“As a medium, the internet is defined by a built-in performance incentive. In real life, you can walk around living life and be visible to other people. But you can’t just walk around and be visible on the internet—for anyone to see you, you have to act. You have to communicate in order to maintain an internet presence. And, because the internet’s central platforms are built around personal profiles, it can seem—first at a mechanical level, and later on as an encoded instinct—like the main purpose of this communication is to make yourself look good. Online reward mechanisms beg to substitute for offline ones, and then overtake them.”
― Trick Mirror
― Trick Mirror
“It’s very easy, under conditions of artificial but continually escalating obligation, to find yourself organizing your life around practices you find ridiculous and possibly indefensible. Women have known this intimately for a long time.”
― Trick Mirror
― Trick Mirror
“Nem sempre se pode ter tudo, quantas vezes pedindo isto se alcança aquilo, que esse é o mistério das orações, lançamo-las ao ar com uma intenção que é nossa, mas elas escolhem o seu próprio caminho, às vezes atrasam-se para deixar passar outras que tinham partido depois, e não é raro que algumas se acasalem, assim nascendo orações arraçadas ou mestiças...”
― Baltasar and Blimunda
― Baltasar and Blimunda
“Capitalism has no land left to cultivate but the self. Everything is being cannibalized—not just goods and labor, but personality and relationships and attention. The next step is complete identification with the online marketplace, physical and spiritual inseparability from the internet: a nightmare that is already banging down the door.”
― Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
― Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
“Women are genuinely trapped at the intersection of capitalism and patriarchy—two systems that, at their extremes, ensure that individual success comes at the expense of collective morality. And yet there is enormous pleasure in individual success. It can feel like license and agency to approach an ideal, to find yourself—in a good picture, on your wedding day, in a flash of identical movement—exemplifying a prototype. There are rewards for succeeding under capitalism and patriarchy; there are rewards even for being willing to work on its terms. There are nothing but rewards, at the surface level. The trap looks beautiful. It’s well-lit. It welcomes you in.”
― Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
― Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
Our Shared Shelf
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— last activity Dec 16, 2025 12:22AM
OUR SHARED SHELF IS CURRENTLY DORMANT AND NOT MANAGED BY EMMA AND HER TEAM. Dear Readers, As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading ...more
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
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— last activity 3 minutes ago
This group is for people participating in the Popsugar reading challenge for 2025 or 2026 (or any other year). The Popsugar website posted a reading c ...more
Rafaela’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Rafaela’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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