i will never forgive the internet for what it did to the word “mansplain”
mansplaining is a very specific phenomonon wherein a man who is NOT qualified to talk about a topic assumed he knows better than other people who ARE qualified, purely because of sexism.
sharing a fun fact you learned isnt mansplaining. infodumping isnt mansplaining. adding your relevant personal experience to a discussion isn’t mansplaining, (as long as you remain respectful of others’ experiences as well, but that’s always true). correcting someone who is objectively wrong and spreading misinformation REALLY isn’t mansplaining.
stop telling men that all of their interests and attempts at socializing are insulting and unwanted, your gender essentialism is showing.
people in my REAL LIFE i have had to convince i like to hear them talk, really:
trans men talking about their oppression
trans women talking about their oppression
autistic men infodumping
perfectly kind cis men who are answering a question i literally asked, or getting passionate about one of their interests
people who AREN’T self-conscious about this:
men who actually fucking mansplain, oh my god the whole POINT is that they dont care about other people’s thoughts, why do you think whatever this fucking campaign is would bother them
this is making the rounds again and the amount of people in the notes accusing me of being a man is hilarious. like no i just dont like being mean to people and alienating my friends, sorry.
I would like to add men of colour talking about their oppression.
[Plain text: I would like to add men of colour talking about their oppression.]
“Stop saying 15 year olds with weird interests are cringe, they’re 15” this is true however you should also stop saying adults with weird interests are cringe because who gives a shit
To wit:
I want to share some wisdom from my high school art teacher.
In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:
“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.
“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”
Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.
Takeaway here: be as cringe as you want. Don’t limit yourself based on other ppl’s tastes. They’re not you, and you are incredible 💕
I think the thing about the ocean is that it does not want us there, and it can kill you so much to prove this.
Look, SOME of us grew up repeatedly hearing The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald from a young age and that Lake Superior never gives up her dead. The ocean is like that but MUCH BIGGER and MORE.
It’s not even just “they’re doing to trans people now what they did to gay people then,” the Nazis did the same thing to trans people at the time because there were a lot of trans people in Berlin, in part because it’s where the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was, which was hugely influential for trans people
I think it’s useful to point out how much anti-trans rhetoric overlaps with other forms of bigotry and broader enforcement of cisheteronormativity/white supremacy, but also important to recognize that trans people have been a thing the whole time, we aren’t some new invention of the late 2010s. Neonazis want us dead because the actual Nazis wanted us dead 90 years ago too
i don’t know where the notion that if you don’t give big bucks to an artist then you’re not really supporting them came from, but when people say even a tiny bit of monetary support saves an artist, it’s not for the aesthetic or the gesture of it all. i’ve been able to have actual drinking water on days i’ve been incredibly broke simply because someone bought a brush pack for 2 euros. in the most actual, literal way i could possibly convey this: the SMALLEST amount counts. in practice counts. people-get-to-eat-today counts. especially in this age of everyone and their mother being out to deplatform artists. there’s value in the tiniest of ways
ALT
