CIS PEOPLE: I WANT YOU TO TAKE HALF AN HOUR SOMETIME AND THINK ABOUT YOUR GENDER. REALLY THINK ABOUT IT, HARD. NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE POSSIBLY TRANS (THOUGH MAYBE YOU ARE, IDK), BUT BECAUSE IT'LL LEAD YOU TO BETTER UNDERSTAND A PART OF YOURSELF THAT SOCIETY LETS YOU LEAVE UNEXAMINED
SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
* WHAT DO I ENJOY ABOUT BEING MY GENDER?
* WHY DO I IDENTIFY WITH MY GENDER?
* WHAT GENDERED EXPECTATIONS DO I PUT ON MYSELF? DO I ENJOY THOSE EXPECTATIONS? WHY OR WHY NOT?
* WHAT GENDERED EXPECTATIONS DO I PUT ON OTHERS? WHY?
* HOW DO SOCIETAL PRESSURES AFFECT MY GENDER PRESENTATION?
* IN WHAT WAYS COULD I BETTER FEED MY GENDER? WHAT SMALL THINGS COULD I DO IN ORDER TO MAKE IT HAPPY?
* HOW DO I VISUALIZE GENDER AS A CONCEPT? WHAT DOES MY GENDER, IN SPECIFIC, LOOK LIKE?
THE GOAL OF THIS EXERCISE ISN'T TO TRIGGER SOME GRAND REVELATION, JUST TO GET YOU THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT THINK ABOUT MUCH.
GET TO KNOW YOURSELF A LITTLE BETTER. YOU DESERVE IT.
(DISCLAIMER: IF IT DOES TRIGGER A GRAND REVELATION OF SOME SORT, THAT'S OKAY. I RECOMMEND TALKING IT THROUGH WITH A FRIEND YOU TRUST, AND MY DMS ARE ALWAYS OPEN IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT GENDER SHIT)
(non-caps version bc i didn't expect it to travel far outside my usual Loud Sphere:
it fucking kills me how ursula leguin, in writing a story about how people refuse to engage with a narrative unless it contains suffering, inadvertently created one of the most long-lasting shorthands for dystopian society in the modern narrative
omelas isn't an ethical conundrum! it isn't a real place, even in the bounds of the story! it's about how the reader refuses to engage with the shining city until the narrator gives up and adds an element of dystopia, and now that dystopian element is all anybody talks about!!!!!
people start leaving at the end because the cultural hunger for suffering and the belief that sorrow is more interesting than joy have turned their beautiful life into a mere facade! the story sucks now, and we ruined it!
LAST NIGHT ALTON BROWN CAME TO ME IN A DREAM AND INSTRUCTED ME ON A NEW RECIPE HE'D BEEN WORKING UP. IT WAS A TEA-BASED SALTY SOUP TITLED "IN THE HOLE" AND HE SHOWED ME EVERY STEP TO MAKE IT.
THIS MORNING I MADE IT AND IT MADE ME FEEL PHYSICALLY ILL. FUCK YOU, DREAM ALTON BROWN
THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR BINGE WATCHING GOOD EATS BEFORE BED
I WILL SAY, THE NAME WAS ACCURATE. I DID FEEL LIKE SOMEONE HAD PUT ME IN THE HOLE
SCIENTISTS MEASURE THAT 1/3 OF ALL HUMAN LIFE IS SPENT STARING AT VARIOUS FOOD INGREDIENTS AND TRYING TO JIMMY NEUTRON BRAIN BLAST THEM INTO A FUNCTIONAL MEAL
ANOTHER SOLID QUARTER IS SPENT MENTALLY COMBINING THEM IN RANDOM ARRANGEMENTS LIKE AN ADVENTURE GAME CHARACTER
SCIENTISTS COMPUTE THAT A SOLID 90% OF HUMAN LIFESPAN COULD BE FREED UP IF WE ALL HAD A LITTLE RATATOUILLE SURGICALLY IMPLANTED INTO OUR SKULLS
the thesis of videodrome is "if you hit the tipping point of being extremely online then your two options are to either become a fascist or attempt to transcend reality in the hopes of turning into a catgirl" which is fucking wild given that it was made in 1985
q: max renn wouldn't become a catgirl
a: the videodrome signal gave him free GRS and his first instinct was to hide a gun inside. of course he'd be a fucking catgirl
i regularly think about how you fundamentally couldn't make videodrome today, because you'd end up with... a vaguely pretentious and leftist scifi movie. the fact that it's thirty years early, covered in the grime and gore of 80s horror, is an unthinkable miracle