@spaj8987 I'm glad you mentioned being a person of colour. This was a reference I wanted to include in my original post but didn't feel it appropriate. Now I guess I can.
The first time I truly got a glimpse into what it must be like to be a black person in a white world was when my girlfriemd told me about a Caribbean guy she'd dated in her twenties. Macho, masculine, alpha. Except when they went anywhere where there was a police presence, then this man was reduced into a quivering wreck of terror. He felt every police eye on him. He knew they were watching him because of his race, that their presumptions were negative, toxic. It upset her so much, she said, that for the first time she realised what it meant to be discriminated against. When she told me that story, I also truly 'got it' for the first time. Being white, I of course have no concept of the realities of being exposed to a system that's tilted against you because of your skin color.
Not for a moment am I conflating the issues of inherent societal racism with penis size shaming. They are of course world's apart and shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. What I am saying is that when my girlfriend related this anecdote, I mentally flipped through my narrow personal frame of reference, and came to the worst of many times I've been size shamed, and I thought 'oh, so now I know how that Caribbean guy felt - singled out in a negative sense for a physical attribute he can't control. Except of course that that physical attribute in his case was worn for everyone to see and therefore he couldn't conceal it to avoid negative attention, like a guy with a small one can.
For the first time in my life I had a brief glimpse of what it might be like to be black in a white world, and I identified even though I'm a white in a white world.
The size moment for me was in my early twenties, I'd agreed to play soccer, which I love, with a few co workers I got on with. There was communal showering afterwards and I felt defiant about getting naked despite my insecurities. My thought process went: I know I've had comments at school and in college but hell these guys clearly like me, I like them, and it's not like I'm a true micro. Fuck it, I'm gonna man up. What are they going to say anyway?
Turns out there was loads they could - and did - say. Everyone had a good look and some openly sniggered. I braved it out, acting like it was the most natural thing in the world to have 1 inch softie, inside I was dying, knowing I'd made a huge misjudgment. It only took a couple of days before word had got around the office and several people outside my soccer circle - including, excruciatingly, women - were making small dick references almost daily, many directly to me.
Needless to say, I never went to a soccer match again. And I harboured a deep resentment, even dislike, of my 'friends' who I felt had blabbed and been disloyal. Believe it or not, I actually left a very good company with a promising job because I couldn't take it anymore. I had to brace myself for the comments and barbs. Some days there'd be nothing and I'd be hopeful that they'd all forgotten. But then someone would say sonething and the horror would come back.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the humiliation, embarrassment, shame. And the frustration that these guys somehow thought they were better than me - had one up on me - because I was small. And I'm now in my fifties but because I can't fetishize this shame, as many small men do, I have no way of dealing with it other than asking questions on forums like this.
I hope you understand my predicament a bit better now. It may be ridiculous and irrational in many peoples' eyes, but unless you're an inherently insecure person like myself, and been subjected to penis size shaming abuse, it's probably difficult to understand how it can affect your sense of self.