Being a feminist is not about hating men showing their appreciation for women.

'The internet and - to be more precise - social media is a curse: only negative stuff and when you see something nice you feel like you're underachieving because people only share pictures and stories about how wonderful their lives are!'

I'm sorry for all the haters but that simply isn't true. First of all: it depends on your personal filters. If you only want to see bad news, that's all the algorithms will show you. If you only look at pictures of smiling friends, that's all you get to see.

Social media is not much different from real life: when was the last time you ran into an old friend and he or she said:  'I'm in a bit of a pickle, could you loan me a hundred bucks?' in stead of: 'I'm doing great, really. All's fine! You?' 

Did you answer honestly that you're in a terrible divorce, your mother just died and you lost your job six months ago? No. You 'd probably say something like: 'I'm a happy single, won't listen to my mother anymore and decided to stop working for a while to enjoy life while I can.'

It's the same when people have encounters on social media. When someone does post something like 'I hate my life because chemo sucks, I lost my sense of taste, can't enjoy sex anymore. The only thing preventing me from wanting to die is wanting to see my ex die first.' we often don't know how to respond. Just like in real life.

But just like real life the internet too is full of wondrous, hopeful, funny, inspiring, information that puts a smile on our faces.

Wrinkle the Duck enjoyed people (and who knows how many ducks were watching, cheering on one of their kind?) by participating in the marathon of New York.

And how about this family that teaches people through TikTok about the do's and don't when interacting with a deaf child?

And here's one badass young lady you might see at the Olympics one day:

Paige Tobin knows how to handle a board!

~

Strangely enough there are people out there who are apparently só dissapointed in life they can't help themselves and just have to make negative comments:

When I reacted to this clip of Paige (click) stating how cute and badass I find young Paige and noted a young man showing his respect for her and her moves by helping her out of the skating pit, a lady just had to type: 'No, she is nog being helped. How dare you make this about a man again?' Or words in that order.

To me it looks like said responder doesn't know that being a feminist is not about hating men showing their appreciation for women.

The lady clean out stated the young man was not helping his young co-skater. In my humble opionion she was either lying (To make a point? Which point could that be?) or didn't watch the clip until the end but refused to admit that she didn't because she didn't want to be called out as someone who has formed an opinion before looking at the straight facts.

What do you think? Did the young man in this clip (click) help Paige? Did he do so out of respect and camaraderie or to show the world that in his opinion women can't do anything without the help of men?

===============================================================

Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon

Introduced (a short story)

Darkness had already fallen when he was standing at the bus stop early in the evening. 

He had arranged to meet a friend and was planning to take the last bus home at the latest.

Then she caught his eye and he changed his plan. Even if it was sub-consciously. 

A bus pulled up but it wasn't his. She got on, turned towards him with a question in her eyes 

and he followed.

Without a word she sat down and he took the seat next to her. 

Their hands sought and found contact. Their fingers played entangled lovers 

while they deliberately kept their eyes averted from each other. 

Too dangerous.

After an all-too-brief eternity the bus pulled up to her stop. 

She got up, walked to the exit and only then turned her face in his direction. 

He caught the look in her eyes with his heart and she whispered her name to him.

Without a sound his lips formed the words 'I know.' 

Which was true. 

After all, in his dreams he and she had already been introduced.

====================================

Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon

Are you prejudiced? Are you sure?

All heterosexual men are sexists.

All gay men are promiscious and like leather.

All feminists are lesbians.

All young women can't defend themselves and need protection.

All children and pets are cute.

All black men have a large penis.

All politicians are corrupt.

All unemployed people are lazy.

All conspiracists are crazy.

All Muslims are terrorists.

All Christians are religious zealots.

All immigrants are thieves and rapists.

All punks and goths are anarchists.

All addicts are stupid junkies.

All managers are psychopaths.

All women who say 'no' actually mean 'yes'.

All men constantly think about sex.

All artists are too lazy to work.

All boys want to play with cars.

All girls want to play with dolls.

All teachers vote for leftwing politicians.

All white people are racists.

All black people never discriminate.

All millionaires are crooks.

All racists are fascists.

All socialists are communists.

The list goes on and on.

I'm sure you can think of a few more misconceptions.

You may even believe a few but are ashamed to share which ones.

But there's nothing to be ashamed of because we all have prejudices.

Unfortunately, we are often led to believe some of these prejudices are facts.

Why? Because we feel comfortable to be part of a group. An important part of being in a group

is to be prejudiced towards other groups. 

Only one prejudice is true: we are all prejudiced.

What's important is how we deal with prejudices.

Those from other people as well as our own.

Have you ever been discriminated against because of a prejudice? How did you deal with it?

If you notice someone else is prejudiced, how do you react?

If you notice you yourself are prejudiced, what do you do about it?

What do you do when someone tells you you are prejudiced?

Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon