Invisibility and The Feminine

I have some thoughts on Sick Woman Theory and some things implied by it. I agree that sickness intensifies the invisibility of the individual, and that sickness feminizes masculine-identified people. But I think the author doesn't go far enough. Sickness adds a degree of invisibility to women and nonbinary people because we are already supposed to be invisible. "Women's work" is unpaid and thankless because it is supposed to be invisible. We are all expected to be blind to the gears that keep the world turning.

When was the last time you saw a grown man told he was "making a scene"? I have never seen it, personally. It has always been weilded against women and children, always weilded by the party with more power against the one with less. It basically translates to "stop calling attention to my unacceptable behaviour/stop undermining this power imbalance/stop asking for attention". It says "you are embarrassing me and I will punish you for it". When are men ever punished for those things? When are a man's actions seen as a reflection on those he has privilege or power over?

When have you heard a man described as "doing it for the attention"? Women are said this of frequently, because the unspoken assumption is that *women never deserve attention* for their actions. Only for their appeal to the male gaze are women seen as deserving attention. And nonbinary people are never acknowledged at all. Our very existence undermines the binary dynamic of the abusive, gendered power imbalance endemic to most societies.

The future is nonbinary.