IMO the radicalization of the online feminist/SJ presence is not something positive.Totally agree, it's a much needed discussion. We're isolating people, stifling discussion and promoting group think and mob justice, and I think it's a frightening paradigm shift. Just the facts that the comments on this already are of the snarky type where people just say "lol oh gawd" and stuff proves exactly how badly such a discussion is needed. Such responses and attitudes are just not constructive towards engaging people in real-life social justice or critical dialogue. I've been sticking with real life activism at this point because I find that speaking with other people in real life and sort of re-learning how to respectfully disagree, introspect, and look for common ground is much more productive, will more likely affect other people and change other people's minds (or have your own mind changed), and is overall more informative than just group-think bashing and group-think agreement. In short, this article is totally needed. I don't think we
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OK I think the first thought I have, since you are essentially responding to my comment, is that any sort of productive discussion on this issue absolutely NEEDS actual examples of "these sites" or examples of people being "shut down" or otherwise silenced as you are implying. This is a messy subjective area due to the privileges involved and how they intersect, and in the specific case of white women being called out by women of colour, I have definitely seen white women take remarks like "hey what you are saying is problematic/offensive/fucked up" and fire back with "you are trying to silence/bully me!" and in some cases it's because they genuinely have not a lot of experience with serious disagreement and just don't know how to handle or contextualize what is going on, especially a lack of useful education about racism from people of colour, plus they either can't see or won't acknowledge that they did wrong, so they overreact. And I've done it too, don't get me wrong! We need better ways to teach other white women when to
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We need better ways to teach other white women when to recognize when this is happening and improve self-reflection, the simplest solution is better overall civil rights education (not just women's rights, but LGBTQ rights, anti-racism, etc) and actively teach privilege checking and dismantling.
And saying that this isn't just about white women sounds like a deflection, yes other groups are at play here but when it comes to straight cisgendered white women we have the greatest hegemonic power and thus the greatest potential to abuse that power or be invisible to it, etc.
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I honestly don't have the energy to engage with this mindset yet again. Just no.
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Isn't deleting one's comments a ban-able offense in this comm? Just wondering...
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And saying that this isn't just about white women sounds like a deflection, yes other groups are at play here but when it comes to straight cisgendered white women we have the greatest hegemonic power and thus the greatest potential to abuse that power or be invisible to it, etc.
I could not agree more!
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