#storytimewithmax

Yesterday a friend was doing a mini safety presentation to those of us students who were about to perform in string ensemble. During her speech she misgendered me majorly by telling me to "get your shit together, woman!!". She did correct herself by then saying "ummmmm, I mean, get your shit together person!!" and then continued on with the safety talk. Being misgendered is pretty hard to get used to so naturally I felt a lil shit, even though this person corrected themselves. Later that night though I got a message from them apologising and when I tried to brush it off, the reply from them just made me break down and cry. I realised I had assumed that I didn't deserve to have the correct pronouns used - that I was being a nuisance by asking people to use he/him or they/them. In my head I figured that if people automatically used the right words, that I must owe them something, as if they had done me a favour and I needed to pay back this kindness. Suddenly being told I had the right to not be misgendered made me literally weep. I'll forever be indebted to this person for their apology and for giving me that light bulb moment that I deserve to have my name and pronouns correct all the time.