selenicseas

There’s this whole idea about things being valid. Feelings, emotions, identities. You have a valid gender, or a valid mental illness, or a valid reason to feel a certain way about something. I can’t say I understand why anyone would want to be or feel valid, but I have some quite negative thoughts on the entire concept to begin with.

Validity cannot exist in a vacuum; it must be measured against something else. In order for a “valid” category to exist, there must also exist an “invalid” category. If there are valid genders, mental illnesses, emotions, personality disorders, etc., then there must also be invalid ones.

I don’t think that the people saying that some aspect of themselves or others is valid believe this or intend for their words to be received in such a manner. In fact, I don’t think they’re thinking about the implications of their own words, which is the worst part of it.

Authorities use validity as a weapon to separate minority groups into palatable and unpalatable, (socially) acceptable and (socially) unacceptable. How many times have you heard someone say they support a minority group so long as it behaves in a way that doesn’t threaten the majority? I.e. they support gay people existing, but only if they live essentially heterosexual lives, with no challenging of gender roles. That would threaten the heterosexual class’s control of gender and sexuality. And we all know how well a power-holding class deals with threats to its own power – not at all.

There’s also something I’m going to call institutional validity, for lack of any better terms. It’s a form of acknowledgement granted through institutions – the state, a church, a corporation, etc – in order to access some kind of social, political, or financial benefit. You get married to legitimize your relationship and access benefits that are not available to unmarried people. You go through the medical system and receive a diagnosis in order for insurance to pay for the cost of medication or treatment. You earn certificates, degrees, awards, etc. in order to have a legal way to monetize your knowledge.

I’m not sure there’s a form of validity that doesn’t ultimately require an authority to exist. And if there’s no structure in place to determine whether something is valid or not, there’s simply no use in the concept existing at all. There are other, more useful concepts and practices out there, anyway – like self-acceptance, which is what I image those validationists are actually looking for.