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23 March 2012 @ 05:01 am
Real Life Psi Internalized Oppression Bingo 1  
I also decided to make a card with some common examples of what internalized oppression about psi looks like. You may see these reflected in fiction, but usually when authors have psi characters reflecting these attitudes, they (the authors) are unaware that they are internalized oppression, and are taking these attitudes for granted as just the "inevitable, normal and natural" ways that someone who is psi would feel about him or herself.

There is nothing "inevitable" about feeling this way. Psi people who internalize these attitudes about themselves get them because of the messages we get from friends, family and the media, from a young age.

Writing about characters who experience internalized oppression is not per se fail -- it's fail 1) if you don't realize that these attitudes are internalized oppression and just take them as "obvious" without thinking about it, or 2) you recognize they are internalized oppression and don't really understand what that means and looks like, and so write about it very unrealistically.

Just making up how "tormented" psi people (youth or adults) must be for the fun fantasy of it can come across as a big "F U" to our actual lives.

Remember: It's bad enough to read a book/watch a show and see the non-psi characters spouting negative attitudes, but it hurts in a whole different way to see the psi characters themselves saying those same things. That only "works" in a story for me in very limited circumstances, which really make sense in the story.

The following is not an exhaustive list of all the ways internalized oppression can take shape. There will likely be at least one more card on this subject.

Even bad/ negative incidents are good, BECAUSE THEY ARE INCIDENTS! (Validation)
Refers to oneself or one’s experiences as “weirdshit”
Accepts that it’s normal/ expected that others will not believe him/her
Accepts that it’s normal/ expected that if others find out, they will be scared
Accepts that it’s normal/ expected that if others find out, they will think him/her “crazy”
Attacks other psi people to deflect self-hate
Accepts “scientism” and keeps trying to “prove it” to others
Accepts that there’s something sinful about psi
Accepts criminalization metaphor/ language for psi
Accepts medicalization language or context for psi, OR wishes he/ she could medicate it away
Accepts that he/she is “crazy” for being or believing in psi
Refuses to accept the validity of one’s psi experiences because they’re too scary/ unknown
Free Space: In the closet to friends, family, and/or lovers
Denial of difference, or validity of difference (to self or others)
Men: Rage, rage, RAGE!
Violence against self (physical or mental)
Engages in high-risk behavior (e.g. substance abuse)
Self-fear, hate and/ or disgust
For sensory psi: accepts one’s senses have to be controlled or repressed for one to be “good”
Men: Self-aggrandizement (“I’m the biggest badass on the block!”)
Rationalization (“Oh, it’s not really psi, it’s…”)
Tries to believe in contradictory realities at once (e.g. “I’m psi, but I don’t believe in psi because I’m a scientist”)
Accepts self as cursed
Accepts psi as “burden” or “gift one is “paying for”
Feels his/ her social or family problems are caused by his/ her being psi (self-blame)
Current Mood: accomplished
(Deleted comment)
critpsitheorycritpsitheory on March 25th, 2012 12:04 am (UTC)
You do these in general, or you do these as a way of coping with internalized oppression about psi? I have been interpreting it in your case as the former!

I should also add more "YMMV" disclaimers. Even if something is say, ten times more likely among men, that doesn't mean there isn't some woman doing it, too. (And vice versa.)