Author’s Note: I briefly talk about a trans friend’s experience of body dysphoria and body image.
Hello,
this is a response post to some comments made about squeaky doors in the IWCB whatsapp group chat and the use of WD-40.
Dear WD-40 user,
The harbinger of silence, of smooth hinge movements, I put forward my counter-case. I like some doors squeaky, they give the consistent feedback of opening [1] and then closing again. And that feedback is a vital signal to the brain to close the loop. I invite you to a thought experiment, imagine applying WD40 to your knuckles, so next time when you crack them, they don’t pop, how would you feel? Wouldn’t you feel slightly less satisfied? Sure, the stretch back and forth was tension relieving but the final satisfaction, you will miss that. You will feel un-whole. That something that yours was taken away from you and you are given something which the society deems polite. It reminds me of my college friend before she knew she was trans, she went through a liposuction surgery to get her man-breasts removed for her to have a “normal” social life, but instead of feeling euphoria and feeling more like herself, she felt worse, she felt something that was hers was taken away from her only because society thought it looked weird and others felt uncomfortable by it and her parents were trying their best to help their child. Sad. Tragic. Ain’t it?
Next, you go on about applying WD40, please ask the people, if they are even really bothered by it? Or rather is it the last sound of their day, of that quiet squeak of the door they hear closing and know they are safe now.
Yours dorkly,
Calra
[1] Norman Doors (see Discoverability and Feedback section)
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