#identity capital

[wehaveallgotknives]

I’ll stop goncharov posting soon but can I just say how fascinating it is to me that the genre we picked was cold war mafia movie? because if you had asked the internet a month ago what kind of film tumblr would invent, if tumblr were to invent a film, the answers would have been way more woke. a queer coming of age romance or a sexy heist with a super diverse cast or live action infinity train or whatever.

instead, the hive mind, the collective, latched on to something with much narrower boundaries, with stricter rules. no cold war mafia movie would have “good gay rep” or “a happy ending”, like you might expect tumblr to want. we want, we made, something rife with hidden truths, deception and manipulation, suppressed and sublimated emotions. it’s a movie rife with symbolism and suggestion, a text that needs to be unpicked and puzzled over, not one that spoonfeeds us a morally pure protagonist.

the website famous for our shithouse reading comprehension made this complex metatext about methods of interpreting an ambiguous artwork and that’s given me more hope for humanity than I’ve gotten from the internet in a long goddamn time

[hadesoftheladies]

masculinity is 99.9% grooming boys to be the bestest toy soldiers ever. the violence it is characterized by, so that oligarchs can always have bodies to throw at the territory they want from their competitors. “you are savage” “a meat-eater” “such a strong little boy” “buy another shooting video game” you are being bred for a war that will never end because the greed of your overlords has no limits. war wouldn’t happen if men didn’t start them and hinge the global economy on them. they want men to identify with the role they want them to play. and it’s worked so brilliantly. they really think they’re heroes. male identity is so steeped in violence on a peer and societal level. and it’s been happening for ages.

[she-is-ovarit]

It's all connected. Corporations began marketing gay pride themed merchandise. An increase in "I-identify-as" populations began to flood gay bars and events, where outward appearance (marketed as "gender expression") became heavily emphasized.

Commercial visibility and marketability does not equal human rights progress.

Ability to consume does not equal citizenship to an oppressed group.

Biology, (referring to sexual orientation and sex) is not a brand you can buy into or boycott out of.

Corporations selling rainbows do not reflect our values.

The churning out of new "all inclusive" pride flags to pledge allegiance to is not indicative of liberation.

A historical homosexual slur being sold by the multi-billion dollar media obfuscates predominantly lesbian relationships ("queer women", "queer relationship") and retraumatizes many gay and lesbian people.

Gay pride only extending to people able to purchase detracts from the meaning of gay pride and distracts from the struggles of the most vulnerable. It positions the most privileged within marginalized and oppressed groups as those who represent the whole.

And associating body modification, aestheticism, and "expression" with self identity turns the lived experiences and material realities of entire subgroups of people into niche market categories that people who aren't even a part of these groups can identify into and out of based on social trends.

Biology becomes devalued, overshadowed by the social and manufactured "genders". Infinite genders means infinite target audiences. Lived, material realities of certain groups of people become materialism.

Human rights movements are becoming human rights industries, with the wealthy more directly capitalizing off of the exploitation of the poor, of the homosexual, of the female, of the immigrant, of the dark skinned, of the mentally ill, of the disabled, of the sick, of the marginalized and oppressed.

Don't buy into it.

[lilithism1848]

[fizzytoo]

⭐stayin in my lane, best friend named TAILS

[decolonize-the-left]

Time to learn about more people and things that influenced my politics~

The Combahee River Collective.

They were a Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston, Massachusetts from 1974 to 1980.

"The Collective argued that both the white feminist movement and the Civil Rights Movement were not addressing their particular needs as Black women and more specifically as Black lesbians.

Racism was present in the mainstream feminist movement, while Delaney and Manditch-Prottas argue that much of the Civil Rights Movement had a sexist and homophobic reputation."

The Collective is perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement, a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of identity politics as used among political organizers and social theorists, and for introducing the concept of interlocking systems of oppression, including but not limited to gender, race, and homophobia, a fundamental concept of intersectionality. Gerald Izenberg credits the 1977 Combahee statement with the first usage of the phrase "identity politics".

Source

Demita Frazier, Beverly Smith, and Barbara Smith were the primary authors of the Combahee River Collective Statement in 1977. [...]They sought to destroy what they felt were the related evils of capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy while rejecting the belief in lesbian separatism. Finally their statement acknowledged the difficulties black women faced in their grassroots organizing efforts due to their multiple oppressions.

In “A Black Feminist’s Search for Sisterhood,” Michele Wallace arrives at this conclusion: We exists as women who are Black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our struggle—because, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world. [2] Wallace is pessimistic but realistic in her assessment of Black feminists’ position, particularly in her allusion to the nearly classic isolation most of us face. We might use our position at the bottom, however, to make a clear leap into revolutionary action. If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.

[queen0fm0nsterz]

thinking about the Lady again and she actually is the Character Ever.

