Iām a man.
When I was born my grandfather congratulated my dad for having a son, and thanked my mother for giving my father a son. I got my grandfatherās name.
When I was a child, I could play with LEGO, because āLego is a boy thingā and that helped my creativity. My ability to solve problems was stimulated.
I got HotWheels car-washes and gas stations. I also got a box of plastic tools, to assemble and disassemble toy cars and trucks. That also stimulated my creativity and developed my logic capability, which is good for every child.
In my school day, the girls wore skirts and my friends lifted their skirts. It was a mess, So they were forbidden to wear skirts. I never saw a boy actually get punished for it though, after all āBoys are just like that. Took after his father this menaceā - is what I usually heard
At home, with my family, I liked to play house with a younger cousin. We were around eight. I was the dad, she was the mom and the dolls were our children. While playing, when i carried the dolls in my arms my mother would get mad: āLet go of that doll boy, thatās a girl thingā. And my little cousinās father, when he saw us playing, wouldnāt let her do it either. He said boys play with boys and girls play with girls because āboys are very stupid, and worse, very forwardā. I did not consider myself stupid, and did not understand what he meant by āforwardā, but I still did as I was told
At Christmas, my sister got a Barbie and I got a beyblade. She cried a bit because my toy was much cooler than hers, but every year my mother made the same mistake, and got her a doll, a toy stove, a toy fridge, a blender, everything pink, once mom got her an iron
When I turned 15 and started dating, my father bought me some condoms
During my teenage years, no one criticized me for kissing lots of girls. Nowadays, that still stands.
My father does not get mad at me when I donāt come home for the night, He does not say I need to be a āfamily boyā. He never slapped me in the face for thinking Iād spent the night at a motel.
No one lectures me saying I need to be reserved and play hard to get.
No one judges me when I want to be with a girl and take initiative
No one cares about my clothes; no one says I have to preserve myself.
No one says I have to preserve myself because āwomen only think about sexā
No one think my girlfriends were only with me for sex.
No one thinks that, when I have sex, that Iām submitting to the wishes of my partner
No one demonizes my orgasms.
I was never judged for carrying condoms in my backpack or in my wallet
I never had to hide my condoms from my parents.
I was never told to marry a virgin because I was a man
I was never told that āmen have to value themselvesā or that I had to āgive myself the respectā. Apparently, my gender already makes me worthy of respect.
When I go out into the streets no one tells me Iām ādeliciousā
No unknown woman shouts āsmoking hotā my way
I can walk down the streets having an ice cream cone at ease, because I know I wonāt hear things like ādrop that and come suck meā. I can even walk down the streets eating a banana
I never had to cross a street, even though it was out of my way, to avoid a group of women in a bar, who will probably catcall me when I pass, embarrassing me
I never had to walk in sweatpants, because my shorts leave my legs exposed, and that could be dangerous
I never heard someone say I was āshamelessā because I went out without a shirt
No one regulates my work out clothes
No one cares about my clothes period.
I was never followed by a woman in a car when I was walking back home
I can catch a crowded subway everyday and surely no woman will rub against me, to record it and throw it on some porn website
No one ever had to create a subway wagon that was ājust for menā
I never heard of someone of my gender being raped by a crowd
I can get on a bus by myself in the middle of the night
When Iām not carrying anything valuable, I no longer feel threatened, because I donāt fear getting raped at any moment, at every corner. That risk does not exist in the minds of the people of my gender.
When I go out at night I can wear whatever clothes I want.
If I suffer any kind of violence, no one blames me for being drunk, or for wearing certain clothes
If, one day, I was raped, no one would say it was my fault; that I was somewhere inadequate, that I had on a revealing outfit
No one would try to justify the rape based on my behavior
I would be treated as a VICTIM and that would be it.
No one thinks Iām vulgar because when itās cold, my nipples show through my shirt
When I have sex with a woman on the first date I practically get a standing ovation. No one calls me a ātrampā, or āeasyā or a āwhoreā because I have casual sex sometimes
99% of porn websites are made to please me and men in general
No one is shocked when I say I watch porn
No one judges me if I say I love sex
No one cares if I read erotic literature
No one is surprised to hear I masturbate
No mother-in-law will tell her daughter not to marry me because Iām not a virgin
No one criticizes me for investing in my career
When I have the same job position as a woman, my salary is never inferior to hers
If I am promoted, no one says itās because I slept with my boss. People believe in my merit
If I have to travel for work and leave my kids with their mother for a few days no one calls me irresponsible
No one finds it strange that, at thirty years old, I still donāt have kids
No one guesses my sexual orientation based on the length of my hair
When my hair starts to grey, people will find it sexy, not think Iām letting go of myself
Society does not see my virginity as a prize
90% of military services are destined to people of my gender, even the higher jobs, in which the official only deals with paperwork and management
If I go out with a certain outfit no one says Iām āasking for itā
If Iām at club and a woman performs oral sex on me, Iām not the āwhoreā or the ātrampā, she is.
If a video of me having sex with a woman gets leaked, no one will call me names, criticize me, stone me. I wonāt be the ādisgusting little bitchā I wonāt be āthrashā or āusedā or ācheapā. Iād just be the man, fulfilling my alpha guy position in society.
If I lead a promiscuous lifestyle and then fall in love with just one woman, people think its beautiful. No one judges me based on my past.
No one says itās disgusting if I donāt shave myself
No one would judge me for being a single dad. On the contrary, Iād be seen as a hero.
Iāll never be stopped from occupying a higher position in the Catholic Church for being a man
I was never beaten up for being a man
I was never obligated to do housework for being a man
I never had the obligation to learn how to cook for being a man
No one tells me my place is in the kitchen for being a man
No one says I canāt curse for being a man
No one says I canāt drink for being a man
No one stares at my plate if I put a lot of food in it
No one justifies my foul mood by blaming it on hormones
No one has ever made jokes that undermined my intelligence for being a man
When I sometimes mess up in traffic no one says āIt had to be a manā
When Iām polite to a woman she doesnāt automatically assume Iām hitting on her
The term ātramp stampā did not come into existence because men were seen as cheap
No one treats my body as just a tool for giving pleasure to the opposite sex
No one thinks Iāll have to be submissive to a future wife
I was never judged for drinking beer at table in which I was the only man
Iām never the target audience for house cleaning products ads
Iām the target audience for beer ads
No oneās ever asked me if my girlfriend lets me cut my hair. I cut it when I want to and people understand that.
There isnāt haze at USP (a university) that promotes my humiliation and objectification
Society doesnāt split my gender in āto marryā and āto whoreā
When I say ānoā no one thinks Iām just playing hard to get. No is no.
I donāt have to dress a certain way to avoid having women falling into temptation
People of my gender were not raped each 40 minutes in SĆ£o Paulo last year
People of my gender donāt get raped every 12 seconds in Brazil
People of my gender didnāt get raped by a crowd during protests in Egypt
Iām not a man. But if you are, itās fundamental to admit that society AS A WHOLE needs feminism
Donāt underestimate suffering that you donāt understand.