I appreciate how thoughtfully this is written. It’s certainly given me a lot to think about. I’m inclined to say that ones own response to these memoirs is irrelevant because, just like the writing itself, it is very personal and I think perhaps it is possible to see exploitation where there is none. What would feel like an horrific loss of privacy to one person may in fact be incredibly liberating for someone else. However, the question of whether true sexual liberation is possible in the context of the misogyny on which the modern world is built is a great one. And one to which I don’t have an answer. I hadn’t really considered that I may like to look a certain way because historically that is the way men like women to look. Is that still actually my choice then? No wonder so many women feel continually so overwhelmed!
In terms of shared experience though, I’m more concerned with the fact that everyone feels that their own life is so worthy of interest that it should be written down. The endless clamour of voices is one of the things that is so exhausting about social media in general. I feel like there is, apart from a desire to be a writer, a deep loneliness in the modern age where numerous of what feel like inconsequential human interactions have been rendered obsolete by technology so that our social impulses are crying out for connection. I think many people put themselves down on paper (so to speak) just to be seen by anyone. I often have this same impulse but I refrain because the deeper or more interesting parts (relatively speaking) are things I would rather leave unsaid. “Does this person need a therapist instead?” is a great question. I think in many cases the answer is yes! I also think there is a tendency for people now to assume they are more interesting than they actually are. Occasionally you will read something that strikes a chord of relatability but you have to wade through a lot of wallowing to get there! I think perhaps I miss the days when it wasn’t so easy to have a published opinion - I don’t know.
Thanks Lou. I agree with a lot of that. You’re right that it can be really exhausting for the reader. Plus I think a lot of this stuff demands a sympathy/alarm response from readers, unless they are sociopaths, which can be really frazzling.
I appreciate how thoughtfully this is written. It’s certainly given me a lot to think about. I’m inclined to say that ones own response to these memoirs is irrelevant because, just like the writing itself, it is very personal and I think perhaps it is possible to see exploitation where there is none. What would feel like an horrific loss of privacy to one person may in fact be incredibly liberating for someone else. However, the question of whether true sexual liberation is possible in the context of the misogyny on which the modern world is built is a great one. And one to which I don’t have an answer. I hadn’t really considered that I may like to look a certain way because historically that is the way men like women to look. Is that still actually my choice then? No wonder so many women feel continually so overwhelmed!
In terms of shared experience though, I’m more concerned with the fact that everyone feels that their own life is so worthy of interest that it should be written down. The endless clamour of voices is one of the things that is so exhausting about social media in general. I feel like there is, apart from a desire to be a writer, a deep loneliness in the modern age where numerous of what feel like inconsequential human interactions have been rendered obsolete by technology so that our social impulses are crying out for connection. I think many people put themselves down on paper (so to speak) just to be seen by anyone. I often have this same impulse but I refrain because the deeper or more interesting parts (relatively speaking) are things I would rather leave unsaid. “Does this person need a therapist instead?” is a great question. I think in many cases the answer is yes! I also think there is a tendency for people now to assume they are more interesting than they actually are. Occasionally you will read something that strikes a chord of relatability but you have to wade through a lot of wallowing to get there! I think perhaps I miss the days when it wasn’t so easy to have a published opinion - I don’t know.
Thanks Lou. I agree with a lot of that. You’re right that it can be really exhausting for the reader. Plus I think a lot of this stuff demands a sympathy/alarm response from readers, unless they are sociopaths, which can be really frazzling.
Yes, that’s a really good point.