[freya]

I can't honestly say that I "get" bigotry....I mean, I understand intellectually where it comes from and what causes it and I understand the ways in which our society benefits from it and, therefore, encourages it...but I can't say that I "get" it on a gut, experiential level.....

.....In fact, on a gut, experiential level, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me...especially when it comes to bigotry around sex and gender...I mean, when I try to stop and contemplate it or feel what it might be like to "feel" or "experience" it, all I come up with is a strong sense of "Why on earth would anybody bother to care at all about what other people are doing and how they are being in respect to sex and gender?" I mean what could that possibly have to do with me and why would it interest me? It feels totally crazy and surreal to me!

Since I've been in program, I have come to see/understand that people who act in these kinds of bigoted ways are really acting out of woundedness and self-loathing, so I can have compassion for them. But, I still don't want/need people like that in my life, and I certainly don't let their behavior "get to me." But, it's not like that's a conscious choice -- it just doesn't get to me......actually, I typically feel very much detached from it, like I'm dealing with some bizarre intrusion into my world from some alternate pseudo-reality or like I'm dealing with some very childish silliness -- I guess because I just have such a strong sense that it really is crazy and it really is about them and their wounding and has nothing whatsoever to do with me.

freya