in the new contrapoints video the way that justine - who forces tabby into uncomfortable situations and drops dogwhistles that are met with a disgusted response - is being seen by viewers as a portrayal of "the voice of reason" because of her aesthetics is something [1/x]
everyone's reading of the video is valid and based on their own experiences, but to me it seemed very blatant that justine was being coded as "the unreasonable one" by her words and actions, a juxtaposition with what their visuals aesthetics stereotypically code for [2/x]
but given that this is a video about aesthetics mattering moreso to the perceiver than the underlying content, i feel like there is a lot to unpack in how characters explicitly about deconstructing that notion are being read on the basis of their aesthetics [3/x]
it's totally valid to be concerned that natalie's video undermines an aspect of your identity - and i am definitely someone who has those concerns quite often in relation to media i consume [4/x]
what really stuck with me is that despite being ostensibly an ardent supporter of tabby's views when it comes to physical aesthetics... maybe i have some unexamined tendencies more in line with justine when it comes to verbal aesthetics when it comes to certain positions [5/x]
i mean, considering how much i struggle with labeling myself for what i rationalize as "coalitional reasons", i have to say that i do have unexamined tendencies even if they are almost exclusively directed at myself [6/x]
i hope this video sparks a lot of genuine discussion on how this "aesthetic bias" can be present in a lot of forms and how it can become internalized in us without awareness (but i think it didn't need to be AS potent emotionally as it was) [7/x]
it definitely made me think of how my own fears of potentially denigrating a label by my presence under it isn't just an innocent manifestation of my fear of unintentionally hurting others, but that it might also be a reflection of a darker unconscious tendency [8/x]
these issues are complicated and i don't have any answers, i only have my own process of attempting to grapple with them and my lack of success as evidence for how complicated they are [9/x]
"verbal aesthetics" is a weird phrase that i just made up, so i guess to elaborate i mean "how a position is presented" as opposed to the content of the position
i guess this is also analogous to my usual concerns about low-quality abstractions [10/x]
i guess this is also analogous to my usual concerns about low-quality abstractions [10/x]
we all have our own frameworks through which we try to make sense of our existence. but none of our frameworks are complete and all of them are constructed within the system. and they are *definitely* are not interchangable [11/x]
i'm usually uncomfortable to talk about my own framework for trying (and failing) to make sense of my own dysphoria because i recognize that it's going to be exclusionary of SOMEONE who has an internal experience that i've never had and therefore never accounted for [12/x]
just by nature of the fact that they wouldn't be able to reconstruct a representation of themselves within my framework. and i'm sure for many people i don't fit into their framework either. but i think sometimes that can be different than erasure. [13/x]
the eternal discourse cycle of widening a category to hold more people along the categorical edges, but then narrowing it out of fear that too much intracategorical variance might damage the meaning of being a member of that category is hellish. [14/x]
the vacillation between "this is erasure" and "this is co-opting" is an issue and it sucks. and then people try to claim that accusations of co-opting are really erasing by dilluting meaning and accusations of erasing are really co-opting narratives about oppression. [15/x]
and there are people who genuinely do one or both, but they aren't the people who are going to be hurt by these accusations.
for example, bi-erasure happens and has happened to me and sucks! [16/x]
for example, bi-erasure happens and has happened to me and sucks! [16/x]
but then it's said that raising awareness of bi-erasure is actually co-opting others narratives of opression. but then it's conversely said that any self-identification of a person who's mostly but not entirely monosexual as gay or lesbian is participating in erasure. [17/x]
i view this sort of discourse as "verbal aesthetics" and think it is just an intellectualized version of what justine says and does. which again isn't to say that *aesthetics don't matter* because they demonstrably do... but caring for each other is always the top priority [18/x]
and on a meta level, i wonder if sometimes people can loudly and passionately side with tabby on "physical aesthetics" yet unconsciously reflect justine on "verbal aesthetics" [19/x]
i think there's a lot to unpack on this topic and as someone drowning in all of this in their personal life i don't think i can give clarity beyond gesturing at what i see to be a vague problem [20/20]