Starting off with her design. How ridiculously simple it is, right? Her yukata is plain brown and has a single layer, her wig (and yes, I am positive what she wears is not her hair but a wig soley because of how easily it comes undone... that kind of hairstyle is meant to STICK when done with actual hair) has no decorations befitting a woman of her powerful status and her mask is nothing but... empty. You could mistake her for a mannequin and you wouldn't even be wrong. It's by design, after all: she is as insanely important, as a figure, as she is anonymous as a person.

But then, it's with amusement that you note that that boring, unexpressive mask is called the "Rascal's mask" when unlocked. It's such an oddly affectionate nickname stemming from a person so utterly despicable. And then you notice her hair. Her long, black hair that should be hidden under her wig, as the hairstyle goes, but are instead hanging out freely. Not very traditional at all, right? You could almost read it as a small act of defiance of... something. Now, what that thing is, I doubt even she knows. Maybe it's just her way to seek individuality without having to step into zones she does not want to touch.

And then, of course, the lack of shoes. It's not uncommon for people to wear slippers in the house - especially for the Japanese - but she just... doesn't. In that small, small way, she is similar to Six - and every other child in the Maw running around barefoot. Except she's above running, of course. She's got the privilege of floating like a ghost so that she may never touch the ground.

(The only time when this rule is broken is when she fights Six, poetically enough. You can see her visibly step back.)

These strange little things are the first things that push you to wonder about her as a person. Not the title, not the Lady of the Maw: the individual behind the mask. Who is that person? What is she like? Is there a way to answer these questions? I think yes, if you know where to look - but is it worth to ask these questions considering what she does?

That depends on you. Me personally, I think there is narrative worth to be found in what she has to hide. Her foil, Six, finds value in the aspects of herself she does not hide: she is very unapologetic in her selfhood. The Lady isn't, for the most part.

(I wonder if that would make her envious of her younger counterpart in a different context?)

Frankly, looking back on her choice of attire, the fact that her personal bedroom is barely decorated is not surprising. She only has the essentials: a bed, the vase with the key, a few pictures of importance (of people long forgotten, herself included no doubt) and... an ungodly amount of misplaced clothes all over her quarters. All the same yukata, repeated over and over, maniacally folded and arranged in towers, but never where they're supposed to be.

A bedroom is the reflection of yourself. Of your inner world. The fact hers looks so barebones is quite telling about who she is. Or isn't. She herself may have some trouble trying to figure that one out.

I think that, in a vacuum, it's easy to assume that the reason she's so displeased by her reflection is soley out of vanity. That is definitely part of it, but I don't think that's all there is. Because after seeing the mannequins that all look just like her, the four women in the picture who also wear her same exact clothes... and that hidden quote.

This quote, which is from Alice in Wonderland. Specifically from a conversation in which Alice expresses how she doesn't recognise herself anymore because of how many times she grew big and small during the course of the day. She is not the same person she was before entering Wonderland.

I find the way she clings to the dolls and the music box to be much more... sombre when keeping this in mind. In a way, that scene is reminiscent of Monster Six clinging to her music box in the chaos of the Tower; an attempt to attach to something safe. For the Lady, it's even more personal. Those are her toys. Her song. No one can take them from her and claim them as theirs. These materialistic tomes are physical proof of her identity. She likes dolls, and she likes to sing that song from her music box. Surely, that much is something.

But a ceramic toy and an old music box are not really enough to placate the inner turmoil. Hence the broken mirrors, the hidden statues... the hung down portraits with their eyes scratched out - from times of the past. There is a person looking back in the mirror which she does not recognise. That can't be her, right?

It isn't. The reflection is but a faux image of her outward appearence. The inside, however... much like this concept art shows, she is melting away. Rapidly decaying no matter how much she tries to stick to her youth.

Because at the end of the day, that's what she's doing, no? The toys, the music box, her appearence... all of it, just to cling a bit more to the person she used to be. Point being that I doubt even she remembers what she used to be.

You'd think a person like this would be inclined to feel at least some sympathy for all the lost children wandering the Nowhere. A sense of kinship, perhaps, or even just... basic human compassion. She has proved to have very human emotions, after all. This is where she proves you wrong. Whenever you think she's stepped the lowest, she always goes lower.

In her humanity, she is brutal. Relentless, ruthless. She offers no sympathy to anyone and has no empathy to spare either. She is very much aware of what's going on under her roof: she not only allows the Maw to continue being the way it is in spite of having the power to change things, but she actively engages in its despicable practices. She has petrified children in her quarters, as well as their ashes - of which the use is unclear - and then she is responsible for the Nome population and exploitation being so large and so eerily heavy. She's twisted necks, broken bones, murdered innocents.

