A Pile Of Bookmarks!
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A few weeks on Twitter, someone came up to me because she'd liked my emotional labor post and asked if I had any other favorite articles I would recommend. At first I was stumped, and then I remembered that I actually have a pretty well-organized bookmarks folder, divided by topic, where I put links to online articles and essays that have made an impression on me. So this week I'm going to link to some of those favorite articles that have helped me understand or better articulate a concept.
To keep this post manageable, I've confined myself only to posts that could be roughly associated with the category of "intersectional feminism on the Internet." My actual bookmarks folder contains a much wider range of topics - everything from current events, to other social justice topics (there is, unsurprisingly, a lot about disability), to how-to articles, to relationship advice, to science, to writing advice - but that's probably too many topics for right now.
First off, some good posts about emotional labor (since that's where this conversation started):
Condensed Version of the MetaFilter Emotional Labor Thread. This was my first introduction to the topic of emotional labor. I found it quite overwhelming despite being "condensed," and I don't agree completely with every single person whose posts got included in the PDF, but if you want to dive in to the topic and get a thorough sense of what it is and why it matters to a lot of people, this is your thread.
Emotional Labor: What It Is And How To Do It by Miri. Another good introduction, more concise than the MetaFilter thread and with a lot more practical, actionable tips, especially for the kind of people who are concerned that they aren't doing enough emotional labor in their present relationships.
A Modest Proposal For A Fair Trade Emotional Labor Economy by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. I linked to this in my own post - it makes some of the central points that I build on in my own post, which I think aren't addressed in emotional labor discussions enough, such as how to talk about emotional labor without abandoning disabled people or treating people's emotional and relational needs as a disposable commodity.
Three Thoughts on Emotional Labor by Clementine Morrigan. Similar to the above, and especially useful for anyone who is so panicked about the idea of "exploiting unpaid emotional labor" that they're afraid to ask their friends for emotional support.
The Concept Creep of Emotional Labor by Arlie Hochschild and Julie Beck. This is a bit of a counterpoint to all of the other articles that came before it, in which the sociologist who coined the term "emotional labor" objects to some of the ways that the term is now used. Her argument is more nuanced than just "I defined this word to mean one thing and now people are using it to mean more things" and it's worth thinking about.
Miscellaneous issues in feminism:
How "neurosexism" is holding back gender equality - and science itself by Gina Rippon. I am making all my cognitive science students read this in our unit on neuroscience. Do not talk to me about "male brains" and "female brains," LOL.
She Has No Head! - No, It's Not Equal by Kelly Thompson. A patient, thorough, detailed breakdown of the concrete patterns that terms like "objectification," in comics, refer to.
On the personal as normal; on the normal as political by breathedout. Why authors writing women, especially queer women, feel more pressure for moral perfection than authors writing straight men; and what we might do to responsibly put that pressure aside.
What we love matters: a unifying cultural theory to fix tech's diversity problem by Sacha Judd. An intriguing take on fandom & the problem of women in STEM.
On discourse and how we talk to each other:
Tolerance Is Not A Moral Precept by Yonatan Zunger. A classic. If you've never heard of Karl Popper's Paradox of Tolerance, start here.
I use trigger warnings - but I'm not mollycoddlying my students by Dr. Onni Gust. What it says on the can.
Refining "Microaggression": A Linguistic Perspective by Language Jones. Another thorough breakdown of a useful concept, this time the concept of "microaggressions" from a sociolinguist.
Words for cutting: Why we need to stop abusing "the tone argument" by Katherine Cross. Why not all expressions of rage in the name of social justice are justified.
The Weakness of the Furies by Martha C. Nussbaum. This is about the anger of victims, especially female victims, and its political uses and pitfalls. It is much more complicated than just "don't be angry" (or "do be angry"!) I recommend reading the whole thing.
On moral discharge, cancel culture, and harassment:
I perseverate about this topic, sorry!!!
Hot Allostatic Load by Porpentine. This is a very important essay. It's also one that I've been seeing shared around more and more lately, and so I feel compelled to add a caveat: Porpentine is a trans woman, and the experience she describes involves being cancelled not just by some people online but by her entire community of support both online and in real life. This isn't necessarily the experience of more privileged people who are harassed online. It's still a terrifying experience that I recommend taking some time to really sit with.
The Labyrinth of Strings: Me, Twitter, and Moral Discharge by May Peterson. A good companion piece to the above. Where Porpentine describes the visceral experience of being cancelled, Peterson goes into more detail about how these things happen and why they seem to happen with particular brutality to the most marginalized people in a community.
The Impact of Toxic Influencers on Communities by Erin Casali. Waves of harassment are often started by a specific person, but the specific person can be hard to spot. Here's how that works.
we will not cancel us by adrienne maree brown
But also some important cancel culture counterpoints:
Don't Let The Right Fool You: They Invented Boycotts by Libby Anne. A sharp and well-supported breakdown of exactly what the title says.
Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy by Mora Weigel. Similar to the above, but more even-handed and with even more historical detail of how this happened.
The "free speech debate" isn't really about free speech by Zack Beauchamp. This article is a bit too centrist for me in places, but it does a good job breaking down what people (especially privileged people) are really hand-wringing about when they hand-wring about their free speech, and how that debate could be more usefully reframed.