#beingcalledcute

I live on my own. I am 25 years old. I have a job and I pay my own bills. Yet, I am being called cute every day. It is not only situations in which I get complimented for my outfit or something I said. It happens in all sorts of situations - also work related ones. I must say that for the longest time, until I reached my 24th birthday, I was not all that bothered about it. “Just be happy, they probably just like you or think you are attractive. At least you are not disliked by anybody and you get mens approval and they feel like protecting you”. There is a lot wrong with looking at the situation this way. For one, you are not being taken seriously. I can not count how many times I was sexually assaulted and when I yelled or got angry the perpetuator and his friends just laughed at me. Also, it implies that just because I am a young looking woman, I need more protection. This might be true but if I was a man it would just be absurd to think “I am at higher risk for assault and abuse however at the same time I get more protection”. What the heck?

“Take care, she’ll bite your ankle!” are things I have heard when getting angry about being mistreated and speaking up about it. I am a pushover. I am a 25 year old woman who looks quite young, is rather short and on the slimmer side. This results in me not being taken seriously in so many scenarios. 

I bet I am not the only woman who experiences this, cute, short, slim or thick.

I think that we all struggle with this some of the time...or let’s be real - a lot of the time. But I also see how my friends are being treated. And I do have the feeling that because of my looks it happens a tiny bit more often to me. And it sucks. I am an adult. Just treat me like one.