The Shadow Children are, to me, one her greatest offenses. I don't think they serve any particular purpose other than... being there because she wanted to make them. Children ripped away from their life because of her whims. Not even in death can they rest because she can get her hands on their souls. They're nameless, forgotten shadows with blank masks: they're just like their creator, in that way. Ripped of all individuality and devoid of everything.

Everything she sees, the Lady devours. Not a creature is safe from her shadows and her wrath, especially if they come and actively intrude in her activities. She's twice as aggressive if the Maw is at stake.

The Lady's personal bedroom has another motif piece which I did not previously mention: the Maw wallpaper. While Roger and the Chefs have wallpapers that portray them with her, the Lady... does not. She only has the Maw. She's not part of that picture.

The Lady can't let the Maw change its ways. She is the Maw. The Maw must survive: so must she. To change the Maw would mean challenging herself enough to bring about a change; to her, who does nothing but lament what she lost, that would be too much effort. Too outside of the comfortable zone where she can survive in peace. Miserable, but unbothered.

... For the most part. Until Six comes around.

[charlataninred]

“Are you REALLY queer if you haven’t watched this show” “are you REALLY queer if you didn’t like that piece of media” “are you REALLY nonbinary if you don’t do this”

Guys I thought we were all about breaking down boxes and existing outside classifications. What happened to that. What happened to not labeling each other. Huh

[animalcrossingshowdown]

did one person submit ~300 responses to the stand alone furniture bracket with the same handful of items submitted repeatedly in random order to make it seem like tons of people suddenly started submitting these previously unsubmitted items because. I doubt that this many people suddenly care about orange smoothie

[csuitebitches]

How to Build Identity Capital

What is identity capital? Identity capital is essentially investments that we make in ourselves. Things that play a role in defining who you are, such as, your job, degree, the extra-curricular activities you participate in, where you’re from, how you look, speak etc.

Your identity capital is your autobiography.

Identity capital helps you move up in life, and can play a role in getting you to your goals faster too. It’s sort of like you’re very own personal brand that you’re curating.

A very important thing to note- personal growth, including identity capital, does not happen overnight. It will take time and consistent efforts. There is no get rich quick scheme here apart from discipline.

On a personal level it includes:

1. How we speak

2. How we look

3. How we solve problems

4. Our relationships

5. Our hobbies

On a work level it includes:

1. Resumes

2. Degrees

3. Associations

4. Organisations

5. Accomplishments

So how does one do this?

Get a piece of paper and start answering the questions I’ve noted down. You’ll see a summary of the questions as points below.

Hard skill questions:

1. If I had $3 million in bank account and I had to spend 10% of it on charity, which is the first cause that immediately comes to my mind?

2. Do I need money to give back to that cause or can I also give my time?

3. When was the last time I updated my resume? Can I ask someone for a second opinion on how it looks?

4. What is a skill that is important for my job/ potential or future job for at least the next 3 months?

5. Are there any topics or subjects that I’m naturally attracted to that has no direct relevance to my work? (For instance: I’m very interested in women in history)

6. What is one workshop I would love to attend, if everything was at my disposal? (Example: I’d love to go to a chocolate making workshop)

7. What is a hobby that my ideal self would have?

Soft skill questions:

1. When was the last time I spent time quality time with people that mattered to me?

2. Am I interested in learning a new language?

3. When was the last time I took a social media break?

4. What would my bucket list look like right now?

5. What are some short term goals I know I can achieve with effort by the next month?

6. When was the last time I went over my finances? Can I reach out to someone who can guide me better?

7. Is there anything I enjoy collecting?

8. What is a subject I wish I had in school or college?

Notes of hard skill steps:

1. Giving back to a cause that matters to you

2. Keeping your resume updated

3. Learn a new skill and practicing it for a few months

4. Watching one educational video on YouTube/ one podcast such as TED talks a day to improve your knowledge

5. Attending workshops

6. Keeping a gratitude journal

7. Engage in some sort of a creative project or hobby

Soft skill steps:

1. Spending time with people who matter

2. Learning a new language

3. Social media breaks

4. Making a bucket list

5. Making a list of short term goals (Achievable in the next month)

6. Evaluate your finances and set financial goals

7. Start a collection of something you enjoy

8. Take a class in a subject that interests you, even if it doesnt relate to your job or degree

(Source: The Defining Decade by Meg Jay)

https://gentwenty.com/51-ways-to-build-identity-capital/

[hadesoftheladies]

the greatest social contagion of our time (other than misogyny ofc) is capitalism. human “progress” is dictated and regulated by capital. “why are we going to war?” capital. “why are women’s rights regressing?” capital. “why are gay people suddenly in every tv show despite homophobia being rampant?” capital. “why is there a push for men to wear makeup and transpeople to get surgery?” it’s not progress, it’s capital. BBLs, “shave with this feminist razor,” boy clothes or girl clothes, for him/for her, “you deserve the perfect wedding,” girl dinner, “celebrate your melanin skin with this bronzer for $199,” “here’s a funny ad making fun of vegans from a meat factory, isn’t it funny?” “take our free quiz to find out your aesthetic/if you’re neurodivergent,” “10 signs you could have psycho personality disorder” . . . it’s been marketing from the start.

