Momo
New
America has a history of inequality.
Shocking, I know.
Fortunately, America also has a history of (eventually) correcting the inequality (sort of). The favored method is integration of the discriminated into the institutions of the discriminator.
This integration is overwhelmingly one directional.
And that's a problem.
The discriminated are encouraged to be more like the discriminator with the assumption that what the discriminator has is better.
And this assumption shows that the discrimination has not stopped, it could even be said to be intensified. Rather than improve the treatment of the discriminated, the discriminated are wiped from existence.
The discriminated who resist the obliteration of their institutions are mistreated even more and then blamed for their abuse, because they could escape it.
The 'logic', though pervasive, is early stated explicitly.
"We are normal. They are different. We hate them because they are different. If they became normal, we would no longer hate them. They should all become normal. If they refuse to become normal, then they want to be different. If they want to be different, then they want to be hated. So it is their fault when we hate them."
"If you live here, you should learn the language."
"Of course you'll get mistreated, dressed like that."
"Why don't you speak proper English instead of slang?"
"Why do you have to act so gay?"
"It's your fault for not assimilating."
"Do what you want in private, just don't let me see it."
Stop being different.
We hate different.
Let's look at a specific example.
Women were bared from intellectual institutions, "Thinking is for men, don't worry your pretty little head." Intelligence is masculine. Frivolity is feminine.
But now women are allowed into these institutions. But intelligence is still masculine, and femininity is still bared. It is spun as being about 'professionalism' but this profesionalism is suspiciously similar to stereotypical masculine traits:
"Wear pants and don't cry. Wear grey and be tough. Don't reminder us you have breast or a uterus. Periods, pregnancies, babies, breast milk, are strictly off limits."
Women are allowed, as long as they act like men.
I'm a young woman. I like painting my nails and wearing pretty dresses. I speak softly and I rarely swear. I'm feminine. I'm cute.
I am an intellectual. I like reading and conducting experiments. I debate I stand my ground. I'm a scholar. I'm smart.
These traits shouldn't conflict. But they do. And that's a problem.
But the problem is not with me; it is not with make-up and glitter and sugar and spice.
The problem is with the people who see those things as lesser.
Cute is not lesser to serious. It's just different.
And that brings me to my avatar picture, and why I love it.
She's cute and pink and all smiles and sunshine.
She's also a freaking astronaut with three PhDs and 1,000 flight hours behind the controls of a jet.
Call her a sissy all you want, she can't hear you in the vacuum of space. She'll be up in orbit floating circles around you grumps down on Earth.
Scrapbook that.
Shocking, I know.
Fortunately, America also has a history of (eventually) correcting the inequality (sort of). The favored method is integration of the discriminated into the institutions of the discriminator.
This integration is overwhelmingly one directional.
And that's a problem.
The discriminated are encouraged to be more like the discriminator with the assumption that what the discriminator has is better.
And this assumption shows that the discrimination has not stopped, it could even be said to be intensified. Rather than improve the treatment of the discriminated, the discriminated are wiped from existence.
The discriminated who resist the obliteration of their institutions are mistreated even more and then blamed for their abuse, because they could escape it.
The 'logic', though pervasive, is early stated explicitly.
"We are normal. They are different. We hate them because they are different. If they became normal, we would no longer hate them. They should all become normal. If they refuse to become normal, then they want to be different. If they want to be different, then they want to be hated. So it is their fault when we hate them."
"If you live here, you should learn the language."
"Of course you'll get mistreated, dressed like that."
"Why don't you speak proper English instead of slang?"
"Why do you have to act so gay?"
"It's your fault for not assimilating."
"Do what you want in private, just don't let me see it."
Stop being different.
We hate different.
Let's look at a specific example.
Women were bared from intellectual institutions, "Thinking is for men, don't worry your pretty little head." Intelligence is masculine. Frivolity is feminine.
But now women are allowed into these institutions. But intelligence is still masculine, and femininity is still bared. It is spun as being about 'professionalism' but this profesionalism is suspiciously similar to stereotypical masculine traits:
"Wear pants and don't cry. Wear grey and be tough. Don't reminder us you have breast or a uterus. Periods, pregnancies, babies, breast milk, are strictly off limits."
Women are allowed, as long as they act like men.
I'm a young woman. I like painting my nails and wearing pretty dresses. I speak softly and I rarely swear. I'm feminine. I'm cute.
I am an intellectual. I like reading and conducting experiments. I debate I stand my ground. I'm a scholar. I'm smart.
These traits shouldn't conflict. But they do. And that's a problem.
But the problem is not with me; it is not with make-up and glitter and sugar and spice.
The problem is with the people who see those things as lesser.
Cute is not lesser to serious. It's just different.
And that brings me to my avatar picture, and why I love it.
She's cute and pink and all smiles and sunshine.
She's also a freaking astronaut with three PhDs and 1,000 flight hours behind the controls of a jet.
Call her a sissy all you want, she can't hear you in the vacuum of space. She'll be up in orbit floating circles around you grumps down on Earth.
Scrapbook that.
