I'm a marginally/conditionally white person and it perfectly explains some of the WEIRD things that happen to me. Like how in West Virginia, where you'd think I would stick out more, everyone is either "black", "white" or "Asian" and of course I'm white because I have pale skin and caucasian eyelids. But in California, I have been classified lots of different ways. I will just be happy if Spanish speaking people will stop doing that thing where they don't believe I can't understand them until I answer in something that isn't English. And how in Tokyo I'm "American tourist, white" or "American tourist, mixed-Asian" most of the time and in Saitama and other less urban areas I'm "haafu (Japanese born half-Japanese)" and treated like I'm going to shoplift.
Basically, people are sticking me in whichever of the categories they personally sort people into seems likeliest.
It's always amazed me how endless the search for the category prototype sometimes seems to be. So I'm a cis american-born christian-raised white male, except I don't like football/do like showtunes/had a parent born in another country/had great-grandparents who were born into jewish families/work in a field that's too technical/work in a field that's not technical enough, and depending on which community I'm interacting with any one of those is enough to marginalize me.
What I've learned from that (I hope) is "Oh, s***, if someone like me can be treated as not prototypical enough, then what unimaginable-to-me kinds of marginalization face people who are further from the prototype." (Whereas some people seem instead to have learned "See, I'm marginalized too, so I can tell you exactly what you're experiencing much better than you can.")
(Hee. That would be me. Cut my teeth on Gods of Mars, but haven't read anybody new in a decade, haven't been to a con since 1974, fled rec.arts.sf in terror minutes after finding it. If not for gutenberg I wouldn't read anything tagged sf... Clearly not a fan.)
Hangs around with SF fans all the time, reads a fair bit of SF, made a project of reading most of the hugos and nebulas once upon a time, doesn't like quite a few of the current crop of popular authors, only goes to cons once every couple of years, does not cosplay, has not watched every single sf TV series, clearly not a fan.
no subject
Date: 23 Aug 2014 07:47 pm (UTC)I'm a marginally/conditionally white person and it perfectly explains some of the WEIRD things that happen to me. Like how in West Virginia, where you'd think I would stick out more, everyone is either "black", "white" or "Asian" and of course I'm white because I have pale skin and caucasian eyelids. But in California, I have been classified lots of different ways. I will just be happy if Spanish speaking people will stop doing that thing where they don't believe I can't understand them until I answer in something that isn't English. And how in Tokyo I'm "American tourist, white" or "American tourist, mixed-Asian" most of the time and in Saitama and other less urban areas I'm "haafu (Japanese born half-Japanese)" and treated like I'm going to shoplift.
Basically, people are sticking me in whichever of the categories they personally sort people into seems likeliest.
no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Aug 2014 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 01:07 am (UTC)What I've learned from that (I hope) is "Oh, s***, if someone like me can be treated as not prototypical enough, then what unimaginable-to-me kinds of marginalization face people who are further from the prototype." (Whereas some people seem instead to have learned "See, I'm marginalized too, so I can tell you exactly what you're experiencing much better than you can.")
no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 03:27 am (UTC)Yes, if I had a nickel for every time I've had a conversation with someone about whether they can count themselves a science fiction fan...
no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 07:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Aug 2014 05:39 pm (UTC)