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comment by AshShields
AshShields  ·  3746 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Against Me! - Transgender Disphoria Blues - Album Review from theneedledrop

I think he's wrong when he talks about the songs not giving an insight into Laura's life (he says "the life she's leading now", which I also take issue with - the album deals with a lot of stuff she's - and other trans people - have been dealing with all their lives, not just after coming out). To me and to so many others I know, they hit home real hard. So many people connect with them. They don't give insight to him, I'd assume because they weren't meant to.

When he talks about the tracks he doesn't like, and how they're obviously very personal to Laura and affect her deeply, it sort of highlights my views on the album - sure, it's been created and released for general consumption, but in no way was it made for cisgender people. It's the same reason he talks about not seeing or feeling any "legitimate overpowering emotions" on the album - I certainly do, and I know others who do. It's not meant to explain anything, or give any political or social insight, like he talks about - it's not meant to provide solutions to any issues. It's an output of emotion and solidarity, in a really similar way to her coming out. When she came out all of a sudden so many of us had this new role model, this person of relative fame we could look up to and follow and connect with - something pretty important in the punk scene, I think. The album does a similar thing - he's right in that it confirms already held ideas, but he's wrong with the audience. It's not for LGBTQ supporters to nod their heads along to, it's for trans folk to connect with, to feel and know that someone understands, to see Laura dealing with so much shit, with cisgenderist media doing their usual thing and asking extremely personal questions, delving into stuff she doesn't necessarily want to share. But she does share a lot, and it's inspirational to see her doing so well - on a personal level, seeing another musician do this is amazing. Seeing her wife stick with her is amazing. I connect with both the album and her a lot, and I think that's what makes me love the album so much - and I think that's the point.

I've always been a bit uncomfortable with formalist analysis of any form of art, too - I can see the importance of analysing formalist elements, but placing these above conceptual or contextual things seems a bit redundant.