browngirl: (My eye (bikergeek/tigerbright))
browngirl ([personal profile] browngirl) wrote2013-11-02 08:03 pm

"The Logic of Stupid Poor People"



http://tressiemc.com/2013/10/29/the-logic-of-stupid-poor-people/

"If you are poor, why do you spend money on useless status symbols like handbags and belts and clothes and shoes and televisions and cars?

One thing I’ve learned is that one person’s illogical belief is another person’s survival skill. And nothing is more logical than trying to survive."

This article describes how the way one dresses and the consumer items one has can change how people view one in vital ways, not least if one is poor (and/or not White, and/or female, and/or a member of any other group seen as 'coded'/'non-normative'/not someone the viewer empathizes with). Accessories can get one a job or not, and so on. MAny of the comments stupidly say that people shouldn't "sell their souls for a privileged existence", but when the issue is keeping body and soul together by obtaining a job or other necessary resource...

I've been meaning to write an essay about what I've noticed about the arbitrary symbolism of clothing (there is no law of nature that makes wrists or eyes or thighs more or less erotic to expose, but the symbolism of different cultures' clothing styles). This isn't it, but it reminds me of it. More personally, I have to admit, this is the stuff my mother is talking about when she tells me no one will hire me unless I straighten my natural hair. After this year of job-hunting I'm beginning to wonder if she's right.

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