we need ugly gross disgusting feminism again without conforming to aesthetics and advertisement companies i want pit hair i want leg hair i want weird haircuts i want to get rid of diet culture and ads for pink razors and make-up i want women to reject biological determinism and push away from the overwhelming tradwife narratives that social media feeds everyone (‘natural hormone cycles’ and 'divine feminine’ and all of that shit) etc. i want more women working i want heterosexual relationships to get more balanced i also want it to be a norm for heterosexual couples to assess role assignments in the relationships and think critically about why they want children i want having children not to be something people just do because it is expected of them. I want a dyke for president. Etcetera
and obviously any and all terfism falls under the biological determinism shit and does not belong in feminism
Pretty privilege is very much a thing but I also think there are certain professions, as a woman, where being at least a little bit ugly is needed.
And it’s all part of the exact same societal bias. And ideally “i will decide how to regard and respect you based on how you appear” would cease to exist entirely. My point is that as a woman, “you need to be pretty to be respected” applies in certain spheres and “you need to be a little bit ugly to be respected” applies in other spheres and it’s all still the same woman. I think a 10/10 bombshell Ms. America type woman would struggle harder to be respected in like engineering and science fields because there’s a certain expectation that smart women in those fields are all a little fucked up weird looking in one way or another.
Thinking about this to myself as I’m rewatching the recording of an engineering design meeting I was driving so I could take notes on it and going “oh man, the camera lighting is not doing me any favors” and then also thinking to myself “good, actually. I should try to be uglier next meeting in fact.”
I think it’s harder than that, actually. Just ugly doesn’t cut it. It’s more like you need to tick a number of the conventionally attractive boxes while also having one or two ugly traits that are still palatable and inoffensive enough to be romanticized by the kind of guy who thinks disliking celebrities makes him interesting.
Like still be skinny and feminine but with wide-set eyes or buck teeth. You can be fat so long as you’re not too many other things. Make it clear you weren’t cheerleading captain but watch out, because if you’re too ugly you’re once again disrespectable.
The deep sea is a haunted house: a place in which things that ought not to exist move about in the darkness.
Julia Armfield, from ‘Our Wives Under the Sea’
okay i need to fight armfield right now. the ocean is a haunted house because HUMANS ARE THE SUPERNATURAL INTRUDERS. the ocean depths are where WE go to die. the deep black water is home to uncountable beautiful creatures living their lives very comfortably and WE are the uncomprehending malevolent specter that pierces through. the ocean is a house and we’re the ones haunting it. come on,
spilling a drink is one of the deepest pains imaginable. the loss of delicious liquids. the knowledge your adult ass needs a little no-spill baby sippy cup. now you have to clean instead of enjoy your delicious beverage and pray that the ants dont discover youre a god damn fool
