I want you all to think about how frustrating it is for a person to imply to you that the oppression you face isn’t serious, or even just isn’t common.

Think HARD about that before you try to draw comparison by saying how many people of X class accept/don’t accept/welcome/are insulted by/etc. their oppression.

People who don’t accept that their fat is a point of inferiority are few and far between — to say nothing of those who actually view their fat as a POSITIVE thing.

And guess what? People who don’t accept that their disability is a point of inferiority are few and fucking far between — much less people who think their disability is a POSITIVE thing.

You know what’s causing the discrepancy in your observation? It’s a nine-letter word beginning with “P” and rhyming with “schmrivilege.”

And you know what? The same can be said about gender. The same can be said about race. The same can be said about sexual orientation and sexual identity. The same can be said about ….

Please please PLEASE think fucking HARD before you try to draw comparisons between privileges. I GUARANFUCKINTEE you are going to step on a lot of toes when you do. No matter how hard you try, with the most generous of intentions, not to do so.

There’s a reason for that, folks.
Where we are clueless, we should not be flaunting that to our allies.
We should be LISTENING and trying our best to LEARN.

Instead of comparing — try this — turn that reflection inward, and think, “If I am thinking that XYZ oppression is ‘better’ in ABC way than mine… what is it that I’m missing that allows me to think that way?”

If you can’t think of anything — resign yourself to the fact that privilege is really damn pervasive and it takes a long time, sometimes, to understand some things — so let that thought sit in your brain, and vow to yourself to listen to people from XYZ group in the ongoing future, and consider it an open case.

If you don’t find the “something” that you’re missing? That case is still open.
It should NEVER be considered closed.

I know most of you would expect the same of me, in regards to fat and thin privilege (from which I still benefit, even as I am now technically ‘overweight’! mild body dysmorphia — fun) — I’m just asking the same of you.

And thank you — sincerely — for the community that this is. ‘cuz I really do appreciate it.

And my apologies for being so late to the party.

I avoid the whole self-timer problem by using a mirror – sometimes I take the picture in the mirror so I can look at the framing onscreen, sometimes I point it at me and look at the screen in the mirror. And sometimes I just hold it up and hope I have myself somewhere in the view. :)

still, “not knowing” doesn’t mean i can’t learn!

thank you for the warm welcome, ladies and gents. ^_^ i very much appreciate it. *curtsies*

I can get maybe one good shot out of 30 or 40. But the few that are good? Are really good.

When we got married my MIL wanted an “engagement picture” for their local paper, and we had the pictures taken by a friend of my brothers – he told us he was going to shoot two rolls of film, because “the first one’s for getting used to the camera” – he thinks a lot of people who think they “aren’t photogenic” are really just tense and need to relax – and because “getting the right picture means taking a lot of wrong ones.” One of those shots is about the only picture taken of me as an adult that I like.