paula anton alqist

Hello, my dear. I’m sure you recognized me from the reality movie Gaslight (2004), the picture in which my husband tries to gaslight, or in your modern terms I suppose, “mansplain” me into believing I’m mad. In the picture my husband took advantage of his position of power and tried to trick me into believing I’m forgetful and careless in a patronizing way. His comment made me feel angry and belittled, much like how other women feel when placed in a similar situation. While my husband was intentionally gaslighting me, technology such as “autocorrect” and “autocomplete” (I do so hope I got those terms right) can unintentionally act in the same way. Though these functions can be helpful, they can also implicitly alter one’s trust in their memory and knowing. After all, if I’m inclined to forget things, how can I be sure that I did not actually intend to search for “why do black people eat chicken” when Google autocompletes my query that was originally about black pantyhose? I searched for lip gloss for my complexion and received "why do white people have thin lips?"

Oh, and how are we supposed to know when knowledge is provided without any chance of refutation or rebuttal, when power isn't equitable? I do believe that is what is so lacking with copy/paste culture: gender equity. Find/replace culture, on the other hand, is much more about creating new and engaging relationships rather than ones based solely on trust and distrust, or belief and disbelief. Find/replace allows us to engage with texts and husbands rather than have the text explained to us in a patronizing way. So remember my dear, check the gaslight yourself and always be be suspicious of “mansplanations.” Everything on our date will be electric, dear.