Quoth the Rodent Queen, "Squeak."

super-creep:

scary-monster:

How!? I mean…how!?  This shit has been bothering me for years - for my whole life, honestly, though it took years to acquire the language to express it.

What the hell am I on about?

I’m on about how everything, in Western society at least (not being familiar with other societies, I can’t comment upon them) is oriented toward the benefit and comfort of extroverts.  I’m talking about the fact that extroversion is so much the norm that this even needs explaining.

I’m talking about how, in post-industrial countries, networking is so important for careers that, while entering and weathering university, I found myself bombarded by professors and career counselors telling me that networking was at least as important as grades or, on a few occasions, my degree itself.

I’m talking about how you can’t get through a goddamn semester without at least one major group project.

I’m talking about how, in fiction, loner characters are almost always “broken” - how they’re either antisocial psychopaths, or shy (or gruff-with-a-heart-of-gold) people in need of being drawn out of their shells.

I’m talking about how any major media circus thing involving a violent crime will focus on the suspect’s social habits; if they were a loner, the media will go on about how this is an indicator of an antisocial mindset, yadda yadda yadda blah blah.  If they were a social butterfly, the media will go on about how unusual that is in a perpetrator of violent crime.

I’m talking about how kids who like to read, kids who are good at school, kids who don’t have a lot of friends (whether or not they are actually introverted) get bullied and harassed - and about how, as these kids grow up, this harassment just gets more snide and passive-aggressive, turning into concern trolling and “but I was joking!”-stye erasure.  Along the same lines, I’m talking about how almost all “mainstream” activities are done in groups of at least two, and how anyone whose primary hobbies don’t fall under this umbrella…well, see the previous statement as re: concern trolling, not-funny “humour,” and so on.

I’m talking about how actual fucking psychological professionals, when dealing with an introverted patient, will, instead of helping them find ways to be more satisfied with themselves and their lives, and/or improve their lot in a way they would actually prefer, will focus on trying to teach them to be extroverted.

I’m talking about how people can listen to an interview with a genius like David Bowie and ascribe anything they don’t comprehend to “oh, silly rockstar! He’s high as a kite!”

I’m talking about how often people conflate “introverted” with “shy” and/or “antisocial” when these are three very separate things.

I’m talking about how I, an allistic trans* man, got diagnosed with Aspergers because I’m creative and not very social.

I’m talking about how introverts who have come to terms with their identity feel a need for lists like How To Care For An Introvert.

I’m talking about how one of my best friends just informed me she finds it revolutionary and mind-blowing to think about it being okay to be satisfied in oneself, on one’s own - to not have companionship be a caveat for validity.

I’m talking about how I have a not-infrequently used tag of “introversion is not a disorder.”

SO.  FUCKING.  RELEVANT.  

Like, I can’t even begin to address this subject without getting all rant-y and emotional, so I’ll just leave this here as is.  It’s pretty much spot on anyway.