[WikiEN-l] Misogyny is the perfect troll

[Durova]

How weird...I write a lighthearted piece about the self-defeating aspects of
misogyny and the thread quickly turns bitter.

People do bring their assumptions to Wikipedia.  I haven't kept a tally of
the number of editors who've mistaken me for a man, but I've always made it
rather obvious that I've got a matching set of X chromosomes.  My username
has a Slavic feminine ending and my user page explains that the handle is
homage to the first female officer of the Russian army.  Still, the mistake
happens pretty regularly.  Most of the time the person who makes it offers a
good natured apology.  I don't take offense at that.

Years ago, I got good enough at a sport that I was working out someone
nearby said, "Look at him."  My first reaction was disbelief - I was wearing
spandex shorts at the time and I sure as heck don't have manly looking
hips - so the next day at work I asked my boss "Was this what I think it
is?"

"Oh yes, used to be much worse," she laughed.  "Happened to me all the time
when I used to play tennis, even though I was wearing a skirt.  They're just
not thinking."

Sure enough, the better I got the more people thought I was male.  That had
side benefits sometimes.  My happiest moment as an athlete was the look in
the eyes of a five-year-old girl when she realized a *woman* had executed
the stunt she really liked to watch.  And eventually, in a totally different
context, it led to a hilarious encounter with a couple of Hell's Angels
who thought I was a guy.

Parse "prejudice" and you pretty much get "pre-judgement" - all of those
instances were prejudice, but "misogyny" isn't necessarily synonymous.
Misogyny is what nearly prompted me, back when I owned that Harley, to
commission a custom t-shirt that would have read, "But I'm straight."

-Durova