The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

If You’re Rich, Bisexual and Mentally Ill, Columbia University Wants You!

Posted on | April 27, 2015 | 57 Comments

Trust me, when an Ivy League university freshman says she’s “upper middle class,” she’s what most of us would call “rich”:

I am undeniably absolutely white and mostly WASP
my family is upper middle class and supports me financially . . .
my gender is basically “everybody told me I was a girl and I believed them because I didn’t have any better ideas”. I’m not really a girl but my gender identity isn’t really something that I feel strongly about so I go by she/her/hers pronouns and present femininely. I’m not really cis but I benefit from cis privilege in a ton of ways and I don’t feel comfortable calling myself trans
I’m bi as hell
I’m coming to realize that my gender and sexuality are often very tied up in my mental illness/neuroatypicality and so sometimes they change and that’s ok
I’m mentally ill (diagnosed with depression and BPD [borderline personality disorder], probably got some other shit going on too) and autistic

She’s a bisexual Columbia University freshman, and is a supporter of “mattress girl” Emma Sulkowicz. You will recall that the fellow student Sulkowicz falsely accused of rape, Paul Nungesser, filed a federal lawsuit against Columbia last week.

The bisexual mentally ill freshman is not happy about this:

i’m reading the complaint by paul nungesser against columbia for “allowing him to be harassed” and i’m just getting mad about a lot of things and this is such misogynistic bullshit

Also, this:

i’ve read through paul nungesser’s entire complaint and I will debunk it point by point if I have to because people on tumblr are starting to turn against emma sulkowicz

So, if you’re an “upper middle class” family with a mentally ill bisexual daughter, send her to Columbia University, where she can prepare for her future career in the challenging field of Ranting on the Internet.

Some of us manage to rant on the Internet without an Ivy League degree, but that’s just because of our “cis privilege,” I guess.

 

Category: Education, Sex Trouble

Comments

57 Responses to “If You’re Rich, Bisexual and Mentally Ill, Columbia University Wants You!”

  1. Daniel Freeman
    April 28th, 2015 @ 5:19 pm

    I’m developing a hypothesis that people who self-identify as bisexual may be the most likely to be conservative among the GLBTI, since it means that they identify with their actions, not just their preferences — and the idea that “character is what you do” is a very conservative one.

    Gay men are probably the next-most likely, since male sexuality is not very fluid, so it’s independent of ideology.

    ETA: My hypothesis breaks down when it comes to theoretical bisexuals. It’s a work in progress.

  2. The original Mr. X
    April 28th, 2015 @ 5:45 pm

    Incidentally, did you follow the Scott Aaronson affair a while back?

  3. Steve Skubinna
    April 29th, 2015 @ 12:59 am

    Asperger’s was dropped from the DSM-V. Apparently the shamans of the APA decided that it was too accessible to the public.

  4. Steve Skubinna
    April 29th, 2015 @ 1:00 am

    There’s a reason my profile has no picture.

  5. Steve Skubinna
    April 29th, 2015 @ 1:01 am

    So you have your life’s work cut out. May you live long enough to complete it.

  6. Daniel Freeman
    April 29th, 2015 @ 10:51 pm

    Thanks, didn’t know that.

  7. JL
    May 4th, 2015 @ 5:54 am

    In my personal case (male, somewhere between homo- and bi- sexual, politics slightly to the Right of Franco) you are correct. I think a large part of the problem with attracting people of my “bent” (so to speak) to movement conservatism is that the emphasis on personal morality over personal choice leads to some uncomfortable questioning about the morality of one’s sexual behavior. Especially as someone who is a believing Jew, granted, a poor excuse for one, but a believing Jew nonetheless, the fact that there is a decently reasonable argument for why the Bible prohibits same-sex behavior is a rather awkward, nagging question. However, no matter the conflict that that may present, since I don’t hate infants, minorities or America, I can’t really hope to be a good Liberal, so you’ll have to be stuck with me onboard.

    (I hope that this little attempt at an exegesis makes sense, I’ve just woken up and my head isn’t firing on all cylinders).