Personal Narrative: My Female Discourse

Respecting myself is what I consider to be one of my defining characteristics, so when I heard one of my male cross country teammates saying offensive things about me and my female teammates, I had to say something. At this time four out of the six girls on my team were dealing with some type of injury. Problems with our hips, knees, and ankles were some of the issues we were dealing with. This particular male teammate was saying things like, “Our girls team is really slacking right now.” In addition, he was mocking us by saying, “I can’t go to practice today because I have a hangnail.” These comments upset me immensely due to the fact that it was coming from a teammate. Uplifting and encouraging are what teammates are supposed to do instead …show more content…
When I expressed how upset we were about his comments, he responded with a half hearted apology, “Well, sorry if I offended you.” In response, I aggressively said, “Yeah, you did.” Later that day, I was texting one of my female teammates about possibly talking to our coach about this issue because I was not going to let it go. Our girls team was being disrespected due to our body’s natural reaction to stress and being overworked. At that moment, the male teammate texted me a lengthy and sincere apology. He apologized for taking his comments too far and treating us like we were faking our injuries. Additionally, he stated that there is no girls team and guys team because we are all one team. This apology meant a lot to me, and I appreciated his remorse. This situation shows how I don’t let people treat me poorly. I have too much respect for myself to allow mine and my teammates physical state to be joked about. Standing up for myself and making my grievances known no matter who’s involved is what I do. My ability to stand up for myself and others when necessary is something I take pride in, and I consider it to be one of my defining