Then I got to thinking, sexual orientation is merely one facet of otherwise complicated human beings. And there are plenty of ways in which I am weird, too, and I wouldn't appreciate people judging me on just one single aspect of my personality.
Here are just a few ways in which I buck the norms:
- Physically,
- I am 5'11" (>95th percentile for white women in the United States)*
- I am left-handed (8-15% of the population is left-handed; the Irish term for left-handed, ciotóg, means "strange person")*
- I have no cavities (Average 18-year-old has had 12 cavities; average person age 40+ has had 29)*
- I can curl my tongue in this weird lasagna-noodle shape. (no stats on that, but my sister Laura and I are the only people I know who can do this)
- I am 5'11" (>95th percentile for white women in the United States)*
- Academically,
- I have a Ph.D (like 0.6% of American women)*
- ... in computer science (like 2.4% [1136] of all American doctorates awarded in 2005; 19% of which [225] were awarded to women)*
- and a B.S. in Physics. (couldn't find any stats on that, but there was one other woman in my class and at the time there were no women professors in my department)
- I have a Ph.D (like 0.6% of American women)*
- Demographically,
- I am American (like roughly 4.5% of the world's population)*
- Our family is a reverse-traditional family (like 147,000 other American households)*
- I out-earn 75% of Americans*, and 99% of all people in the world.
- I am American (like roughly 4.5% of the world's population)*
- Philosophically,
- I am an atheist (5-10% of Americans)*
- I support marriage equality (unlike 81% of my fellow Tennesseeans)
- I am an atheist (5-10% of Americans)*
Any one of these facts about me make me unusual. All of these facts together make me a very strange person indeed! But my uniqueness does not disqualify me from being a member of the human race, deserving of love, respect, and equality. Some people's "strange" attraction to members of the same sex doesn't disqualify them, either.
2 comments:
Yay, it's the "Becca bucks the norms" post!
Awesome.
And by these reckonings, I'm more normal than you: I'm more average height, right-handed, pursuing a degree in the humanities, Christian -- just different in the sexual orientation.
You are quickly becoming my favorite blogger! You should write a book. . .on just about anything--I'd buy it. Definitely Write a Book!
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