Conversation
existential threat
ikeWren
nuance subpost because i dislike hellthreads and love nuance and i ESPECIALLY hate assimilationism . i think all of the following are true:
- there is room to recognize the historical context of drag as an ironic performance of the feminized position gay men have been pressed into by heteronormative society.
- there is an abundant need to critique the privileged position drag now holds in queer communities, especially in contrast to the persistent abuse that trans women face inside and outside those communities. there is especially a need to understand the complex role that patriarchy serves in this issue. i think a better-rounded transfeminist perspective on this needs to be formulated.
- the role that drag plays in the assimilation of queer society into neoliberal heteronormative society is significant. as a tool of assimilationism, drag plays a role in the continued oppression of trans women who will not or cannot assimilate.
- now is a time to reevaluate the ways and extent to which we as queer people value drag as a cultural artifact. we should consider the ways that it both subverts and reinforces patriarchy and cisheteronormativity, and redefine its position in our communities. this does not necessarily necessitate the complete dissolution of drag as a medium! i for one do not think we need to kill drag. it remains emblematic of various queer issues and movements, and i think it does still hold some measure of value in the present era. but we need to reevaluate the reverence that we as a community have for it, especially through a feminist lens.
- assimilationism is infinitely regressive. all that it serves to do is incorporate conformable minorities into the class of the oppressor; regardless, the oppressor continues to produce violence against those outside of its purview. even when the oppressed is successfully assimilated, the oppressor class seeks out a new class to target and exploit; it is still likely to identify and other members of its own group. assimilationism necessarily perpetuates and affirms violence against the oppressed; one sees this in the gay community's participation in the oppression of trans women. cisheteronormativity and patriarchy must be entirely disintegrated for the liberation of all queers and women.
- there is room to recognize the historical context of drag as an ironic performance of the feminized position gay men have been pressed into by heteronormative society.
- there is an abundant need to critique the privileged position drag now holds in queer communities, especially in contrast to the persistent abuse that trans women face inside and outside those communities. there is especially a need to understand the complex role that patriarchy serves in this issue. i think a better-rounded transfeminist perspective on this needs to be formulated.
- the role that drag plays in the assimilation of queer society into neoliberal heteronormative society is significant. as a tool of assimilationism, drag plays a role in the continued oppression of trans women who will not or cannot assimilate.
- now is a time to reevaluate the ways and extent to which we as queer people value drag as a cultural artifact. we should consider the ways that it both subverts and reinforces patriarchy and cisheteronormativity, and redefine its position in our communities. this does not necessarily necessitate the complete dissolution of drag as a medium! i for one do not think we need to kill drag. it remains emblematic of various queer issues and movements, and i think it does still hold some measure of value in the present era. but we need to reevaluate the reverence that we as a community have for it, especially through a feminist lens.
- assimilationism is infinitely regressive. all that it serves to do is incorporate conformable minorities into the class of the oppressor; regardless, the oppressor continues to produce violence against those outside of its purview. even when the oppressed is successfully assimilated, the oppressor class seeks out a new class to target and exploit; it is still likely to identify and other members of its own group. assimilationism necessarily perpetuates and affirms violence against the oppressed; one sees this in the gay community's participation in the oppression of trans women. cisheteronormativity and patriarchy must be entirely disintegrated for the liberation of all queers and women.
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femboys were briefly also briefly touched on in this thread and my position is that femboys are the epitome of trans-adjacent assimilation into patriarchy, cisnormativity, and fetishism . this is the exact reason femboys and femboy fetishizers lean fash . femboys are a unique social role and fit into an extremely misogynistic social topology . i fully believe that the utter destruction of the "femboy" as a socially constructed category is necessary for our liberation . femboys and drag queens share surface-level similarities but fill completely different social positions . to identify as a femboy one must be either profoundly ignorant or an active participant in the transmisogynistic system that produces the category
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a lot of the argument against drag at least in that thread seems to be that it's a mockery of women which i think is a fundamental misunderstanding of drag . if anything it's a mockery of heteronormative standards for women . this is gonna read as kind of accusatory but i think viewing it as a de facto mockery of women is demonstrative of a kind of normative thinking that is worth interrogating (and the fact that it shares space with assimilationist logics should demonstrate its dubiousness) . but all this im much less sure about than everything else i said
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