I know all about alpha male bosses… I was one until I transitioned - Times

[Igneococcus]

Explaining mysogyny to us all (well, to those managing to read through the self-indulgent waffle):

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/509f88ca-126b-11ed-b5dc-213f5c972cc4?shareToken=159e97762f849566c7f9366b2aefc111

‘I just wanted to look cool. I was an asshole and a jerk,” she says. “I mansplained all the time.’

Plus ça change.

The description of trying on ‘this silky slip’ in his mum’s wardrobe is telling. His mum’s underwear. There’s no acknowledgment of the invasion of that woman’s privacy. It’s not this silky slip, it’s her silky slip. No different to trying on your mum’s knickers. And he was scared of his father and brother finding out, but still no consideration of how his mum felt.

"I remember the wind blowing through my hair and up my skirt. I’d never had that feeling and it was an electric moment."

Seriously?

‘Women talk a lot, but men have an unsaid communication. So when women try to make it in a male-dominated environment they get smacked down and they’re like, ‘Wow, when I do it, I’m considered an abrasive bitch.’ And I’m looking at the whole thing thinking, ‘You were actually being an abrasive bitch. You don’t understand that what men are doing is actually way more subtle than how you interpret it.’

Same same.

The Times seem to run this article every few months. Why do we need to see pretty much the same story repeatedly? Is it penance for Janice Turner?

You were actually being an abrasive bitch.

This whole article points to paraphilia and a particular personality …. description.

But it pretty clear misogyny all round. That hasn’t changed at all.

The lack of insight is gobsmacking.

Bloke discovers sexism and misogyny exist and then explains it to us like we…are…very…sloooow.

Cheers, mate.

Why is it ALWAYS about red nail polish, underwear and mini skirts?? I might feel more understanding if they just wore jeans and t-shirts/jumpers and no nail polish (like most of my female friends) 🙄

WTAF did I just read.
If this guy thought his reaction to the wind blowing up his skirt is in any way whatsoever associated with being female, then he’s not just offensive but very stupid to boot.
And, moderators, this was pre “transition”, so I am using the correct/preferred pronouns.

Same, mods.

‘I might feel more understanding if they just wore jeans and t-shirts/jumpers and no nail polish (like most of my female friends) 🙄’

It’s because they are identifying into a ‘gender’, not a sex. I’m sitting here in my sloppy dressing gown, no make-up, knots in my hair. Still female. But I imagine this person could explain how I could ‘female’ better by ‘fixing myself up’.

Bloke discovers sexism and misogyny exist and then explains it to us like we…are…very…sloooow.

But also like it is somehow our fault that we are oppressed because of oestrogen and not behaving properly so that men listen to us and don't find us 'abrasive'.

The male centredness and patriarchal privilege reeks in the quote below.

“I don’t want to generalise because people get upset about that,” Egan continues. “But at the core there’s testosterone and oestrogen, which are very powerful. You put on top of that this hyper-conditioning and those two things create these very fixed communication structures, so men communicate in a way that women will never truly understand.

“Women talk a lot, but men have an unsaid communication. So when women try to make it in a male-dominated environment they get smacked down and they’re like, ‘Wow, when I do it, I’m considered an abrasive bitch.’ And I’m looking at the whole thing thinking, ‘You were actually being an abrasive bitch".

The Times click troll their readers as much as the Daily Mail, Telegraph or Guardian do.

What made the situation even more galling was that in her former life she’d been “an alpha male” who’d run her company, PeopleLinx, in an almost laughably macho way. A self-described “bro”, she prided herself on her aggressive management style, initiated arm-wrestling contests and chucked Frisbees over desks. “It wasn’t intentional to hit anyone but sometimes they’d been in the way and I’d be pretty unapologetic.” Loud music blasted, a disco-ball twirled, there was a pinball table, a kegerator dispensing beer, and snowboarding and skateboarding videos played on a loop.

It sounds like the most male environment ever.

Around this nadir she saw on Facebook an old college frat-boy friend and another tech CEO, Morgan, had come out as a trans woman.

This stuff is beyond parody, really.

If we say why we get redacted by MN.

"but she helped me build up the courage to go out in a miniskirt, with make-up and a wig. I was overdressed, for sure..."

Always a mini skirt.

Sigh!

And we all know why!

"Sometimes women get annoyed with me because I’ve almost become like a gender-whisperer where I can explain to other men what’s happening. My female friends are like, ‘What the f*? We’ve been saying that for years and no one listens to us.’ But what I can do is explain things in a way a lot of women can’t because I know how men were raised"

That's it I'm done with the internet for today

"men communicate in a way that women will never truly understand" well if this is correct then surely no trans woman will ever truly understand how women communicate either. The amount of double standards in this is, as ever, infuriating. Come on Natalie, you're clearly an intelligent person. Please do better.

I'm so sick of the patronising twonkery. Make all your dosh as a bloke, while building an environment in which most women would feel really uncomfortable, and then tell women what they're doing wrong.
Fuck off.

I'd say we have good odds of this thread being pulled due to 'personal attacks', but if someone is going to go public with patronising waffle, they can expect to get their arse kicked.

"Hearing this, I’m feeling increasingly patronised" Julia Llewellyn-Smith

Because being a woman isn't the feel of the wind on your testicles, through a "slutty" ( giggle) miniskirt?

That article needed a content warning. Mind-numbing male ego on display.

So, best not to reward the Times with clicks for this. Don’t need to read it anyway…we could have written the cliches ourselves!

I have no doubt that there is a lot of truth in what is being said here. Women do find it very difficult to be taken seriously by men. Men are more likely to be taken seriously and listened to, even if they are wearing nail varnish and a miniskirt.

But the apparent solution here seems to be to train women to speak in such a way that men will listen. Why is the focus not on training men to listen to women?

Because this male is a sexist idiot.