Haha. I’m a woman. I’ve been in these situations too. My whole life. I learned pretty early on that most of the time you stand alone in this world.

I specifically mentioned familial pressure in my comment. From the way the comment read though, it wasn’t his family, it was his partner’s family. Maybe I misunderstood?

That’s mostly where my hang up was. I’m having a hard time not seeing racism in that family as well. Maybe ageism too.

That’s my point. None of us can individually stop acts of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, or ableism. We can only choose to respond or not, and how we’re going to do that. But, we choose the people we let in our lives once we’re adults. Why keep someone in your life who won’t stand with you against all the isms of the world. Why continue investing in them if they’re never going to invest in you?

If that makes me a Karen, so be it. Or maybe, being female, I’m just more attuned to closely watch how dates/boyfriends react to things and how families interact because that’s the treatment you’re going to get. That’s our version of “the talk". One of, anyway.