Woke AF

Woke: usually the past tense of the word ‘wake’ but also a word to describe someone

alert to injustice in our society. A while ago, my sister told me that she hoped I would one day

get over my overly woke phase. Which is fair, it can be annoying to make a joke and then have

someone kill the mood over a single word. For example, I was scrolling through tiktok the other

day and a lesbian had made a joke about having a nut allergy because men have nuts. Her video

was then stitched by a transgender man who went on a rant about how this one joke was

insensitive to people who haven’t medically transitioned yet.

He also mentioned that the joke shouldn’t have even been a thought because it’s the

twenty first century and jokes like this will only set us back. Much like my sister didn’t like me

telling her that Sam Smith now identified as nonbinary, I didn’t like this guy calling out this

other creator for making a joke that didn’t even mention the trans community. However, I don’t

believe what he said was wrong, nor did I find it overly woke.

We are in the twenty first century and there are trans people who have yet to medically

transition who would feel hurt by that joke despite what I felt about it. And just like I wasn’t the

only one to disagree, he wasn’t the only one to think the joke was offensive. I have been where

he is when it comes to the whole “we need to better educate ourselves” discussion. When

something like the topic of pronouns comes up in a show that my sister and I both like, we both

look at each other and the duel commences. She opens up with “I don’t know what this character

did wrong by saying her pronouns were obviously she/her” and I say, “Well yeah, but not

everybody who looks like her uses she/her pronouns” and we go back and forth until she says

we’re done and we still have yet to see eye to eye.

 She thinks not everything is worth getting upset about and I think these things not worth

being upset about are so rooted in society that someone as far left as my sister finds the criticism

of these things to be an extreme. Even I think criticism of some of these things are an extreme

but if it needs to be said and it needs to be brought up then why not bring it up. I see mothers

telling their little boys not to play with jewelry because something their child sees as pretty and

shiny is a “girls’ thing” and I say nothing because because whatever I say, even if the people

who agree with me wouldn’t consider it overly woke, will still be viewed as overly woke by

these mothers who don’t want their sons playing with “girl toys”. Even woke people are viewed

as overly woke!

My sister and I are thrown in the same box of “overly woke” when we tell our parents

“Hey dad, that was misogynistic.” or “Hey mom, stop telling our little sister that she can’t go out

with her friends because her boyfriend’s an insecure, little man child.” She may be on a different

level but whether she likes it or not, she and I are both on the more extreme end of things even if

it’s different people slapping that same label on to us. Is there a line? Maybe. Do I think that line

has been crossed? No. My sister may dislike it but I don’t think I am overly woke and I don’t

think she is overly woke. I think we’re both just woke af.