On Femme Invisibility on the way to the bus station

Yesterday while in Ypsi I was walking down the street to the bus station. I was sharing the sidewalk with two men in their mid-forties who were chatting with each other the way old friends do. As I was about to pass them they stopped and one of the men said, "Damn girl, you sure do know how to walk down the street".

Now, that is a true statement. I had my heels on and was walking with quite a little swank I must say. I was feeling good, thinking about my maybe pregnancy and getting pumped up for QZ that night. I mean, damn, I did look good and I was walking down that street with some style.

But it means something different to me to have a man (who was clearly checking me out) say it, than to know it myself or have someone in my community say it. So I laughed because I knew he didn't mean any harm and because laughing seemed easier than stopping to explain I was offended by the comment because I'm not straight. I'm femme.

Femme invisibility friends. It makes my heart hurt.