Carcharodonna

Love this!!! Excellent work :D

Hair explody juice???? Pls teach us your secrets.

Maybe men really should "return to tradition", though not in the way chuds want them to. Skirts for men and deep platonic male love/affection deserve to make a comeback, judging by some of the responses here.

I used to have frequent panic attacks when I was younger, and laughing at someone going through one is absolutely horrible. I'm sorry that happened to you.

He's openly friendly, but inside he's the kind of misogynist asshole that told me I wasn't a man when I was younger. He was a cop too.

Oh Jesus. Seriously fuck that guy. He sounds horrible.

So that is probably the other big one. I'm still embarrassed about it. I'm not embarrassed about my emotions though. That's something I've accepted and grown to love about myself in a weird way.

That's a massive hurdle you were able to overcome, so congrats on doing that! I still have issues myself with expressing emotions related to depersonalization/derealization stuff, but I'm also working on it and have made huge strides towards fixing it. Also, like you though, I still have to mask most of the time. :/

tbh I really like compression socks, and they're especially great for when you have to sit for long periods like for work or whatever. I got an assortment pack that has some cute designs, like one pair is black and has raccoons on it. Another is neon blue and pink and has flamingos. If it all possible, you should maybe try going against your gendered programming and get something you genuinely think is cute and/or comfortable :D

It really is, isn't it? Do you ever watch NHRL stuff? If not, you should. It's pretty fun/exciting and there's a decent amount trans/queer presence in the league which is cool, like here for example: https://youtu.be/pJMko14GWio&t=840

I did once see a company that sells modern utility "kilts" for men but they're pretty expensive and no idea how well they'd go over with most people in reality. Kind of an interesting idea though and tbh I might dig something similar (especially with the pockets) that's more fem.

i think it's sort of a compounding effect of various societal norms regarding what is considered "masculine and respectable" that causes a lot of friendships amongst men, and amongst cishet men especially, to be very shallow and impersonal.

Based on what I've read, this seems like it's very much a modern thing and that deep male friendship was the norm throughout most of human history.

Relevant poem:

They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take. 

~ Callimachus, Elegy for Heracleitus

I've always preferred to wear my hair a little long, when I was in elementary school the other kids called me transphobic slurs several times. To be clear, I am cis, but it still hurt seven year old TheLepidopterists's feelings.

I'm sorry that happened to you

It's of course a bit different for me, but I also really hated being made to feel ashamed for anything I might do that could be considered "girly" at all. I even made a funny post about this topic recently. There is a scene in I Saw the TV Glow where the evil dad says something like "Isn't that a show for girls?" and it cut through me pretty hard having heard it so many times and having that fear/shame ingrained into me. But yeah, policing gender norms is pretty evil, including when it's done to cis men, and we should all push back against it whenever and wherever it appears.

I hate sports and in particular American Football.

Same! And good for you for hating American football in particular. It's a terrible sport run mostly by racist chuds that causes long term injuries (including brain damage) for the people who play it, which also includes kids in many cases. I do admit that I like watching Kaiju Big Battel sometimes (which is really more entertainment than actual wrestling) and robot wars type stuff, but that's mostly it these days for watching sports.