My father and I were out to lunch. (I am a 47 years old.) The waiter addressed him as “sir” and called me a “young lady”, even though the waiter was clearly 15-20 years my junior. I told the waiter that lady or ma’am is how he should address me and to leave the “young” part silent. The waiter nodded and reacted appropriately. My father, however, told the waiter, “You can call me young any time you like and I won’t bitch at you about it.” It was like a public colonoscopy, that painful. My entire life my father has used biting comments like these to try to punish me when standing up for myself especially against men. Standing up for ourselves should not make us the targets of abuse. Men are scared of losing their entitled traditional male power and use comments like these to try to keep women subservient and obedient.
