Nelliefinwe - Sopping Wet Meow Meow

How do we break it to boomers with actual brain damage and nostalgic brainrot, and the 'tradwife' thirsting Andrew Tate fans that bodyfat, average attire, an overall lack of professional haircare or makeup, and non-conventionally attractive women existed and represented the vast majority of women across all of history?

And that, yes, in fact, their belief that "all women were hot skinny super models" in x timeframe is because they keep posting images of fashion models, actresses, idealized pinup art, and creepshots of actual teenage girls instead of middle aged, elderly and ordinary women from whatever era. Man, history sure was an insane person's exact perfect paradise consisting solely of people specifically they were attracted to--when filtered through a cherry picked lens of solely famous glamor girls instead of just women workers, family photos and life events taking place anywhere outside of Hollywood.

It really does irk me that one day people will assume all of the 21st century consisted of women who looked like whichever three actresses are most remembered one day and a few odd instagram filtered images--because already, a massive wealth of evidence already exists to the contrary for all of prior history and people are still somehow convinced everyone on Earth was a size zero with perfect hair and makeup for all of human history. That's just not how anything works. It's not how women work. It's not how humans work.

Another fun fact, the majority of surviving articles of clothing from eons ago were extremely petite, extremely glamorous, and unfathomably tiny. You know why? Because they ..weren't worn. This is a well known example of survivors bias in the fashion industry. Expensive gowns and teeny martini dresses were usually only worn once or twice, if not solely worn by manikins in high end stores. Most people kept a consistent and small wardrobe for their entire lives. New clothes were rare, often custom fit or taylored by family at home, or hand-me downs from sibling to sibling. These clothes that were worn to death and destroyed from decades of use were thrown away. They didn't survive to the modern era because they were overly worn, large, and unglamorous.

Think of it this way, you might save your prom dress or your wedding dress but you're not saving the teeshirt with spaghetti stains on it for future generations to see. Why would you? Those are the clothes that don't survive.

I talk frequently about how ignorant most Global North citizens are about the immigration policies of their own and other countries. When my husband and I (Global North citizens of different countries) got married, we had conversation after conversation with people who assumed that by producing our marriage certificate we could simply become residents of each other’s countries— and that we could not be refused residence in each other’s countries, as separating a husband and wife could surely not be allowed. 

More interestingly, a lot of people seem to refuse knowledge about immigration, perhaps because it can’t be integrated into some deep and important picture of the world that they have. My parents can’t make themselves believe that my British husband would get in trouble if he overstayed his visa “just a couple of days” in the US, or that I (an American) would ever get deported from the UK, no matter what the circumstances. This is not only because they believe that British and American citizens, as Global North citizens, are specially exempt from the systems that are “meant” to regulate other kinds of people, but also because fundamentally they believe that government and its processes are rational and just. They must believe that government and its processes are rational and just, because otherwise their whole picture of the world— the means by which they understand it— would collapse.

This is all fairly simple and obvious. What is not so simple and obvious is the way that their privileged ignorance, the hothouse resilience of their fantasy world, is part of a mechanism through which the “work of knowing” in our society is outsourced to the underprivileged. (The privileged do not have to know in a way that disrupts their fantasy, because not-knowing has no consequences for them.) This is an interesting dynamic, because many postcolonial theorists (Sara Ahmed, Dipesh Chakrabarty, etc) have explored how the Global South is typically portrayed as that-which-is-known-by-the-Global-North, and therefore as not capable of knowing. So what does it mean that the tools of regulation remain in the hands of the Global North, but that the knowledge of regulation is a burden borne by the Global South? There is an element here of knowing as knowing-your-place, for sure— learning to be interpellated as the illegal and the undesirable. The knowing that is happening also constitutes the production of the illusive “just and rational” world that sustains the Global North. I’m interested in the way that the dehumanization of the Global South therefore serves to sustain the rational and just Human and humaneness of the Global North. There’s an abjectification that is necessary for this— as anyone who has experienced universal healthcare knows, more just and equitable care/distribution of resources often means that more privileged people get less-nice things than they have been led to expect, so if they want to continue to enjoy the same standard of living allowed them by unjust and non-equitable care, they must rationalize this somehow. And how does one rationalize having been, by chance, born in the right geographic area? One can’t. One must, instead, believe that this is not how privilege is allotted, which required not-knowing that this is how privilege is allotted. 

can you imagine you go to a fancy italian restaurant and before you go through the doors the doorman stops you and is like Signore Per Fevore, I Simply Must Remove Your Jacket Before You Enter and youre like well if you must, its getting a little shabby anyways and he says It Is My Pleasure Signore and then he smashes you over the head and cuts you up into little pieces for your flavour and aroma. such is the life of the humble garlic

freaks in my tumblr dms GO AWAY

i love being in “all vegan” spaces. going to a vegan restaurant and not even having to think about what you can order because you can order everything!! going into a vegan supermarket and knowing that you don’t have to read every lable to look for some hidden animal derived ingredients.

and i love so much living on my own now and having everything in my flat be vegan. all the food in my kitchen, all the cosmetics i have. just having one space in my life where i can create my little world as i would like it to be and according to my ethical beliefs is so freeing

Exterior, Hillary Clinton’s doorstep, 3AM

Kamala Harris, looking her version of disheveled and unhinged (which is to say she’s still in the same immaculate suit from her speech earlier in the day but she’s lost her high heels, has exactly five hairs out of place, and there is a discreet smear of Dorito dust on her fingertips): I’m sorry, I just didn’t know where else to go.

Hillary, in a cozy bathrobe, but perfectly made up and coiffed: Honey, I’ve been waiting for you to show up since they called Pennsylvania. (Hands Kamala a margarita and ushers her inside.)

😞😞

sometimes i just want to be normal so badly