Dating : This is an interesting thing that illustrates privilege really well.

This is an interesting thing that illustrates privilege really well. Taking a person’s glasses off is depicted in pop culture as an intimate, sexy move, but you highlight exactly why it’s not — someone without glasses doesn’t really understand how profoundly they’re hobbling you when they take your glasses away, and what unsexy feelings that can provoke. They can’t even imagine what it’s like to not be able to see all the time, so your discomfort and worry doesn’t even exist in their world.

Imagine the implications of this for someone with less security than a cis man — imagine being around someone you don’t want to have sex with, you’re in their space so it’s already awkward to leave, maybe you’re a little intimidated by them… and then they deliberately take away your ability to see. They do it smiling. It’s supposed to be romantic.

The tall, dark, handsome man gently lifts her glasses away from her face. “Oh, darling… yes, put your trust entirely in me, someone you just met, even for something as simple as walking across the room. I’ll just make off with this expensive medical prosthetic of yours and put it somewhere you can’t see. Of course I’m sure it will be safe there and you will be able to find it later, despite never having had to store such a thing before in my life, and despite having just demonstrated such utter lack of interest in your comfort as to take your glasses away without asking.”

That’s your cue to swoon, baby.