on "attention whores"

March 15, 2012

gossamergrins:

I don’t see what’s so freaking wrong with them.

Some girls dress up and/or get fierce because they want to. Some do it because they like attention. And I don’t see why either of those things is so fucking bad.

Because when boys seek out attention? They’re the lovable class clowns, the comedians in the gang, the bosses, the badasses. And when a girl acts up, she’s an attention whore, needy, and has no self-respect. Wanting to be the center of attention isn’t a gendered thing - it’s a goddamn personality trait.

So you can take your shitty double standards and shove ‘em.

God. Yesssssss. Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis. So much this.

Especially since I can understand why so many women/girls would have a need to get some goddamn attention and get some praise and positive response, or at least focus put on them since women are so often expected to center everyone else. Especially marginalized women.

It pisses me off constantly that guys can do the most ridiculous shit while openly shouting, “Hey, watch this!” or “Look at me!” and basically telling the world to focus it’s eyes on them and that’s not even labelled attention seeking. Guys (esp. white straight cis ones) can post big ol’ videos on YouTube that are all about just getting people to admire or laugh at them doing something funny and that’s fine. People don’t even see that as wanting attention.

But a woman does anything remotely close to that? People pull out the “attention whore” bullshit. A woman can put a video of herself up on youtube doing something amazingly difficult, something she’s talented at and people are all, “you just want attention” and so ready to denigrate it and tell her how she needs to be quiet and not try to show off.

Ugh.

Attention is a very common human need, not something deserving of scorn or shame. It’s part of how we feel connected to each other. If we look at a world that never looks back at us, we become alienated.

But hey, alienating women has been the name of the game since FOR FUCKING EVER.