So these stories can *play with* identity -- with transness and similar concepts -- but never *get there*, the idea that Rochester could actually *change who he is permanently* by changing the way he dresses and acts is cut off, impossible -- the "real him" is always underneath
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Replying to @arthur_affect @LakyLudke and
There, I just gave, at much greater length than the original two paragraphs, my take on what I think they mean (as an only sort-of educated layperson)
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Thats exactly the problem - that you need to qualify it with "I think".
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Yes, because the author of the paper is an expert and I am not Again, you don't have some kind of constitutional right for other people to not be smarter than you
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Replying to @arthur_affect @LakyLudke and
I can tell you what "I think" about quantum physics too but I'm not an actual physicist so everything I say will be, to some degree, straight-up wrong The arrogance of Internet people who refuse to accept this is really astounding sometimes
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Replying to @arthur_affect @LakyLudke and
just piping as someone in women’s studies who alternately deals with the criticism that it’s faff about nothing and that it’s too obscurist and dense for any layman to parse: there’s a not tiny bit of rejection of the humanities as a serious thing happening in this thread.
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Replying to @diannaeanderson @arthur_affect and
like, Arthur, I think part of the reason people reject out of hand ‘academic speak’ about literature, in particular, is largely because they don’t believe there’s any there there to be arguing about or writing papers about
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Replying to @diannaeanderson @arthur_affect and
with physics, you’re “making concrete the mysteries of the universe.” With humanities, particularly gender/queer/race studies as it intersects with literature/art, you’re just navel gazing and disappearing up your own ass (I have been told this directly!).
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Replying to @diannaeanderson @arthur_affect and
anyway, i make this meta-argument to say that so much of my writing has focused on making legible much of this higher-level stuff so that regular people can see that it has value, and threads like this one are simultaneously enlightening and depressing.
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Replying to @diannaeanderson @LakyLudke and
It's all fun and games until the social/cultural phenomena being described actually start to piss people off Like, the anger here starts getting serious once people start asking "You think being queer/trans/poly ought to be NORMAL? Can you EXPLAIN WHY?"
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And the answer that makes people angriest in such situations is "Well, sure, I can try, but you might not be able to understand it" (Bigots REALLY lose their shit when they get told their bigotry is a product of ignorance)
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