ignorance on the internet, go figure
so, there is this forum that has at least one member subscribed to our community. and they have taken ...an interest in mocking us, stealing our photos, and just generally being assholes towards this community.
i'm not one to put things behind friends-only posts in communities, but this has really gotten me to think twice about it. and that makes me feel really bad.
i don't see how this is entirely different than the persecution we deal with in our everyday lives, but there's something about it being a concentrated and intentional effort to demean our fat-positivity and acceptance that really pisses me off.
and as
heart_rachel pointed out, if my photos were on that thread, i'd like to be aware of it.
i don't want this to deter people from posting here, or posting publicly. i know that there are quite a few watchers/lurkers in this community, and i'd hate to turn them away because of this. but i can totally see why this would freak people out (and anger people, like it did with me).
anyway. is there a course of action that we can take with this? i'm not sure what we could do. would it be better to ignore their trolling altogether?
and what is your reaction to something like this? i know that at first i was stunned- and then ashamed and embarassed- and now i am just angry about it. it feels like a betrayal of some sorts. and i don't know what i can do. so add that to the mix. the fact that my anger was preceded with shame and embarrassment is not something i can take lightly. grr.
EDIT: and in the comments here,
thebostonreader brought up a good point. don't look at the forum (as hard as it is not to click that link!) if you are wavering or new to your fatty self-love or if you are worried about the triggering capabilities of what these trolls have written. it's a pretty mucky and shitty site, actually. probably is best to leave it alone, but i wanted to talk about it in the community, as an interesting vehicle for dialogue in this non-accepting world. :-( so...yeah. that's that.
i'm not one to put things behind friends-only posts in communities, but this has really gotten me to think twice about it. and that makes me feel really bad.
i don't see how this is entirely different than the persecution we deal with in our everyday lives, but there's something about it being a concentrated and intentional effort to demean our fat-positivity and acceptance that really pisses me off.
and as
heart_rachel pointed out, if my photos were on that thread, i'd like to be aware of it.
i don't want this to deter people from posting here, or posting publicly. i know that there are quite a few watchers/lurkers in this community, and i'd hate to turn them away because of this. but i can totally see why this would freak people out (and anger people, like it did with me).
anyway. is there a course of action that we can take with this? i'm not sure what we could do. would it be better to ignore their trolling altogether?
and what is your reaction to something like this? i know that at first i was stunned- and then ashamed and embarassed- and now i am just angry about it. it feels like a betrayal of some sorts. and i don't know what i can do. so add that to the mix. the fact that my anger was preceded with shame and embarrassment is not something i can take lightly. grr.
EDIT: and in the comments here,
thebostonreader brought up a good point. don't look at the forum (as hard as it is not to click that link!) if you are wavering or new to your fatty self-love or if you are worried about the triggering capabilities of what these trolls have written. it's a pretty mucky and shitty site, actually. probably is best to leave it alone, but i wanted to talk about it in the community, as an interesting vehicle for dialogue in this non-accepting world. :-( so...yeah. that's that.