may starclan light your path

what i mean by liberalism vs radicalism is that revolution happens VERY RARELY and when it does, it tends not to be very successful. my ideas about working within the system versus trying to dismantle it changed as a teenager when i was independently studying antebellum abolitionists. they had ideas that are unpopular to this day, but they certainly had a positive effect in the united states. successful change usually does occur within the established system (no revolution), and i know it's infuriating and it takes forever (like multiple generations). but radicals play a very important role in the ideological tug-of-war. not EVERYTHING they say will manifest as legislature or cultural change, but some of it will. and radicals are usually more willing to think outside the box and introduce weird ideas that may or may not stick

changing our minds is a really good book i think everyone should read it THANK YOU kitty and max for sending it to me. my mind is changed. one thing they said that i keep thinking about was like a discussion surrounding the gay liberation movement. they were criticising gay rights narratives like "born this way" or "we just want to fit in and be normal like heteros". i did disagree with the authors' criticism because they were calling these gays "liars" and i don't think they are lying lol a lot of us certainly do feel we were born this way (like i think sexuality is innate and i don't believe in universal bisexuality) and i am quite sure most gay people do literally just want to fit in with their friends/families/communities and be treated as normal and not perverse. i think the authors were coming from a political lesbian lens (which you can't be surprised about when reading a lesbian feminist text lol). but what i DID like about their discussion of this was the idea that "you can't claim to be normal and nonthreatening because homosexual behavior is inherently a threat to heteropatriarchy". that is lowkey kind of true... even if you don't WANT to be seen as threatening, failing to conform to heterosexual dynamics and typical female/male roles is a threat because it shows that the sexual hierarchy (male/female roles centered around male dominance and female subjugation. like everyone MUST be heterosexual because the only way to exist is for the man to dominate his family and for the woman to act as a broodmare) is NOT inevitable and there IS another way to organise families/society. so much of sexual orientation and gender discussion is based on what is "natural" or "unnatural". as nonconformists get more visible, it is harder to paint our nonconformity as unnatural.

feminism is a political movement and philosophy with a lot of history and scholarship worth actually investigating. so Yes i find it irritating to see it dismissed by men (and women) as merely an aesthetic associated with womanhood. the only men who seem to actually take feminism seriously are virulent antifeminists. and they only care because they recognise it as the threat it is

i don't like when men equate women's culture with feminism. like feminism is part of it but it if you're talking about women in general and not discussing politics then it is kind of disrespectful to reduce our movement to Just Girly Things

trying to remember that bipolar disorder has a fun feature where if you fall too hard into the mood extreme you start acting out every disorder in the dsm

my hair is starting to become like my mom's

a certain key on my keyboard mysteriously stopped working but it is one of the least common letters so i think i will be okay. also my laptop thinks i am british anyways z holy shit that's the one. okay can any of you play tech support. when i stare off into space without touching my keyboard it starts typing the letter but if i actually press the key nothing happens.