Tag Archives: survival
The Power of Politeness
All those dirty looks, short replies and general rudeness hints at the possibility of more severe mistreatment, suggesting that such mistreatment is justified; that the violation of gender deserves punishment. [...] Feminist sexual politics demands a certain nonchalance in regards to “female
masculinity” [...] I also don’t think it’s ok that maleness and (for the most part) masculinity are reserved for people with certain body types and/or assigned “male” at birth. Men should be able to be as femme as me; I should be able to be read as male. But feminist movement has shifted gendered expectations (rightly) so that women, too, should be able to look like me (and they do). Continue reading
Filed under "Queer Culture", Max Attitude, What's Queer Here?
On Being Defended
For a long time I thought independence meant self-sufficiency. But the stockpiling of abuse I have taken taught me that having people around to stand up for me was not only a valid survival technique (and what a privilege it was to have ever thought I could persist alone), but a complete pleasure. Continue reading
Filed under Feminist Politics, Max Attitude, What's Queer Here?
Passing Lies
It remains apparent that those of us who are most visibly different encounter discrimination, hostility and violence. Cultural pressures to conform to gendered expectations become internalised and naturalised, creating anxieties about gender ambiguity from ‘everywhere and nowhere’. This occurs through socially organised gender policing in science, law, religion, education systems, art, pornography and economics. Continue reading
Filed under "Queer Culture", Max Attitude, What's Queer Here?
