I lived the first part of my life pretending to be a man, and then I wised up. I’ll just name my most recent moment of acknowledging that particular distinction in society.

If a pair of suburban mothers saw a car pull into a nearby space, and watch a man get out of the car leaving the door mostly ajar and walk around to the passenger side of the car, grab a small grocery sack, and walk it to the nearest trash can and back… they might say something or keep an eye on him. But if he absentmindedly were to have also left the radio on loud enough for you to know he was listening to the building up of a particularly spice scene of a romance audiobook and … there would be some discomfort.

But if they saw a woman in the same scenario, who only made it about halfway to the trash can before realizing, then make eye contact as they ran to turn it off embarassed… well they just giggled and asked what author that was.