Give me your thoughts on fashion and performative femininity! Also video games?
OH YES, GO FOR THE EASY ONES.
Fashion and performative femininity
oh god, for this one I feel like I’d have a much larger epic rant if I were less tired (HA, WHAT A JOKE, WHEN AM I EVER NOT TIRED). (also I recognize this is going to come off as terribly binaristic/not particularly nb-friendly, but such is the society we live in blargh)
Sooooooo when it comes to femininity in our culture there’s kind of the double-bind were what has been arbitarily designated as “masculine” is considered superior to what has been arbitrarily designated as “feminine” and we should make efforts to resist this masculine-as-superior-feminine-as-inferior bullshit.
BUT we must also keep in mind COMPULSORY FEMININITY where yes, women may be thought of as “shallow” for putting efforts into maintaining femininity, but it is still EXPECTED given the various punishments subtle and overt for women who fail to perform a certain level of femininity (or, perish the thought, are PURPOSEFULLY BUTCH). (it’s also important to keep in my how my race/whiteness is affecting my perspective on this because it’s a much different matter for women of color and such)
My own feelings are conflicted. I spent the last week wearing skirts/dresses for THREE DAYS IN A ROW because it was too damn hot. It was more comfortable than pants due to the weather (99% of the time I am far more comfortable wearing pants), but I still couldn’t shake this feeling that I was betraying my own preferences, given that most of my fashion choices are an effort to resist that compulsory femininity.
(I also have a strong reaction whenever people tell me that it’s “flattering” when I wear a skirt or they refer to something I’m wearing as “feminine” in a positive fashion, and to be fair I do like a lot of shirts with frills. But I’m always inwardly pissed when that happens and make an effort to “butch it up” the next day)
(I feel like it’s also worth mentioning that when I was in theater I was NEVER the traditional female lead/ingenue type. I always referred to myself as a “character actor” and one of my “types” was “ambiguous gender/sexuality” which probably surprises most of you zero percent, I feel like that plays a part in this somehow.)
Basically, I would LOVE to say that everyone can just dress to their own personal style and it’s no one’s business, but SOCIETY and WE DON’T LIVE IN A VACUUM and all that. IT’S COMPLICATED, BASICALLY.
For myself, it all comes down to, I love the look of pretty dresses and skirts on other people more than wearing them myself (even though I do enjoy them very rarely), and would generally prefer to fashion myself after a “Princely Woman” from a shoujo anime (and I often get compliments from other women on my appearance, which makes me happy, and couldn’t give less of a shit if men “approve” of my appearance).
I ENJOY MANY VIDEO GAMES.
Obviously there are issues with the industry and the so-called “gamer culture” but yeah, I love me some video games (even when I’m NOT ALWAYS GOOD AT THEM). Most often they’re just fun, a way to have fun with friends (like Mario Kart) or to relax after a long day (playing Donkey Kong Country on my SNES as a kid, or that year I was really into Animal Crossing: New Leaf).
I must say though, and I am far from an expert of Video Game Studies, there is something special about video games as a form of media. During depressive/unemployed periods of my life, playing video games helped me feel like I was achieving something or working towards something concrete in my life. For a few years in my life, Kingdom Hearts helped me patch up and maintain a friendship that had been rocky and I still have a lot of treasured memories of that. There really is something to be said for feeling ACTUALLY INVOLVED in a story, and dang when a video game soundtrack connects with you it can bring up POWERFUL AND VERY SPECIFIC EMOTIONS (that might just be me).
Honestly I’m not even going to TRY to fit Ace Attorney into this because THAT IS JUST A WHOLE OTHER CATEGORY FOR ME AT THIS POINT. I’ll say at least this: if nothing else THOSE are some video games to have a marked effect on my life.
