It’s okay to be crooked. It’s okay to be asymmetrical. It’s okay if people know your eyebrows are fake and your outfit is cheap. It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay because you’re 23 years old and wearing bright blue-green glitter eyeliner like you were at 11 years old in your bedroom pretending you were Britney Spears, and the most important thing you’re gonna do all day is probably make a trip to the grocery store to buy arroz y cafe. It’s gonna be okay today because today is today and you’re alive and it’s not last year and you made it you made it you made it.
omg <3333
I want to be disturbed by what you’re wearing, I want to be shocked and undone and delighted by what you’re doing and how you’re living. And I don’t want anyone to be afraid to put on their look, their body, their clothes anymore. Resistance is what is sexy, its what looks good and is hard to look at and what sometimes requires explanation.
RE-THINK EVERYTHING, INTERROGATE YOURSELF, KNOW YOUR ENEMY: Pt 1
I want to create political movements where we can be gentle with one another so that we can learn, grow and move together in new ways. Most of the time, we cling really hard to our identities, our politics, and our ways of understanding the world which prevents new connections from happening. On tumblr our defenses are high and when someone speaks out about our identities, behavior, politics, or the problems that they create, we immediately stage a search and destroy mission aimed to take them down and make ourselves seem cool and smart. This usually consists of a group of people getting angry and saying hurtful things about a certain person or issue leaving no room for growth or understanding, only divisiveness and alienation. We need to stop taking each other out and look at the bigger picture.
To me, there is a difference between anger and rage. Rage can be productive, it can fuel us to destroy and rethink our ways of understanding ourselves and the world. It can mobilize us to connect in new ways and look at how we are hurting others and ourselves. Anger strikes me as something very different than rage. Anger often emerges from a place of fear and can be used as a way to exercise power over other bodies and people. Generally the way we talk to each other about our differences on tumblr comes from a place of anger. I don’t think that anger isn’t valid or necessary sometimes, it is. More often than not though, people use angry or aggressive words as a way to prop themselves up as unimpeachable beacons of knowledge, or authority figures and are actually just perpetuating the same counter-norms and exercising power in the same ways as the systems we all claim we want to destroy.
We need to start thinking of power, and oppression in new ways. Probably one of the most important things anyone ever taught me, was that dominance functions by remaining invisible. I think that is really accurate and accessible way to get people thinking about how power functions in the world in more complicated ways. It’s not just about certain people having power over others, or government having power over the people - power is everywhere. Power is all around us and constantly multiplying all of the time. If we aren’t cultivating an awareness of the ways in which we are personally reproducing and perpetuating power in our interactions with others we are just going to continue to recreate the same fucked up dynamics over and over in our social movements.
Our political identities: fat, woman, queer etc. have been created for us by the systems of power that are fucking us over (and denying us rights) in the first place. Our identities are important in many ways but we need to realize they are seriously limiting and getting caught up in the intricacies of them may only serve to dig us in deeper. Until we find new ways that we can start to connect, I think the most important thing we can do is take care of each other so we can be dangerous together. Instead of coming at each other from a place of anger and fear, or an unexamined desire for power — perhaps we can come to one another from a place of love, gentleness, maybe even compassion? This will manifest differently for all of us, but lets take this into consideration and start talking about what this looks like.
RE-THINK EVERYTHING, INTERROGATE YOURSELF, KNOW YOUR ENEMY
- Erin Majestic Legay
Life Lately
Recently, I’ve felt introverted, but not in a negative way. Actually, I’m quite content. I realized I get a LOT from going out with others, but I need to spend enough time by myself/performing self care first. Like doing a cool combo move. I’ve been smoking pot and getting cozy with my sketchbook, some books, my new laptop. I’m reading a lot about camming and coming up with an idea of how I want my life to move forward.
What I really want right now is my own space. I’m nervously looking into getting an apartment all to myself! It would be a big risk/jump because I’m currently only making like 400 a month when rent would be 500-600! But I would make room for a studio, a good art work space, and have my own private space all the time for camming. I’d like to work my retail job and work in porn/camming at the same time. For the first time in my life, have a REAL space that belongs to ME, that is mine alone.
I’ve been playing with makeup a lot, and my binder came! I’ve been reading a lot of majestic and calloutqueen’s blogs and thinking about my gender. I went to a genderqueer meeting and reflected on my choice to not be in straight relationships anymore.
I am at a total loss with how to perform my gender and reconcile the parts of my life into my being. I realize I’ve lagged behind in writing and creating and sharing as consistently as I’d like to. I’m having trouble feeling a sexual connection to my body and a sexual connection to other people. I feel a little blurry, maybe a little lost, but definitely like I’m going in the right direction… I want to define myself. I want to develop the habit of living with intent.
The Importance of Checking In
Checking in with yourself is an act of self-affirmation, a way of reminding yourself that your inner being matters. It is also a way of giving yourself credit for all your efforts. Some good times to check in with yourself include: when you are being triggered, right after talking about what you’ve experienced, right after a therapy session, etc.
Suggestions for How to Check In
- Think about the following questions/statement, and if you journal, consider writing your answers.
- What are you thinking right now?
- How are you feeling? Empowered, drained, frightened, ashamed, hopeful, angry, or some other feeling? Recognize these feelings as valid and true.
- What physical discomforts are you experiencing?
- Do you need to contact a trusted friend or seek medical care?
- If you are feeling very frightened, afraid or distressed what can you do right now to take care of yourself emotionally, physically, or mentally?
- Acknowledge the work you have done thus far in healing.
- Share your happiness or joy with someone close to you.
This exercise adapted from here.Followers, what are some ways you check in with yourself? Do you have any suggestions for others? What works for you and what doesn’t? What has been your experience with checking in? Is it beneficial for you? Or try these tips and lets us know how they worked! Submit your story or ask questions!
this should be shared as much as possible
