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Okay so I just wrote this entire thing but then it Control-Alt-Fucked itself out of existence so I have to re-write it all again so excuse my anger being even more than it was.
This post speaks to a wider issue on the recycling of style from alternative and queer communities but I’ll start at the beginning. Here goes… again…
Okay so we’ve probably all seen content now about performative men on social media places like Instagram, they wear clean academia fashion with their shirts tucked into their oversized bottoms, a tote bag slung over the knitted cardi that sits on their shoulder, decorated in bracelets, necklaces, and rings, with a book and an iced drink in hand. Maybe it’s a covert video recording from someone calling them out without actually confronting them.
First of all, it’s all fake. Duh. The person is in-on-it with the cameraman and it’s a drive for engagement and views. But beyond that, there’s a different reason as to why this content annoys me, and it is something I have seen other content creators discuss regarding different styles.
The reason being, lots of aspects of this style derive directly or indirectly from alternative, and especially queer, communities. I mean the reel I just saw that catalysed me to finally sit down and write this went the step further and the guy had his keys on a carabiner.
Now, nobody “owns” using carabiners, but combined with all the other items, the link to its iconography as a symbol for the lesbian community hardly seems unnoticable or coincidental.
With that set, my real gripe comes from the mockery of this fashion style. On paper, it seems great that the aesthetic is more accepted—especially for public wear—but that’s not totally transparent.
Before it’s adoption, alt and queer people who wore the ‘ancestors’ to the performative style were harassed, ridiculed, and mocked. And therein lies the issue when you mock the performative style. I am more than ready to poke fun at somebody who wears certain outfits and changes their appearance to try and attract a romantic interest, but for moral’s sake, leave the clothing out of it. Because, as strong as it might sound, you mock it’s history.
You mock the people who were assaulted for the clothing that you claimed.
And I get that it sounds strong, or exaggerated, but you have to uphold yourself in the smallest of areas, otherwise how can you expect yourself to be moral in larger situations? Respecting community and history cannot be exclusive.
So please, make fun of the idea, not the clothing.
(The first time I wrote this I was worried my point came across incoherent and ineloquent, now it’s probably even less readable as to what on earth I’m trying to say.)
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