I fit the internet SJW stereotype to an uncomfortable degree, but I don’t really identify with it (which makes sense, given that it’s a shallow idea of a person designed by people who dislike them).
At the same time, I absolutely do not fulfill the stereotype of the American in Germany, and people are often very surprised when they hear that I am.
Do you fit or break a lot of stereotypes?
Sometimes I wonder about which stereotypes I’m resembling, for example when I’m wearing a plaid shirt and cutting down trees with an axe. But that normally only happens two or three times a year.
seasonal plaid is just boring basic white person stuff. esp if you are in a suburban area with an acre+ and you’ve got trees to manage or deadfall to remove. your ax was probably 20 bucks form home depot too.
lumbersexual is the year-round plaid people in cities who have $500 axes and outdoor tools purely for a esthetic reasons.
I wear flannels nine months a year because it’s good for layering and I tend to get really cold and really hot multiple times in a day. Plus, it looks professional enough for teaching and I’m unlikely to have any wardrobe issues with it (I learned the hard way that ponchos don’t mix with writing on the board). It doesn’t normally make me feel any kind of way, but a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about drinking culture in Germany vs our home countries with my students. I didn’t even think about how I was dressed when explaining that we typically played a drinking game with a stump and either hatchets or axes and we always drank in the woods as youths, but my students started laughing at me for being a lumberjack.
I’ve never felled a tree, but I really love splitting wood, and a flannel is comfortable for that work. It might be less a stereotype and more just specialized gear.