Logo: Sheyam Ghieth
Patriarchy uses attention as a reward for those it anoints as worthy: The white. The thin. The cisgender. The feminine. The able-bodied. When we say “pay attention,” we should be cognizant of the aspect of reward at play. Patriarchy pays attention to those who fall within its conventional notions of beauty. The converse is also true. By withholding attention, by not “paying” it, patriarchy punishes. What would the world look like if we did not wait to be anointed worthy of attention according to patriarchy’s standards? What if we commanded, seized, and created attention instead of waited to be “paid” attention?