Deodorant and Priveledge

When I was in high school, a friend asked me why I never wore any cologne. I responded with indignation that I didn't even use scented deodorant, I was so against the idea of artificial scents. The reply echoes through the years as one of those moments where you can actual feel your perspective changing. Like getting to a plateau on a hike and seeing over the tops of the trees for the first time.  "Whaddya mean your deoderant doesn't have a scent? You wear Mennen. Why would you say it doesn't have a scent?"

I realized in that moment that because it was called 'regular' and because my own father had used it around me my whole life and because it felt familiar and safe, that did not mean 'odorless'.

It would take another 30 years but now I realize that not only was I walking around with an 'artificial scent' that was invisible to me; I was also walking around with a racial, gender, and orientation 'scent' that I was so comfortable with (and that society effectively bathed me with), I just thought I was 'odorless'.