Thursday, April 2, 2009

Heteronormative comment from an unexpected source

My mother-in-law used to say to my son: "You're going to make some lucky girl very happy someday!" I used to quickly add "...or some lucky guy!"

Consequently, my mother-in-law has ceased saying this...which is fine by me.

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Recently, I got email from our friend J that contained this comment about our son:

"Looking at some of his pics on your site, wow, he is really growing! And boy, is he going to have to juggle the too many women that are going to fall at his feet!"


I get that this is a compliment. She's saying that our son is beautiful. I happen to agree.

The problem is that I find myself endlessly bothered that J assumes he'll be straight. To make this assumption is to reinforce the idea that being straight is normal and that to NOT be straight is abnormal, aberrant or...well...crooked. Slightly off. Slightly wrong.

Here's the kicker: J is a lesbian.

J is older than I am by about 15-20 years...so maybe it is a generational thing? Am I expecting too much?

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Follow-up: Thanks. Yep. Over-reacting. Letting it go. :)

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