erin mccann |Verified account

When women are mean they tend to have to turn ~meanness~ into a defining part of their character

Men can more easily publicly insult and dislike things/people and then bounce back to some more neutral identity

I think I'm publicly meaner than most but there's still so much I want to tear into but don't bc I'm scared of being tattooed with haterism

In a cultural-performance context, being mean = being critical = publicly displaying your erudition & discernment & knowledge

Saying something sucks is also saying you are smart & observant enough to know what ~not sucking~ looks like

Being denied the opportunity to criticize (or choosing not to take that path) means missing out on a way to be publicly smart

Being mean isn't fun. But being publicly smart and right is fun. And the two often intersect.

I guess what I'm saying is I'm tired of how much time I spend hating myself whenever I'm publicly less than nice