This was such a great read, thank you for putting it out there. The way you described the loop really stuck with me. That back-and-forth between sex shaping the self, and the self then seeking out sex that fits what it already knows. It’s such a real thing, and you captured it with so much clarity and honesty. I love how you explore these ideas without trying to force them into tidy answers.
Thank you so much for reading it. It's always so awkward to post your own text in other people's! Reading your text https://soniawitak.substack.com/p/the-male-gaze-and-docile-bodies-a, which I highly recommend, certainly brought some answers. At the moment, I'm thinking that no identity is built in a vacuum, so perhaps women are lucky to engage with the construction of self in a critical way, as opposed to most straight white males whose identity is just... the norm. But the loop will always be there...
Finally found the kind of writing I was looking for on this app. Thank you, Joana, for sharing it here <3
Many thanks, Hazel! Much appreciated, as it was a really tough subject, hard to disentangle and navigate in life.
This was such a great read, thank you for putting it out there. The way you described the loop really stuck with me. That back-and-forth between sex shaping the self, and the self then seeking out sex that fits what it already knows. It’s such a real thing, and you captured it with so much clarity and honesty. I love how you explore these ideas without trying to force them into tidy answers.
Thank you so much for reading it. It's always so awkward to post your own text in other people's! Reading your text https://soniawitak.substack.com/p/the-male-gaze-and-docile-bodies-a, which I highly recommend, certainly brought some answers. At the moment, I'm thinking that no identity is built in a vacuum, so perhaps women are lucky to engage with the construction of self in a critical way, as opposed to most straight white males whose identity is just... the norm. But the loop will always be there...