BREAKING NEWS: Fandom is faily!
There have been a lot of cultural-appropriation wanks over the past few years. In fact, there have been a bunch in the last few weeks, and one egregious one in the last few DAYS. I've generally picked up on the fail pretty quickly, and while I'm not a big voice in the discussions- I'll signal boost, but generally I try to listen- I've been following.
So I was surprised at my own reaction when
sohotrightnow posted about bandom wank involving turning a Jewish character into a Catholic priest. I trust J, and reading through the comments I realized how awful what had happened was. But I also realized that while I have done my best to be on board the ally train, I've internalized a lot of the things that I want to criticize.
When I was reading the exchange I realized that, in her position, I probably wouldn't have said anything. I would have assured myself it didn't mean anything, I was just being oversensitive, it's just a story- you know, exactly the stuff I WOULDN'T say if it were racefail. Without realizing it, I would have been silencing myself.
And that's why speaking up about various -fails in fandom is extra-important. This is the first time I realized that even as I've actively thought of myself as caring deeply about my religion and culture, I've also internalized some pretty ugly stuff about what it means to be Jewish.
So thanks to
sohotrightnow, and to all the other people who spoke up, because you guys reminded me that I can too.
Cross-posted at http://fox1013.dreamwidth.org/5647.html. Comment wherever you feel more comfortable.
So I was surprised at my own reaction when
sohotrightnow posted about bandom wank involving turning a Jewish character into a Catholic priest. I trust J, and reading through the comments I realized how awful what had happened was. But I also realized that while I have done my best to be on board the ally train, I've internalized a lot of the things that I want to criticize.
When I was reading the exchange I realized that, in her position, I probably wouldn't have said anything. I would have assured myself it didn't mean anything, I was just being oversensitive, it's just a story- you know, exactly the stuff I WOULDN'T say if it were racefail. Without realizing it, I would have been silencing myself.
And that's why speaking up about various -fails in fandom is extra-important. This is the first time I realized that even as I've actively thought of myself as caring deeply about my religion and culture, I've also internalized some pretty ugly stuff about what it means to be Jewish.
So thanks to
sohotrightnow, and to all the other people who spoke up, because you guys reminded me that I can too.
Cross-posted at http://fox1013.dreamwidth.org/5647.html. Comment wherever you feel more comfortable.