“Pfffft. I don’t believe you.” We’ve all said in various forwardness. All the way from really rude “God, you’re stupid” to knee-jerk “really?” to the subtler “Ok…” where the doubt is indicated by the trailing off alone.
If you take just one second to look at it, this is so casually used for such an incredibly violating statement.
What’s not violating about it? When someone says that to you, they reject your reality. Your experience. Your knowledge, intelligence, wisdom. Your objectivity. Your ability to research, consider, and deduce. They reject your chance to explain and provide evidence. They shut their ear and stop listening.
I don’t know why this type of status is delivered with so much jubilation and triumph. It’s for a psychologist to explain to us. We have to be mindful that there is this tendency in a human and constantly check in with empathy in order to combat against it. Especially dealing with such sensitive issues as personal choices, their past experiences and trauma, and gender identification.
Inspired by this article:
