This Isn’t Normal?

How would you know that you didn’t experience the world differently from most other people? Well, you wouldn’t! You’d go about your day, taking everyone’s actions at face value. That is until you cross a line that you had no inkling existed. One small gesture to you ended up being a declaration of malice and hate to someone else. You are not only wildly confused, but now you realise that people have vastly different lived experiences. So, you change to widen your view. You not only start to regulate how you navigate interactions, but you also take into account how others carry themselves and talk.

What do I look like? Superhero vs. Monster

My mind was wandering the other day, as it usually does, about what the difference is between why a hero is accepted for their differences and why a freak/monster/alien/other is not. It came from reading a research article by Susan Stryker titled “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above The Village of Chamounix.” Stryker raises points about the negative social implications expressed toward people who have a different gender identity that is not their assigned-at-birth identity. Stryker likens society’s feelings about it to how the Frankenstein “monster” was treated.

The Most Common Augmentation

While attempting to define what a cyborg is in class, I was struck with inspiration for a discussion topic on the blog. Fast forward two weeks and I had completely forgotten it, racking my brain for what I wanted to write on. I knew I wanted to write on cyborgs and how people don’t realize how common they are, but I couldn’t remember the specifi-It was memory!

http://www.putlearningfirst.com/br/grape/cyborg1.jpg 

Call me a masculine feminist

The words that are often used to describe femininity make me want to be categorized among the terms that are often used to describe masculinity. Call me a masculine feminist. 

My own, fragmented life

How do I begin this post? From when do I begin my story? Is in the beginning, where there is nothing but a life displaced from normal reality? Or is it when my time begins to realign into some almost normalcy? Or do I attempt to justify the future that I present with example of others that have glimpsed into the fearful reality of non-normalcy?

“You’re being way too poetic. Just start somewhere.” {“Also, why does this take almost 1900 words?” Banter, cumbersome prose, and a dogged attempt to display deep-mindedness.}

[She’s actually right, looking onto this post again. But I have no sense of inner identity that doesn’t revolve around florescent prose. {“So stop doing it.” No. Wait, you’re here now. “Yup.” You seem sedate. “Of course, you idi-dummy.” There was a big encounter yesterday, so everything’s lackadaisical.}]

Mental disorder, where mind, body, and society meet and create identities

Thinking about mental health, part 1:

I begin this post with a question: How can we tell if someone has a mental disorder? According to the National Alliance for Mental Health, “a mental illness is a disease that causes mild to severe disturbances in thought and/or behavior, resulting in an inability to cope with life’s ordinary demands and routines.” According to Wikipedia, it is “is a diagnosis, most often by a psychiatrist, of a behavioral or mental pattern that may cause suffering or a poor ability to function in life.”

What’s most interesting to me is that there are two parts to the definition- “A disturbance in mental thought/pattern”, and “Affects the individuals’ ability to function in life.” Taken at face values, these make perfect sense, if someone has abnormal mental thoughts and it makes them unable to function normally, then they have a mental disorder. Now, what are we comparing “abnormal” to? The “normal” identity, which has been crafted by society.