Deguilting my pleasures
While rejecting the concept of a guilty pleasure of course I also have them: proclivities and favourites I'm less inclined to reveal openly for fear of being looked down on. But we don't need to be ashamed about the things we like! Unless they make us literally guilty - complicit in some crime or active harm. Then, yes, feel a bit guilty about that.
Similarly to rejecting the concept of guilty pleasures nor do I believe in enjoying something 'ironically'. I wholeheartedly and unironically love Eurovision. Sue me. And I'm tired of the capitalist patriarchy trying to make me ashamed.
Some of my guilty pleasures / pleasures I feel at least a bit of shame about, off the top of my head:
- The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- custard creams
- big dumb monster movies
- big dumb action movies featuring natural disasters
- tropes (more on which soon)
- Coke / Pepsi / multinationals ruining the world - actual guilt here
- fanfiction. I don't always mention it hence I must feel at least a bit ashamed
- The Chalet School series. I read a lot of them as a child. Would I recommend them? No. Would I read them now? No. Are trace elements of them embedded in my personality still? Yes
- melodrama (in fiction / fictional media)
- glassware (bit consumerist)
- documentaries about mountaineering disasters (I do feel genuinely guilty watching, for entertainment purposes, bad stuff happening)
Two and a half of these I actually should feel guilty about. For the others, even here I still feel the need to justify and explain. So this is like an exorcism.
There are gender, race, and class elements at play. What society values is formed by the historical opinions of straight white rich men. Everyone else is often made to feel frivolous about the things they enjoy, which are automatically placed at a lower level as a sort of sliding scale of 'noble' and worthwhile culture. Infantilised, as though left to our own devices we would only ever eat custard creams.
Being aware of these elements is important! How we fit into this, perpetuate this, uphold this. This isn't guilt, it's acknowledgement. (Unless, again, it's actively harmful.)
I don't think I see romance books as a guilty pleasure. At least, I wouldn't if I really liked it. If I don't talk about such books its because they weren't actually a pleasure so don't count on that axis.
I've never felt guilty about liking Wicked. Not the musical. The book. It's a fantastic book. Not that its literary merits matter - if I enjoy it then I enjoy it.
I don't like the musical. Do I think other people should feel guilty about liking the musical? Do I think people who prefer the musical are incorrect? No! Musical theatre is no less an art form than literature. A book is no less 'literature' because it has magic and women and is inspired by a kids film.
Guilty pleasures are one of those things I'm a bit afraid to search online because it feels like the chances of porn are high, even by internet standards. There's probably some very useful stuff written about this.
Find and feed your pleasures and don't feel guilty about them. Unlearn shame. We don't need it. We contradict ourselves, we are large, we contain multitudes.