In a group I’m (m25) usually made fun of a lot and the butt of a lot of jokes. People will constantly roast me and I have to be fighting for my life. And I get some of it, I am clumsy and don’t have a great sense of direction and sometimes commit social faux pas and don’t always get what I’m being made fun of.
To give you an idea, I’m one of those people that doesn’t get a lot of jokes and people have described me as naive, innocent, gullible, seeming like a child. I’m not one to stick around people that would take advantage of me but my friends will even call me nicknames and it feels like a slight to me and disrecpectful to me and if I kinda act like it bothers me then it just makes them laugh and they get the reaction they are looking for and still don’t stop. If I just take it, it can make it worse. It’s not like they’re malicious but they just like to play with me.
Its not like I’m a pushover fine with people treating me this way even though I have some confidence issues. I wish I could also respond with comebacks and defend myself just as easily as others do it but I’m not quick witted and sometimes feel dumb bc I don’t even understand. I wish I could come up with roasts and nicknames to make fun of those friends so I’m not such an easy target. But I’m not quick witted and clever like that and don’t have a lot of street/social smarts so it feels like people can just walk circles around me. For context, I’m not neurotypical, I just feel slower and the way normal people just feels intimidating.
Tl:dr- So I’m just wondering how do I go about gaining respect as an awkward, slower, non street smart person that doesn’t know how to respond in diffeeent situations where I’m disrespected.
2 comments
This is hard for me too; something about the way I react makes people enjoy teasing me.
I think laughing it off would be the way to go so people don’t keep digging in; however, I take everything so seriously and this is so hard for me. Love to you.
Sometimes the best response to people disrespecting you like that is disengagement. If I were in your situation I’d probably start ignoring texts and walking away from situations more often when these people were treating me poorly. They will probably respect you more if you make it clear that spending time with you is a privilege, not a given.