El and her discredited autonomy in her romantic relationship (Pro mileven)

as someone who's first language wasn't english growing up I feel like I've been afforded another point of view because tell me why every argument im seeing for this case is

"Oh el did xyz relationship thingy before even knowing english"

(or the alternative for 'knowing english' being 'knowing pqr school taught thing')

WHY IS SPEAKING ENGLISH OR KNOWING TWO TIMES TWO YOUR MEASURE IQ OR EQ! JUST WHY?

billions of people worldwide don't speak fluent english, thousands if not millions of people are some variation of mute, god knows how many people struggle with some form of learning disability absolutely none of that, none of that, negates the fact that they are smart and capable people, barely — if at all— behind the rest of the crowd. in fact I'd go as far as to say plenty of them are far smarter and more understanding than your average person. and this is accounting for those who never got the chance at real education, much like el herself, and still live life like others, filled with love of all sorts, with their own thought and emotion processes.

being mute, selectively verbal, or having a learning disability has nothing to do with lacking agency or emotional depth. to suggest that el couldn’t understand romance or consent because she didn’t know the word “boyfriend” is basically saying vocabulary defines capacity. that’s not just incorrect — it ignores how humans actually experience emotion. you don’t need the term to feel the thing.

to be honest, all it's showing me is ones failure of grasping basic narrative facts presented to us in the show, because they literally show us, el understanding more than basic english spoken to her, the fact that her initial mutism is a product of her trauma, that she is a quick learner, that she feels deeply and is a sensitive person, that she grew up in a fucking lab fighting for various reasons, and knew how to play chess, how to solve puzzles etc, she reads emotional cues, especially from mike and the party. she differentiates between manipulation (brenner), conditional care (owens at times), and genuine affection (hopper, mike, max). that requires emotional discernment.

language proficiency is a skill shaped by access. intelligence is a cognitive capacity. emotional intelligence is relational awareness. the show demonstrates all three in el, just not in your traditional classroom format.

speaking english or knowing the popularized term for a person she feels romantically drawn to, is not a measure of her IQ or EQ or any other capabilities of her to be able to make choices regarding who she does what with. comments like these knowingly or unknowingly reek of ableism and white superiority if only because of english. sick and tired.

(inspired by many byler takes I've read that do nothing but portray everyone in a bad light - sincerely coming from a multishipper who supports ship and let ship)