And so I offer this counternarrative from the boundary of genetic freakdom, as close as I will ever get to a manifesto (I hate manifestos): value voices and perspectives over demographic representation. Be wary of what is sold to you as representative of a demographic you don’t belong to, and listen to critiques from within that demographic. Aim to disrupt power. Make room for the freaks. Make room for the ugly people. Make room for the people who are most challenging. Make room for everyone who doesn’t fit. Step aside sometimes. Don’t put yourself at the center of understanding; you don’t have to understand someone to respect their core humanity or to listen to them with empathy. Resist the idea of one common perspective. Listen to the margins. Value the underrepresented. Question everything.
Jes Skolnik, “on being a gender outlier and a complication of ‘identity politics’”
