#i am sick of seeing ridiculous mass produced novelty items being Cottagecore

[kitchenalia]

it's all so funny because two people can say they're into cottagecore. the first is someone who loves growing her own food, tries for sustainable habits, believes in anti-consumerism, and just enjoys connection to nature. the second buys aliexpress/wish fast fashion dresses because they look #aesthetic, posts about mushrooms and being feral but is essentially afraid of going outside, watches hours of internet content about cutesy cottagecore shopping hauls, and doesn't really subscribe to any anti-consumerist actions whatsoever. i don't really understand a "cottagecore aesthetic" that's all about getting new plastic junk shipped to your house because it's Cute and Totally Cottagecore.

to me, cottagecore was initially just a name for a deep-seated longing for nature, connection to the earth, sustainability, self-sufficiency and community building, fighting food insecurity, and pointing out how capitalism divorces us from nature and encourages us to be exclusively reliant on a giant chain full of exploitation and slavery. and there always WAS content like that among people interested in it, but the core of it (lol) ended up being high-strung impulse shoppers who deflect any criticisms of their lifestyles with "corporations though." they post about wanting a simple life, but the reality says grubhub, cheap amazon junk catered to the trends, and arguing against the people who try to post about making your life better. (literally the only time they espouse anything resembling collective politics/anti-individualism is when it can be used to deflect criticisms of their harmful habits; go figure, self-evaluation is rejected in favor of navel-gazing).

this is why i mostly stopped engaging with anything cottagecore-related, despite liking the aesthetics of old, 'rustic' things (things that i see as practical and environmentally friendly, at least). i mostly read about the simple living/voluntary simplicity movement, global movements for food justice, community/grassroots movements, and people working for the environment now instead, as well as whatever i can find about lesbian domesticity and women's land. i get a lot of the same aesthetics (and room for other people's lack of patience for aesthetics, which is also cool!) but with actual teeth and willingness to put in the hard work. let's be real, reblogging the random "omg i hate capitalism" post does nothing if you're just feeding back into the cycle in the name of validating your identity as a cottagecore girl or whatever. get outside, make your own food, stop buying everything you want in impulse, learn about the tedious politics behind your movement (no, i don't mean people on tumblr saying cottagecore is fascism lmao).

#yes i am being blunter than usual on this topic #i am sick of seeing ridiculous mass produced novelty items being Cottagecore #and the cottagecore bloggers refusing to talk about lifestyle changes even while being 'anti capitalism' #literally go start gardening or something. go give away some food. go pick up trash by that local pond.