Thanks for this, and they did say some more things justifying their request, mostly about how the school is small (45ish? According to my roommate just now) and how you need to tread extremely lightly because people can be sensitive in issues like sexual assault, and don’t want a man to be in the conversation because of the gender dynamic and how it makes them uncomfortable.

My roommate, who is a senior, told me that he stays silent because people have called him names and told him to “kill himself” when he spoke about his trauma, and he won’t talk to me about it when I asked (which I respect). He is extremely popular now, but he shuts down any conversation that isn’t surface-level about the day to day things. This made me pretty sad, because I like discussing policy and theory, but such is life.

The schools prides itself on progressive education (and politics), and this appears to be a way that this is manifests in a more toxic way. For the most part it is great, I won’t lie. I agree that it is inappropriate what they are asking, but it’s part of the culture surrounding these issues. I’m 1 vs 45 here, and no one is coming to support me.

I was trying to be more social and active in discussions (I am very introverted), but it seems like people don’t actually want to talk to me, just use me for their own emotional support (which I do anyways). I might just maintain my status as a “loner” for the duration of my high school experience. I should be able to graduate next year anyway, so that’s nice. I just wish I could have some more support from my peers, but it seems that they have made their position clear. r/MensLib is really great for helping me get more feminist support, so that’s nice. I had a period of time that I gravitated to r/MGTOW and the such, and I can testify that they definitely don’t have it right either.

Books seem better than friends at the moment.