I'm cisgender, heterosexual, and rather butch in my approach to life. But coming out of the broom closet was a bit awkward. When my son got his first car, I taught him basic maintenance and repair techniques (as I had taught them to my husband after we got married).
When I was a kid, I wanted to do stuff boys did - I wanted to get a ham radio license, I wanted to take flying lesson, I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up. But i got told that womens' brains weren't capable of understanding science or machinery. Now, this never prompted me to want to turn into a boy. I just wanted to fly a plane! And I managed to get good enough at stuff to be taken seriously. The men of my father's generation who were the engineers I worked with at WOR, WNBC, United Nations Radio, would mutter among themselves - "that girl engineer is pretty damn good at the job". And Long John Nebel used to pay for my CHinese takeout for lunch sometimes. And Don Imus was skeptical about my skill; one day in the production studio he wanted to record a big razzle-dazzle intro to walk out on stage at some benefit concert. He started shouting into the intercom what he wanted me to do. I tried to reply, but the interom button at the engineer's position wasn't working. He said, "DUmb bitch, don't you know how to use the fucking machinery?" I walked slowly over to the producer's side of the desk, and pressed THAT button. "Keep your pants on, toilet mouth, we'll do it when I'm damn good and ready." Yes, I'm the girl engineer who called Don Imus toilet-mouth to his face, and lived to tell about it!
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When I was a kid, I wanted to do stuff boys did - I wanted to get a ham radio license, I wanted to take flying lesson, I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up. But i got told that womens' brains weren't capable of understanding science or machinery. Now, this never prompted me to want to turn into a boy. I just wanted to fly a plane! And I managed to get good enough at stuff to be taken seriously. The men of my father's generation who were the engineers I worked with at WOR, WNBC, United Nations Radio, would mutter among themselves - "that girl engineer is pretty damn good at the job". And Long John Nebel used to pay for my CHinese takeout for lunch sometimes. And Don Imus was skeptical about my skill; one day in the production studio he wanted to record a big razzle-dazzle intro to walk out on stage at some benefit concert. He started shouting into the intercom what he wanted me to do. I tried to reply, but the interom button at the engineer's position wasn't working. He said, "DUmb bitch, don't you know how to use the fucking machinery?" I walked slowly over to the producer's side of the desk, and pressed THAT button. "Keep your pants on, toilet mouth, we'll do it when I'm damn good and ready." Yes, I'm the girl engineer who called Don Imus toilet-mouth to his face, and lived to tell about it!