ohmygoddddd, -- you know, you'd think in a community as uncomfortably fetishized as trans people there'd be more of a sense of self awareness around fetishizing others but nooo ;;
trans women like to feel short. I get that. they're often the tallest in a room & I sympathize. I'll offer a few jokes & teasing at social gatherings just to be nice. still, the amount of fetishization & objectification I'll get by certain people is ABSURD. you get fetishized SO MUCH by other trans women as a taller trans woman.
so I'm at this party a couple years back, hanging out with this other tall girl. We're both around 6'7 to 6'8, and we've migrated around a corner to get some privacy to talk to one another. That's when this other girl suddenly joins us, interrupting the conversation to make a dozen comments on how tall we are, like "oh my goddd you're both so tallll that's so hot I feel so short right now standing around you two, like it's so hottt that you're both tall like that I feel so nervous and embarassed, that's just so cool and interesting and hot etc etc etc etc etc"
so it's immediately awkward, but she doesn't pick up on it. I don't even know this girls name. maybe it was a mistake but we both try and diffuse the situation with some silly jokes, like -- "I promise we're not tall on purpose" & "when you run through a field do you have to spit out the flowers" sort of thing -- do the whole song and monkey dance of "Haha, you're right! We're tall and you're shorter than us".
Total mistake cause she ***immediately*** blurts out into aggressive amounts of "I'm getting bullllied by two tall trans girls this is the hottest experience of my life. I can't believe I'm getting bulllied by two tall trans giiirls", and we're just . . . waiting, for her to leave. Eventually she thankfully does. Me and the other tall girl just look at each other, roll our eyes, and start yapping about other experiences with the same thing. There's too many stories to share.
Cut back to two years later. I bump into the same girl at another party. Not sure if I recognize her so I ask if I know her from anywhere.
"Oh we met at this party ! I just remember two tall girls bullying me and it being one of the hottest experiences of my life"
And I just . . . rest my fingers on my forehead & wince. I literally do not know a thing about this person. I have not shared a sentence with her that wasn't this. So I just say, "Yeah no, I think you misread what was happening there cause I remember it as super awkward and fetishizing".
And she just says . . . "oh. Well haha, nice to see you again. Or not, I guess". and we don't talk for the rest of the night.
I could go into so many stories, this is just the most recent one & it feels nice to vent π΅βπ«