The concept of a guilty pleasure is that it’s something we shouldn’t want, shouldn’t indulge in, yet we do. We should be better than this/that/the other but we’re not. So we indulge in private or incognito separating out how we want to be seen from who we really are. Sometimes it’s separating out who we think we should be from who we really are. We become good cop/bad cop from the Lego movie, showing one face here and another there, changing our personality as necessary to meet expectations, never really claiming any of them.
The question for me is, why play the “guilty pleasure” game at all? I mean, why the guilt? Why two lives? Why pretend that you aren’t something you are or that you’re something you’re not? Some will say that if their guilty activities were known to certain parties in their lives then there would be negative repercussions. Sure. If you’re hiding something that is blackmail worthy and someone finds out that you’re hiding it, then blackmail or outing can and probably will occur. That’s what revenge porn is all about, thanks social media! But what solves the blackmail problem? Exposure. Ok, if you’re calling in sick to binge watch the newest show released by Netflix, stay hidden. I mean, you don’t really feel guilty over that at all. You feel empowered to have gotten one over on the boss and “the man” right? So that doesn’t count.
Exposure doesn’t mean taking out a billboard or making a public announcement. It means claiming who we are, all of who we are and making that the new normal. It means letting someone know that the show they are trashing is a favorite, that you actually like country music, that you’ve been contra-dancing for the past 20 years and are really good at it, that you’re seriously talented at Halo or have a cabinet full of spotted cow…everything. It means accepting that this isn’t some weird aberration that you can’t control, but a part of how your soul expresses joy and embodiment in this life. You aren’t someone who is normal and btw you do this thing that others might think is odd, you are someone normal who does all manner of things including things that give you amazing amounts of pleasure. Having only one face to show the world is a whole lot easier and takes a lot less energy. Energy that could be spent on the things which give you pleasure.