Thanks! I hadn’t but just read it. I think she’s right that the trend cycle plays out in political views, activist causes and intellectual interests (e.g. to turn the focus on my own subculture, everyone was writing about fertility 9 months ago, which I also participated in - and this is a real issue and I’m happy I wrote on it but it does in retrospect seem like it was also a trend)
“The lifecycle of the trans meme went something like this. It originated in universities, with Judith Butler’s 1990 book Gender Trouble typically credited as the foundational text.”
I’m not sure exactly what she means by the above quote or whether I agree with her here. Gender trouble to me is a foundational text for agender people or nonbinary people but it doesn’t in my reading lend as much support to binary trans, at least not as a healthcare issue. It definitely defines gender in a way that can be completely separated from sex, but to me it problematizes gender as part of identity in general whereas binary trans people very very strongly identify with their gender.
So my sister is a religious sister: she wears the same thing every day (habit and veil). When you see her and you know "Catholic code", you immediately know her community, her discipline and probably something about the type of work she does. Pretty much everyone can read "religious woman set apart" which deeply changes how people interact with her. Is this presentation virtuous simplicity or self righteous?
I guess it matters to me what you are presenting and why. Presentation is incredibly powerful, and the lack of awareness of how we present baffles me.
Lots of people are obsessed with how they present, as Regan documented.
If you're wondering how someone could not care...it's kind of tiring to have to do it all the time, especially if you're not the sort of person who rapidly intuits subtle shifts or can afford certain looks. Look at all the different concentric levels and tradeoffs she documented. One of the few remaining advantages of being male is having to devote much less attention to this--I took one look at the whole fashion complex, figured "this is the inverse of calculus that plays to their strengths instead of mine and I will never learn this", and decided "I'll just be unfashionable then."
I abstract everything and found the whole article insightful. Presentation is loaded with cultural information. The whole differential spend on clothing by race sticks out as important evidence that this is not frivolous.
I happily accept criticism that I read to much into everything.
On the subject on trendsetters, have you read this Louise Perry article?: https://open.substack.com/pub/louiseperry/p/transgenderism-is-over?r=2fkpru&utm_medium=ios
Thanks! I hadn’t but just read it. I think she’s right that the trend cycle plays out in political views, activist causes and intellectual interests (e.g. to turn the focus on my own subculture, everyone was writing about fertility 9 months ago, which I also participated in - and this is a real issue and I’m happy I wrote on it but it does in retrospect seem like it was also a trend)
“The lifecycle of the trans meme went something like this. It originated in universities, with Judith Butler’s 1990 book Gender Trouble typically credited as the foundational text.”
I’m not sure exactly what she means by the above quote or whether I agree with her here. Gender trouble to me is a foundational text for agender people or nonbinary people but it doesn’t in my reading lend as much support to binary trans, at least not as a healthcare issue. It definitely defines gender in a way that can be completely separated from sex, but to me it problematizes gender as part of identity in general whereas binary trans people very very strongly identify with their gender.
This is allegory for culture and idea propagation more generally, right?
Yes, yes, of course. I think personal style is totally frivolous ;)
I do actually have a complicated relationship with how much effort on self presentation is consistent with being virtuous
So my sister is a religious sister: she wears the same thing every day (habit and veil). When you see her and you know "Catholic code", you immediately know her community, her discipline and probably something about the type of work she does. Pretty much everyone can read "religious woman set apart" which deeply changes how people interact with her. Is this presentation virtuous simplicity or self righteous?
I guess it matters to me what you are presenting and why. Presentation is incredibly powerful, and the lack of awareness of how we present baffles me.
Lots of people are obsessed with how they present, as Regan documented.
If you're wondering how someone could not care...it's kind of tiring to have to do it all the time, especially if you're not the sort of person who rapidly intuits subtle shifts or can afford certain looks. Look at all the different concentric levels and tradeoffs she documented. One of the few remaining advantages of being male is having to devote much less attention to this--I took one look at the whole fashion complex, figured "this is the inverse of calculus that plays to their strengths instead of mine and I will never learn this", and decided "I'll just be unfashionable then."
I abstract everything and found the whole article insightful. Presentation is loaded with cultural information. The whole differential spend on clothing by race sticks out as important evidence that this is not frivolous.
I happily accept criticism that I read to much into everything.