate to a lot of people. I have no interest in cisheteronormativity and gender roles, and that alone will distance me from most people. However, even other people I encounter who may feel the same way in that regard generally tend to be too damn lmayo.

I have no interest in drinking or consuming any drugs, and I’m uncomfortable with the subcultures around drugs. My taste in music is odd and hard for a good deal of people to relate to, but that’s one of the lesser of the problems with my weirdness, as there are plenty of fans of various prog metal bands, both obscure and mainstream, to vibe with. It goes hand-in-hand with my internalized racism in a way, as my taste in metal music always got other people, both black and white, to call me an “Oreo.”

Don’t even get me started on the neurodivergence, alongside how my mind perceives so many subjects differently than a lot of other people do. That makes me feel broken.

I hate talking about “weirdness” like this, especially on the internet, because there is a toxic tendency online to assume that anyone who talks about their own weirdness is trying to come off in a “look at me, I’m so quirky!” kind of way that Redditors love to shit on, but I am actually addressing this for the opposite reason.

Anything that has made me stand out from other people has made me hate myself a lot. I wish I could be a normie sometimes, but also… normies are the kind of people who think it’s okay to vote for war criminals, so maybe not?

I should get to a point where I don’t see any of my “weird” traits as bad because that goes hand-in-hand with my internalized bigotry. The more I accept “out of the norm” as meaning bad, the more I’ll continue to question if I even deserve life simply because of my race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and neurodivergence.

I’d like to think that I’m not weird, but I think the fact that I continue going on social media and seeing things that literally millions of people relate to, but my identity and my interests make it seem like I’m completely unable to even slightly understand these things makes it hard to believe that I’m not weird.

What is “weird,” anyway? That word has different connotations, honestly.

I’m kind of rambling a bit, but to sum things up, I genuinely don’t know if I’m “good” or “bad” or “neutral” for being so weird.

  • ThermonuclearEgg [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    What is “weird,” anyway? That word has different connotations, honestly.

    This. For me, all of this (well, aside from the fact that I’m white) is perfectly normal and relatable. I’ll disclose that I do have autism (under the former diagnosis of “Asperger’s Syndrome”) and a still somewhat uncertain relationship with gender too as a result.

    Why should “neurobland” (term I’m coining here based on “neurospicy” for neurodivergents) people get the monopoly on what’s considered “normal”? We’d call that bigotry if it was any other mainstream group doing that to a marginalized group.

  • Binette@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    As a black enby with several conditions and that’s generally weird, I understand. Especially the Oreo comment lol.

    My parents look at me with disgust when I open up about my struggles. Not even of the gender kind, but medical. I felt like a freak for not wanting to have any secondary sex characteristics and reproductive organs at first, as if I needed to have another issue on top of that.

    But to me now, I am fine with being considered weird. The internet helps a lot with finding like minded people. It makes it less lonely being like this. I am fine if people consider me a freak now, but I hope in the future, people will see me for who I truly am.

  • Cowbee [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    For clarity, I’m in no position to speak with authority, as a het-passing cis cracker so take everything I say with a grain of privledged salt. Even if I’m pan, I’m in a het relationship. I want to put that up front because that contextualizes the cracker of my take here.

    First, I want to say that, as you already know in your head if not your heart, “weirdness” has no materialist basis. It’s just divergence from the norm, it can’t be bad by virtue of differing from the norm. Communism is not the norm, that doesn’t make it wrong, just like your individual characteristics like your taste in (awesome) music (fuck anyone calling you a slur for that), your gender identity, your neurodivergence, your sexual identity, your ethnicity, and more. All these differences just mean you are a different person, but given that you’re a leftist, you’re fundamentally focused on solidarity despite these differences (likely because of them), and that’s awesome.

    I should get to a point where I don’t see any of my “weird” traits as bad because that goes hand-in-hand with my internalized bigotry. The more I accept “out of the norm” as meaning bad, the more I’ll continue to question if I even deserve life simply because of my race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and neurodivergence.

    As a cracker it is far easier for me to say you’re correct here because that has been the norm for me, and can seem hollow. However, I want to stress that you said this, not me, and you’re 100% correct here. You, not me, said this, and you, not me, are correct.

    I dunno, maybe I should just shut the fuck up when it comes to situations like this, and let others speak up. As a lmayo I don’t have any right nor authority to speak on complex internal struggles faced by gender-diverse, POC, and so forth (of course not). I just want to offer solidarity and point out where I think you 100% accurately analyzed the situation with your brain, if not your internal feelings. You’re cool as shit and I want you to know it.

  • What is “weird,” anyway? That word has different connotations, honestly.

    This. For me, all of this is perfectly normal and relatable. I’ll disclose that I do have autism (under the former diagnosis of “Asperger’s Syndrome”) and a still somewhat uncertain relationship with gender too as a result.

    Why should “neurobland” (term I’m coining here based on “neurospicy” for neurodivergents) people get the monopoly on what’s considered “normal”? We’d call that bigotry if it was any other mainstream group doing that to a marginalized group.