We Need to Talk: What pissed you off this week?

Good, it’s Friday. I’ve written before about microaggressions , those tiny, maybe apparently innocuous phrases, questions or comments that make us feel excluded, insulted, or objectified. I had one of those happened to me yesterday. Remember how Wednesday I wrote about my body and how my deviation from our cultural “norm” sometimes makes people feel entitled to treat me as an object? The very next day I was riding my train home from work. I was listening to music and reading. A teenager stopped in front of me and started talking. I paused the music, set down my Kindle and said “What?” The kid replied “I’m selling chocolate to raise money for school. Want to help? I know you like candy.” Because I’m fat, ya know.

What did someone say or do to you that pissed you off, made you feel self-conscious, or singled out because of your difference from the (white, male, theist, thin, able-bodied, straight, cis) “norm”? How did you feel? Did you reply?