You know I didn’t think about this comparison until reading your comment, but like:
Back in the medieval period, it was vitally important (socially) that people understood your background and standing in society, because there were pretty strict rules about how one class of people is supposed to treat another. Like whether you were a social “superior” or “inferior” type shit. That’s how we got things like “your majesty” and how you might not be allowed to turn your back to someone while leaving them if they were a “superior”. In a lot of places in the world, wearing a kind of hat was legally required because that signalled “who you were” and how people needed to act.
A lot of those rules were done away with post French Revolution/modernity because the idea that people were supposed to be equal caught on. So nowadays the idea that you might have to kneel at the sight of someone because of who they are or not refer to them directly in speech because they’re “above you” is considered unthinkable.
I dunno, I guess now I see parallels between that old way of social thought and coming out today. It’s not as strict as the medieval thing (I don’t think we’re at the point where you legally have to come out or else you have committed a crime) but it seems like something cishet people socially expect queer people to do to “know who they are dealing with and how.”
You know I didn’t think about this comparison until reading your comment, but like:
Back in the medieval period, it was vitally important (socially) that people understood your background and standing in society, because there were pretty strict rules about how one class of people is supposed to treat another. Like whether you were a social “superior” or “inferior” type shit. That’s how we got things like “your majesty” and how you might not be allowed to turn your back to someone while leaving them if they were a “superior”. In a lot of places in the world, wearing a kind of hat was legally required because that signalled “who you were” and how people needed to act.
A lot of those rules were done away with post French Revolution/modernity because the idea that people were supposed to be equal caught on. So nowadays the idea that you might have to kneel at the sight of someone because of who they are or not refer to them directly in speech because they’re “above you” is considered unthinkable.
I dunno, I guess now I see parallels between that old way of social thought and coming out today. It’s not as strict as the medieval thing (I don’t think we’re at the point where you legally have to come out or else you have committed a crime) but it seems like something cishet people socially expect queer people to do to “know who they are dealing with and how.”
So you just walk backwards until they’re out of sight?
Yep! This would be something you’d be expected to do in a royal court (or even in a regular noble’s presence) if you held lower station.