I just started seeing someone in the past few months who has really altered my perception of myself (for the good) and many aspects of society (for the not so good). I am continually impressed by his ability to span different groups of people, ideologies, what we call 'our past lives', and still be friendly and outgoing. We come from two different social circles, and I'm seeing more and more how these circles are not only a part of us, but also how there gets to be a crossing of the two. I am a naturally jealous and territorial person- something he calls me out on repeatedly not in anger but just so that I am aware. It made me realize how much, when we enter ourselves into a sort of social contract of being in a relationship- we create a new sort of body politic- one where the core members are (hopefully) only two, and the peripheral members are an observing body made up of all of our friends and family.
In regards to my previous posts I find it really amusing that after all of my ranting and raving about the misuse of the female body as synonymous with territory, when my boyfriend made a comment about some other girl making obnoxious comments- I automatically went on the not only defensive but offensive (who does this bitch think she is, her and her ugly-ass fake rack!) as if my territory was being attacked. Somehow, her involvement in my relationship became an attack on our sphere. Does that make him my territory in my subconscious??
Is this why slang terms consider relationships 'conquests'? In all of my fearing of commitment and becoming co-dependant I now see myself as a part of another person. Can I consider this a type of collective identity? I see this also in my friendships- we define ourselves by some uniting characteristic and an attack on that characteristic is an attack on our whole identity. This brings up a lot of the feelings that I had while reading the Nordstrom article and how much one singular event- even if it isn't an act of terror- effects the collective identity of everyone involved.
Is this why slang terms consider relationships 'conquests'? In all of my fearing of commitment and becoming co-dependant I now see myself as a part of another person. Can I consider this a type of collective identity? I see this also in my friendships- we define ourselves by some uniting characteristic and an attack on that characteristic is an attack on our whole identity. This brings up a lot of the feelings that I had while reading the Nordstrom article and how much one singular event- even if it isn't an act of terror- effects the collective identity of everyone involved.
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