Hey Pandas, What Is Something You Really Enjoy, But Don't Talk About Because Of The Stigma? (Closed)

Less so of a problem since 2016, but being a huge Guns N' Roses fan. Sort of silly, I know, but in the early 2000s, it felt awkward to admit to most people. I know they are just regular humans in a rock band, but my heart beats a little faster when I see that logo or hear a few notes. The reunion has changed my life in that I've started travelling the world to meet up with fans and I've met some fantastic and wonderful people from that.

Minecraft. Everyone thinks it's some "cringey YouTuber game", but really it's a fun creative space where possibilities are practically endless! It was a big part of my childhood and still is a great stress reliever for me today!

I'm retired and I spend most of my day on my computer playing the game World of Warcraft. I love not having to work and playing WOW not only passes the time but it beats housework.

Dungeons & Dragons. I only just recently got into it and I want to start a campaign with my friends, but none of them play and think it's too complicated or too nerdy. I'm not even that nerdy of a person, I just like playing it because I can battle monsters and be someone else for a few hours at a time.

Playing World of warcraft. And no, it is not like as it is shown in that famous South Park episode.

Aside from my group of friends, some co-workers (and certain customers by proxy), and family, I don't really talk about video games too often.

I think its a pair of stigmas that are tied to it as to why I don't talk about them. First, gamers are usually perceived as nerdy by the media (which I am, don't get me wrong), which is the lesser of the two in my opinion. And the other is because of all the scandals with certain games (like the Columbine Shooting, or Jack Thompson trying to tie video games to these horrific events, and even blackmail certain developers).

Probably a lesser stigma, but if I do talk about games, most random people often assume I play the more popular franchise right now, like GTA, COD, Assassin's Creed, or other things like that. I usually don't have too many discussions with new people (unless I go to a specific thread for said game) when I talk about a new RPG/JRPG, or action game.

Having a chronic illness. I have endometriosis and it doesn't show unless I'm so inflamed I look pregnant. It hurts like hell some days so I was put on a opiate + nerve blocker cocktail... People either assume I'm a junkie, that I'm faking or feel sorry for me and treat me differently...

Yes, it hurt, yes I lost my tubes, yes my husband and I can't conceive naturally, and yes it bloody sucks but that's our family's business.

I don't want to be given diet advice, told to do yoga or know about the wide of your coworker who also has endo to be honest...

Let me fight my fight, enjoy my good days and if I let you in to see the bad days, don't ask too many questions, just go with it and be there... trust me that's enough.

Anime/manga because there is a surprising amount of stigma around boys liking anime/manga (even though Pokemon is a manga/anime)

Smoking... I know, I know... It's disgusting and I wish I didn't smoke... But when I light up, I do 'enjoy it'

The DSMP. People who don't know it think that it's stupid and nerdy, and people who do know it often criticize who you choose to watch. I love watching Karl, Tubbo, Wilbur, Tommy, Ranboo, and Techno [fly high and never die ❤]. They honestly help me to feel emotion when I have a hard time doing so due to mental health.

Witchcraft and vodun.
Writing fanfic.
Kink in general.
I'm a bit of a foodie/food snob but...I love carb loading on buttered noodles. Which, now that I've thought of it I'm gonna go do it.
Tropey lesbian romances (even the non steamy ones)
Having a messy bedroom. Like actually I don't like it being tidy. Everything else can be tidy, idc, but my room needs have zones filled with my favorite stuff sitting out where I can see and access it easily. My bed is basically a bare mattress with a giant next of blankets and pillows all in the "wrong" order. Soft comforter goes on the bottom with me and everything else on top, the I pull it over me like I'm a giant pillow and sheet burrito.

I'm a 19 year old boy, but I like ladies older than me; 25-30

Enjoying child books/ teen dramas (I'm 36).
'The Infinite Story' ist still one of my favourite books, also some things by Astrid Lindgren.

And for teen dramas, puberty is such a intense time where so much happens that you can make a great story of.
Off course there are some bad series in this genre, too but but there are loooots of great series.
Gets my interest more than the 183627171 horror series in Netflix, sorry.

Also enjoying 'esoteric' stuff. Im interested in different light effects and atmospheres, I like dreams and zodiac signs, I used to be interested in semiprecious stones and I love incence sticks.

Not something I can tell a lot of people bc it gives the image of 50year old people in their caftans with crystal balls and no touch with reality.

B******t.

Probably Harry Potter and my knowledge on animals

Nickel back… yeah, I said it

I love peace. Quiet times when my head doesn't hurt and no one is coming to me with yet another problem to solve. When I don't have to worry about who the next amoral president will be, (regardless of party) don't have to wish people would be less judgemental about their differences. (If someone is gay or straight, black or white, old or young, etc., why the hell do you care or judge? It doesn't impact you! Mind your business. Live and let live)! I just love when I find that harmonious place where the sun is shining or the rain is pounding or the winds are howling and there's no other person polluting my brain pan. No extra sensory b.s. from someone else's perspective. Only the peace you can find by focusing on whatever diety you believe in or inner strength you can grasp and enjoying the moment, no matter how fleeting it may be. That my fellow humans, is golden.

Wrestling. WWE; AEW; NJPW; ROH; indie shows. Love them all. As a women in her 40’s it’s hard to find other women interested in it to the extent I am. I just love it. It’s like a bad soap opera with fighting. Thank god my husband is so into it too otherwise I would have no one to talk to about it.

I love to research poisons & venoms - including history, creation, useage, reactions.

Only my (very small & tight) social circle knows about it. Every other person - colleagues & bio-family - just know the crafty, punk that somehow knows nearly everything about everyone.

What no one knows -- I made a few different ones and stored them away (out of reach for anyone but me)
It's fascinating --- no, I never poisoned anyone (exception: the spiked punch at prom 2004) & I don't plan on doing so 😅

I feel like I'm gonna get judged here too but here I go-
You know those videos in YouTube where you have little characters creating skits and stuff like that? Gacha videos? I'm a (very) small content creator for the Gacha community. Such a shame that everyone who makes these videos gets judged just because of a few bad or cringy people.

The book Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card. I loved, loved, loved his books I read growing up (I was 10). They were a lifeline to a lonely introvert kid. There were some valuable lessons about compassion and critical thinking and many others, all told wonderfully in stories. But later on in life, I learned he was a homophobe, a radical Mormon (which ties him to religious, fundamentalist views), an extremist (is an active racist propagandist) and is a racist bigot.
Philosophically, I cringe to remember I consumed the work of a “bad artist” but I also cringe at the thought of my lonely 11-year-old self continuing to be lonely having never read the novels. Sigh.