The Wild Man Project

Identity Politics is a means by which we pigeonhole people based on class, gender, race, sexuality, religion, politics, or philosophy, and use that pigeonhole to decide the worth of their experience and ideas.

This intellectual construct serves only to destroy ideas and stifle dialogue through illogical attacks on people based on accidents of birth, rather than considering ideas based on their supporting facts and cultural or moral merit.

As a narrative it also politicizes every aspect of one’s person, preventing us from thinking and defining our own experiences, and creating positive and meaningful identities for ourselves. We become roles rather than people, with a high personal cost.

The (at least temporary) rejection of Identity Politics is the first step to creating a positive masculinity, or indeed a positive identity of any kind.

I am particularly thankful today for the inspiring works of Stardusk, Karen Straugham (Girl Writes What), Asha James (Typhon Blue), Davis Aurini… these people never fail to make me hungry for learning in the same way my professors did. And, as always, I am thankful to my parents, who helped me pass through University without debt, and encouraged my choices, however unconventional they were.