Several days ago, as Todd Imperial was stepping out of a crowded elevator, his eyes inadvertently drifted to the notably generous derriere of the woman in front of him, and, before he could appropriately censor himself, his mind had guiltily jumped to a racial stereotype.
"I felt just terrible about it," said Todd of his momentary lapse into old mental behavior. "Clearly there's still lots of societal conditioning at work in this old noggin of mine. What can I say? I'm working on it."
Todd declined to identify the race of the young woman whose backside he unintentionally ogled, stating that he did not feel that the information was relevant - and, even more importantly, he did not want to risk his private thought being taken out of context and used to perpetuate the very sorts of racial stereotypes that men like him are working so diligently to eradicate.
Todd stated that he did, however, disclose the full details of the encounter to his close friend, Dustin Kelly, in order to fully exorcise the shame he experienced at witnessing such an unevolved thought arise in his brain.
"We talked it through over a cup of green tea, and I've got some acceptance around it now," said Todd, noting his immense gratitude for non-judgmental male confidantes like Dustin. "We all have lapses we're not proud of. What can I do but move on?"