it doesn’t matter if it’s crazy, untrue or evil—it makes bank. human rights don’t matter if they don’t make capital. human lives don’t matter if they don’t have capital. you are not an agent in your life or country without capital. merchant class and consumer class is how the world is sliced. 99.9% of every piece of entertainment is marketing. it is marketing beliefs and ideas for the sake of capital with no regard to human quality of life. that’s why you can have an influx of movies and songs about, idk, black lives mattering, but if the exploitation of black people makes more bank than their liberation, the oligarchs and emperors will do whatever they need to do to get the extra buck. they’ll find a charity, and starve sweatshop workers. maybe even fund a dictator’s army to keep the nation destabilized.

like literally every facet of human life has become capitalistic. be it religion, academia, clothing, etc. it’s everywhere in everything. we used to be able to just like what we liked, but now every like of ours is a data point that is used to market and constrain our own natural, evolving self-expression into a strict niche. companies offer more products than services. like who would we be if we allowed ourselves to be contradicted? if we stopped reading tabloid experts? if we just IGNORED social media campaigns or trends? if we just stopped trying to keep up in a race that never finishes?

most people don’t even realize how much their identities are shaped by what they consume. how the doctrine of consumption has ruined their relationships. there is no loneliness bug or depression virus going around. we just talk and behave and see ourselves and each other as assets because we’re used to being treated as customers or products. that’s why we’re so sick and isolated! humanity is so so sick because of this thing like from the skin to the roots! none of it is sustainable!

it’s also not immutable. companies are effective in telling us what we want, but we have always been able to make demands. is this how you want the world to run? no? it’s time to switch up then. I’m talking unsubscribing, deleting apps, buying a house with friends instead of marrying, creating demand for services. consumers are literally the driving force of economy. being mindful of this matters.

[shirkers2018dirsanditan]

if you disagree that class and exploitation is the primary force in our lives and our oppression, then fine, you can argue for your framework. what has also happened is that a lot of people promote very shallow identity politics with the veneer of materialism.

like one of the worst takes i have ever seen was one that suggested that since many men who visit massage parlors in NYC are hispanic migrant workers, and since “swerfs” are supposedly mostly white and middle class, then the johns are the natural allies of the largely asian women that work in these parlors. is that not the most shallow drivel you have ever heard. class analysis is jot about who you are….it’s about your condition. using capital to commodify a fellow worker is the antithesis of solidarity. it is literally an impediment to collective action.

as long as male workers visit strip clubs and brothels and massage parlors, workers of the world will never unite. you cannot exploit wage slavery in your favor to reduce a fellow member of the masses to a tool for your own pleasure. if you want an erotic massage, approach a woman as your equal. what compels you to literally consume her as a product? how is the commodification of intimacy an act of labor solidarity? how is complicity in the objectification and commodification of women (and men) an act of labor solidarity? class is not an identity, and being a worker does not negate how you behave as a consumer. by this logic, why complain about scabs? what kind of shallow and hollow analysis is that? its literally anti-intersectionality also. ridiculous

[hussyknee]

Kind of insane how much y'all hate queer, disabled, mentally ill adults. Especially Black and brown ones.

All this "adults who like X are creepy/ gross/disgusting" is just an excuse to hurt the most systemically vulnerable people and shame them into compliance. Shaming doesn't work on comfortable white people with stable jobs and social lives and the money to buy luxury items– they can just log off and go to a fondue party. So you just go for the people with the least socio-economic protection who depend on online communities and congratulate yourselves on your "activism" and social conscience. Even when your collateral includes people from the same minorities you're "defending".

Western leftism operates on conditional humanity and respectability politics. "We'll give a fuck about you...as long as you behave only in ways we find palatable." When we point out that punitive forms of social control always take us out first and in larger numbers, we're given to understand in no uncertain terms that we are in fact acceptable collateral in your personal social justice hero quests to "punch Nazis", "fuck the US government" and "eat the rich". All just a bunch of hyperindividualistic neoliberals resentful of being robbed of white privilege rooting around the social justice closet for cudgels that suit you.

[lilithism1848]

[389]

The most anti capitalist thing you can do is find your own identity, that way you can’t be sold a new one every month.

unknown

[aro-culture-is]

Aro culture is going to spencers and seeing only ace pride merch and no aro pride merch

.