One thing I've always noticed in the transgender community was how sensitive people were to things, which it's understandable, they're going through a lot of shit just like I am, but sometimes it feels so excessive. I've always called people - male, female, my mother - guys just as a casual greeting, but I just went into this chat room called TGchatroom, and I greeted them 'hi guys' like I always do to people. Bad move. Very, very bad move.
They all pretty much jumped on me. I hate going somewhere where I feel like I'm going to be attacked for saying something wrong. That's not a safe environment and makes me feel uneasy.
This is why I don’t generally reach out to the trans* community. Sorry, guys. And girls, since it seems me saying ‘guys’ as a general umbrella statement is offensive. I know that sounds bitter and sarcastic, but that really got under my skin.
The first response was just a gentle 'and girls! =D' which was fine by me, I could work with that. I was going to apologize, but then one girl was like 'I'm not a guy rawr >:(' which is completely understandable, but after a minute it was just feeling more and more like it was less of a gentle nudge of a response and more of an attack, straight-out, as more people chimed in and the mod was like MIND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, YOUNG MAN. I don't feel safe in those environments, and thus I left before I could explain myself. Maybe it was a childish thing to do, just to run and not explain myself, but I was feeling attacked.
I get where they're coming from completely and I feel like an insensitive ass for it, but at the same time I feel like to attack someone is overkill and it made me feel very uncomfortable. It was like a damn battalion was coming after me or something. I made a mistake, I was going to apologize, but then I got more than one response exactly the same and it wasn't a good way to start a conversation. I got flustered and left.
God, I am so socially awkward. Hah.
