My friend joined a car forum, because she’s into cars. She wanted to ask about car components, and the thread got about 14 pages in just a few days, but most people weren’t actually answering her questions, they just kept accusing her of being a man because the forum apparently once had someone “pretending to be a woman”. They kept calling her he/him, even though she said that she is a she (she’s cis). She’s 23 and most of the userbase on the mentioned forum are men in their 30’s and 40’s. She was being civil throughout the entire thing mentioning that it’s rude to misgender someone. Apparently the way she talked was too “proper” to be “girly” and people responded that her knowledge of car components was a “red flag” that she must secretly be a man. She pointed out that she doesn’t know why they’re so obsessed over a random stranger’s genitals and they replied back with “you’re the one who mentioned genitals, we think you’re the obsessed one here”. I wish that I was joking. Reminds me of the internet 20 years ago.
LOL. A few weeks ago I came across an interesting coffee break discussion at work. Turns out, we have two women who are almost car mechanics. They can do all sorts of car maintenance most men would just outsource to a professional. They’re also good at knitting and mending worn out clothes. These women are actually far more competent than men would expect.
If you’re interested in something, jsut go for it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t start tinkering with your car because that’s not a girly thing to do. If you love what you do, spend time on it, you’ll eventually get good at it—no matter how much it may violate archaic ideals.