at some point i want to post a huge doorstop about descriptive vs performative speech, but i don't know what to put in it yet.

it's not that performative speech is bad in all cases, but misrepresenting performative speech as descriptive speech is something i don't ever want to see. reading the former as the latter is massively unpleasant, and it's my default mode.

it's massively unpleasant because there is a whole bag of tricks that rely on exploiting one's performative speech being read as descriptive.

obviously, the the sane thing to do would not be to keep assuming descriptive, but to ignore the posts until one has proof they are descriptive. but i also think that cedes too much ground.

perhaps the crux of it is whether performative or descriptive should be the default. i don't think the people all too content to run roughshod over reality-tracking maps for the slightest sliver of political power should get their way.

idea inspired by people doing... i don't know what to call it... kink based identity roleplay in main