Slavery was upheld by democratically elected governments too, wasn't it? People have a duty to not respect unjust laws - that has been the major factor of change in society.
Otherwise women wouldn't be voting in the US still.
This is so interesting. I had a similar experience like what you described. A friend of mine drunk dialed me when she was partying with her girlfriends, telling me that her friend thought I was cute.
It felt weird - that she was sharing photos of me with her friends - and a bit objectifying too. But yeah, I had the same thought as you. It felt nice.
Also, your writing style is amazing. If you ever write a blog or a book, I would give it a try just on the basis of how well you articulate thoughts.
Maybe a relevant personal anecdote might help you -
My grandfather used to sit with me for an hour every morning and used to teach me maths.
He would focus on basics first. He would make sure I had the basics drilled in to me. Not just understood them, but mastered them. Then we would move on to the next topic.
It was a bit slow at first. But after a while, once the basics were done, I finished the whole year's math book in 2-3 months.
I have seen this in software engineering too. Once I am good at basics, or once they're drilled in enough, I am faster and quicker.
Drilling basics is basically like having the basics in O(1) look up with very reduced space complexity too. It reduces the amount of overhead your brain utilises. This makes your brain free to think about the actual problem you are solving. Also, I think this is what allows your brain to work in the background, even when you aren't actively thinking about the problem.
Thank you for sharing your story. I am what one would call a lurker but have recently decided to start participating directly too. Your post also gives me a lot of motivation to do that.
I think one of the reasons of the positive energy in this community is because it's strict rules on trolling. If one doesn't get to see low effort replies, sarcastic comments etc, then it reduces the chances of them having a bad experience. Hence, resulting in an net positive vibe in the whole forum. Just my two cents!
Otherwise women wouldn't be voting in the US still.