![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[crossposted from Tumblr and Pillowfort]
Apr. 6th, 2019 06:54 pmDoes anyone else remember the Chokey from Roald Dahl's Matilda? It was described as a tall, narrow cupboard just big enough for a child to stand in, with broken glass lining the walls and rusty nails embedded in the door. Any student that Miss Trunchbull put inside would be forced to stand perfectly straight and still for hours on end to avoid being cut by the nails and glass.
The concept has been stuck in my head for a while now, but it was only last night that I was able to articulate why it resonated with me so much.
The Chokey is what cringe/callout/purity culture is like.
Everything you could potentially touch will harm you. You cannot lean in any direction, you cannot relax at any point, because you will suffer as a result. All you can do is stand still and occupy that single, narrow space that will not result in any further punishment than you've already been subjected to.
It's a shitty, miserable space to be in, and an even shittier and more miserable thing to impose on someone else. Fuck that.
The concept has been stuck in my head for a while now, but it was only last night that I was able to articulate why it resonated with me so much.
The Chokey is what cringe/callout/purity culture is like.
Everything you could potentially touch will harm you. You cannot lean in any direction, you cannot relax at any point, because you will suffer as a result. All you can do is stand still and occupy that single, narrow space that will not result in any further punishment than you've already been subjected to.
It's a shitty, miserable space to be in, and an even shittier and more miserable thing to impose on someone else. Fuck that.
