it doesn’t sit well with me that “emotional labor” in it’s original context was Arlie Hochschild talking very specifically about how taxing face to face service industry jobs are for people (namely women) with this very nuanced context and is now used in everything from “i had to explain something to someone on twitter” or heavily in contexts of romantic relationships. not all emotional management and exchange is labor! to insert the idea of “labor” excessively into interpersonal relationships creates a system of “i performed ____ and now you OWE me for exerting ____” and it’s not healthy or what the term is for.
anyone wanna comment on whether or not the term can be applied to unpaid “”labor”” that women have to partake in to perform womanness….childbearing, submitting to her husband/sacrificing her needs, other unpaid “Jobs” women have in society…..i guess i need to read the hochschild text
@bathingbeautie That’s also what I usually mean when I say “emotional labor” in the context of feminism (especially coming from an an emotionally and physically abusive relationship with a straight man). And you are not wrong.
OP is also not wrong in that neoliberal fems have used that term in dubious contexts where simply being KIND and EMPATHETIC (which are both necessary in community-building e.g. through interpersonal relationships)–and not necessarily “nice” and “sacrificial” in terms of the way power structures affect our relationship with one another (e.g. cis men vs. queer women)– ARE BOTH MISINTERPRETED AND MISUSED as “emotional labor” that deserves tangible pay defined by capitalistic ideals (e.g. “you owe me”).
















