Tag: self-awareness | A Banana Peeled

Tag Archives: self-awareness

What is and isn’t self-evidence

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I’m going to brag for a minute. This isn’t even a humble-brag–it’s just a brag. I have a high EQ (Emotional Quotient/emotional intelligence) and have for my whole life. I can read people in a way that most people can’t. I’m not psychic–I’m just extremely adept at picking up cues. It’s both nature (I was born this way) and nurture (my mother overtly demanded it of me and my father passively deemed it his just due), and I’m not always pleased that I can do it. Believe me, I would rather not know half the shit I do about people.

In addition, I can look at an issue and instantly see it from several different sides. It’s partly because I tend to think deeply about things, and I sometimes take it for granted. For example, I had heard of Maintenance Phase, a podcast about fatphobia in America. That is a gross simplification, but it’ll do for my purpose. I had seen so many people rave about it at Ask A Manager, and they are generally a thoughtful crowd.

I listened to the first two or three podcasts and….it’s fine. I ilke the two hosts. A lot. I think they are engaging, down-to-earth, and relatable. But. And this is a big but. Their viewpoint is very white. Like, very white. Which is what they are, so that makes sense in that way. In addition, one of the hosts is not fat. Michael Hobbes. He is the son of someone who was fat, and he is very thoughtful, but it’s just strange to me. There are two hosts and one is a normie, for lack of a better word. I tend to think that if you’re going to talk about a subject, the ‘experts’ should be in that category themselves–for a podcast, I mean.

Putting that aside, the information is solid, but this is where I was surpised. it’s very basic. Like, there was nothing in the first few podcasts that made me go, “Whoa! I did not know that.” That’s not completely true as I did not know the history of fitness programs in schools, but I would have intuited that it was what the hosts described it to be.

It really feels like Fatphobia 101, which is fine! That’s probably what it’s meant to be. I was just surprised how so many of the people at AAM were gushing over it as if it were something mindblowing. Which, to be fair, it is mindblowing to push back on BMI, overweight means bad person, etc., in our society. It’s shocking to say that someone being fat is not immoral or grotesque. It’s sad that this is true, but this is the society in which we live.

So, I should not be surprised that so many people think that the podcast is brilliant.

OK. In looking for a video to embed in this tpost, I just found out this existed:

How did I not know??????
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Knowledge is power

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I was reading my stories and one of the questions was from a parent whose daughter was clearly neurodivergent. The letter writer realized it and as soon as the daughter’s teachers suggested it, they jumped all over it. The problem was their husband. He was adamant not to do it because of the stigma of a diagnosis and because he felt it was the easy way out. Their daughter needed to buckle down and fit in, basically. And his spouse needed to accept they (the spouse) was doing parenting wrong.

My hackles went up for so many reasons. Before I get into that, however, I do want to acknowledge that stigma around neurodivergency is real. There is a lot more awareness of the issues these days, which is a good thing, but there are still plenty of people who see this awareness as coddling. The world is cold and harsh, they would say. Kids today are too soft! They need to learn the world won’t always cater to them. Which, yes, the world is, indeed, cruel and they have to know that they will be viewed as different. However, the answer is not to pretend the neurodivergency doesn’t exist and force the daughter to act ‘normal’ whatever that means.

I spent most of my childhood bewildered and frightened because I was so different from other kids. Not only was I Asian, I just didn’t think the way other kids did. I tried to emulate them, but I felt as if I was trying to speak another language without having any lessons in it. I was miserable and my efforts to fit in fell flat. It didn’t help that my parents were first generation immigrants so they didn’t know the culture any better than I did. I was sensitive enough to know I was doing everything wrong, but I didn’t have the tools to make it better.

I became aware of death when I was seven. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it ever since (well, until my medical trauma). I started feeling suicidal when I was eleven. I developed eating disorders when I was eighteen. I have suffered anxiety and depression all my life as well (again, at least until my medical trauma). I hate clothing. I can see you thinking, “Wait, Minna. What does that have to do with the other stuff?” I didn’t realize until much later that I have sensory issues. Like, severe sensory issues. Bright lights bother the hell out of me as do loud sounds. It can be literal agony to have too-loud music or too-bright lights. Clothing is another issue and I have to keep it really simple and basic. I am allergic to almost every scent on the planet as well as many foods and alcohol to boot. I basically need to live in a bubble is what I’m trying to say.

In addition, my brain doesn’t think in a normal way, either. Over the years, I have found a way to make it seem like I’m a normal person, but it comes at a severe cost. It’s one of the reasons I prefer to live alone–it’s hard to keep wearing that mask all the time. I’ve known almost all my life that I’m a freak. I didn’t know why for the first thirty years. Then, I started to realize that it wasn’t that something was WRONG with me, but I was definitely different. I still couldn’t put any label on it, but I had my suspicions.