That is a weird peeve for you. I'd have expected you to be battling essentializing tendencies instead :D
Conversation
Replying to
the problem is "essentializing" is a close relative of "compression"
2
5
Replying to
This is an example that really annoyed me...in an attempt to compress what 'bindi' signifies, it essentializes it teenvogue.com/story/coachell
3
1
Replying to
oh man now I want to do those for generic pop cultural fashion things
1
Replying to
A part nat-am white woman once tweeted with zero irony, "don't use 'spirit animal', that's appropriation, use a word like avatar instead' :D
1
5
12
Replying to
yeah I remember that - essentializing in the sense of fixing meanings and making them legible
1
I think before I lived in India I thought bindis had one particular fixed meaning and it was Extremely Spiritual
3
until people were like "uh it's a fashion"
1
also a pimple cream commercial that suggested that teens might cover a forehead pimple with a large bindi, suggesting low sacredness
2
1
5
The power gradient part of the argument is legit, but I think it is vastly overapplied outside of clear cases like rap and R&B
1
2
Show replies

