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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Synaesthesia

38 replies

ILikeYourLittleHat · 06/06/2019 14:12

I have a condition called synaesthesia - it can be where two senses 'join' so people associate sounds with colours etc. Mine is your average grapheme-colour variety so I perceive (not "see", I don't hallucinate) letters and numbers as having colours. The colour of a word is largely dictated by the colour of the initial letter.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapheme-color_synesthesia is a good link.
It's helpful in some ways - I am an excellent speller (cue Muphry's law) but a hindrance in others e.g. diagrams where letters/colours are linked in a 'key' but to me are the wrong combination.

This is a 100% genuine, fixed, testable (you could ask me what colour letters are at any age and I'd know) recognised condition.

Some people tell me that letters are whatever colour they are printed or displayed in. These letters probably appear purely black to you, because you're not special like me. In fact, I am starting to get quite annoyed when people insist they are black. It denies my experience of perceiving the beautiful colour in the world.

To fix this, people need to perceive the world as I do. I propose to request a law that it will be illegal to print any letter or number in the wrong colour. Writing a shopping list must be done with one of those clicky pens with ONLY the relevant shades of ink and you must select a new shade for each letter. Anything else is miscolouring and may cause a processing issue for me if I see it.

I understand that other synaesthetes also see the world in other colours. They are welcome to their view but need to be re-educated in their choices of colour. E is yellow, it always has been yellow and to suggest otherwise is actually quite offensive to me.

I'm glad I have your support.

OP posts:
FannyCann · 06/06/2019 17:59

Music affects your taste , sweet music , sour or spicy. Nigella Lawson is cross because when restaurant music is too loud it spoils the taste of her food.

Playing the wrong music is literal violence which may lead to starvation if the food tastes wrong.

PM - 06/06/2019 - @bbcradio4
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005mmd

About 17:50 on.

Doobigetta · 06/06/2019 17:58

You had me for the first couple of paragraphs, well done Smile

hoodathunkit · 06/06/2019 16:19

There are extreme synaesthesists who wish to transition cisynaesthesists to synaesthesia by means of induced synaesthesynthesis.

spiking with psychedelics?

hoodathunkit · 06/06/2019 16:18

Mirror touch synaesthesia and other related conditions are of interest to me, especially when combined with other forms of neurological-atypical functioning.

MockerstheFeManist · 06/06/2019 16:18

There are extreme synaesthesists who wish to transition cisynaesthesists to synaesthesia by means of induced synaesthesynthesis.

(That's easy for you to say, Ed.)

JellySlice · 06/06/2019 16:11

When I feel pain, does that pain not exist?

No, not necessarily. Your perception of pain is real to you. Doesn't mean that there is anything actually happening to cause that pain. Think of the phantom pain that amputees have in a limb that no longer exists. I had a compressed nerve in my spine, that caused me to have phantom sensations in a limb. The insects that I was certain were crawling on my skin did not exist. The warm water that I was certain was pouring down my limb did not exist.

Anyway, OP, I support your right to believe that letters have colours. I will not call you offensive names linked to your colour-ideology. But I support my right not to believe what you believe. If you want to add your sign next to mine, that's fine - but I will not bel replacing my sign with yours.

ILikeYourLittleHat · 06/06/2019 14:30

The idea of E being blue genuinely is baffling to me. It's so INTRINSICALLY yellow! A joyous cheeky pale yellow unlike any other letter, that uplifts any word!

OP posts:
ILikeYourLittleHat · 06/06/2019 14:28

I started thinking about it reading this

particularly this bit:
Trans woman: But are not feelings a part of reality? When I feel pain, does that pain not exist? Just because it has an experiential element doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. My feeling of pain is as real to me as anything else in this world. And my feelings about my gender are as real as anything else in this world.

Yes, they’re real to you. Which is not quite the same as ‘anything else in this world’ which is also real to people who are not inside you.
OP posts:
MissHemsworth · 06/06/2019 14:26

YABU

'E' is a very pale blue.

ILikeYourLittleHat · 06/06/2019 14:25

tellmewhenthespaceshiplands (cos all of this has got to mean somethiiing.... iiiing)

OP posts:
ILikeYourLittleHat · 06/06/2019 14:24

It's ok! You don't need to understand, as long as you're inclusive. You are inclusive, aren't you?
Now just make sure you never type or write a letter in the wrong colour and you won't be arrested.

OP posts:
tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 06/06/2019 14:16

I'm probably being thick but have absolutely no idea what you're on about. Hmm

OhHolyJesus · 06/06/2019 14:16

Indeed we need to support your condition, how many sufferers are there in the UK? We need to educated the Police and Teachers on this, have you thought about delivering nation-wide training and fundraising for resources of coloured pens?

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