karaj:

my father asked me this on the phone today, after he tried to talk to me about one of my posts, and i tried to tell him that it is really not a good idea for him to be reading my tumblr. i approve of willful not-knowing in many situations and i guess i am going to have to be the willful not-knower in this one; luckily, refusing to acknowledge who might be watching is a life skill that anyone who wears small dresses as often as i do is constantly honing. a part of me wanted to say “it’s for itself,” which is not untrue. “who is it for” is actually a really hard question. 

“Who is it for” is so important and so much one of my main things lately. (Things as in things that are relevant.) I mean, over connoisseurship, and that taxonomy trip, obv. But—and I tread lightly here, because it is not my body in this situation—when Makode Linde made that cake, it is important that he was making it for the white Swedish elite. He was using black women as subject matter, using their bodies, even impersonating them, but not considering them as a potential audience for the piece. Like, whose gaze never gets discussed? And let’s be honest, this is also what was so problematic about me doing First Guns and why I stopped doing it. Good intentions alert! I thought it was funny to have Michelle Obama’s arms respond to the media’s constant discourse about them. But it was appropriative way beyond a headdress. I’m always tempted to hit the delete button on it but I feel like it should be there, to remind me I need to work, and to not let me hide my fuck ups.

Will not post a long blah blah Habermas thing but he is relevant.