I find it interesting to see, by a kind of revealed preference, what people really value via what qualities about someone they criticize or insult.
E.g., in the progressive circles I run in everybody agrees that body shaming is wrong, but shaming people for having having body parts or disabilities that don't match the standard masculine ideal is their go-to default insult, so it's pretty clear they don't mean it when they say all bodies are ok or even that trans men are real men.
@danluu I'm curious what sort of "go-to default insults" you're hearing in your circles? Maybe my friend group is just different than yours, but I can't recall hearing that sort of thing from my peers.
@stilescrisis I wouldn't say that my friends do this, but when I sit in any progressive space, e.g., Recurse Center, and left-leaning public forum/subreddit, etc., I'll hear insults about small hands, small dick energy, etc.
@danluu I feel like "small hands" in particular really tells the tale. I don't care about or notice people's hand sizes, and AFAIK most people don't. _However_, the rumor mill says that _Trump_ is ashamed of having smaller-than-average hands.
This is just basic bullying tactics—find the things that you think your target will be ashamed of, and focus on those things. It doesn't mean the bullies care about hand size—they care about making their opponent feel small. They latch onto what works.
I find it amusing that small hands are a thing that is considered negative, because it's very useful if you do any mechanical work at all (well, maybe having thin hands with long fingers is better, but still, thick hands are the least convenient when you need to fish out a nut or a bolt you've dropped out of the thing you were bolting together).
