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This is kind of a tangent to today's discourse but I really don't think people understand how much of modern western norms and morals around literally everything are ideas that literally just developed in the 18th century to service capitalism
Do you think our modern norms around privacy existed in or were applicable in e.g. 16th century peasant communities? lol. no.
We tend to think of people in the past as being universally very strait-laced and prudish and that's slightly true but only in certain specific ways
Popular theatre in the time of, like, Shakespeare was very rowdy and crude and sexual and people *loved* it. Entertainment was frequently sexual in nature - lots of innuendo, lots of enjoyment of scandalous subject matters
But as capitalism developed, people in power deliberately broke up those communities to create atomized family units who would have no support systems and no roots and therefore no choice but engage in dangerous, exhausting and barely-compensated factory labour
They tried as hard as they could to erase all cultural memory of any other kind of existence in order to snuff out resistance (and it worked)
You probably know that funny fact about how John Harvey Kellogg created Corn Flakes to try and stop people masturbating? It's not an accident that happened in the 19th century. His ideas were totally embedded in capitalism
He wanted to turn people into prudes who instinctively rejected pleasure (be it sexual pleasure or simply nice food) because he thought that would make them into disciplined, obedient, well-ordered workers
Like idk I'm just rambling in this thread but please read into this history a little if you're able. *So* much of what we consider normal is just capitalism! Capitalism infects our culture and morality and inner lives far, far more than you can imagine
It's Marxism all the way down I'm afraid
SO when a queer person or a person of colour is inviting you to reject a certain taboo or norm or social convention, they're not necessarily ignoring your consent or setting out to make you uncomfortable. They're asking you to interrogate the whole social structure you live in
Interrogating and unpacking that within yourself is uncomfortable! It's an uncomfortable process because it requires you to let go of some things that are comfortable for you and that you're very attached to. But... it's the right thing to do
