hi, so i recently discovered im more left wing (democratic) than right wing (republican), but im still not the most politically correct. earlier today we were discussing abortion and i said i felt bad for the women who the anti abortion people affect, but my friend corrected me and said i meant “people who get pregnant”, because men (like trans men but still men) can get pregnant. and not all women get pregnant so it doesnt affect them. she said it gently but i feel like an ass</3
First of all, I’m proud of you for being the kind of person who is self-critical enough to ask questions like this. Things like ‘Do I speak hurtfully?’ And ‘Am I acting with privilege?’ Are hard to seriously ask, because they challenge our entire life structure to some extent, and might even require us to undertake the perilous and difficult task of manually adjusting our beliefs.
Then, to address what you actually asked, I think a general term is in your favor, if it’s true. Would you rather communicate that you feel for everyone undergoing an experience, or just most of them? It’s an easy thing to forget, that non women can become pregnant, and I doubt anyone blames you for misspeaking. That’s not an asshole thing to do. Nor is it an asshole move for someone to correct you. That’s just the dialectic of culture functioning properly and healthily. It’s unfortunate that we’re trained to associate self-change as a negative thing, because we should be questioning ours and other’s beliefs constantly, imo