this is why we fight.
Jan. 7th, 2011 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
two_grey_roomsif you're not already a fan of tiger beatdown, you probably should be (warning for sexual assault triggers). i have very few words in response to that article which aren't thank you or yes yes yes.
a few select quotes for the lazy reader (*COUGH*![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
archy_the_roach*COUGH*). same warning for triggers applies.
"Other people are allowed to think it [popularity] is a good thing. And yet, over here, we know that popularity is not good, but BAD. Feminists often RUN THE HELL AWAY FROM POPULARITY. At least, we do if we’ve got any darn sense in our heads or have seen this happen often enough. (I have a little sense. Not a lot, or enough.) Or if we don’t run away from it, our first instinct is to disavow basic things to which all writers should be entitled, like pride in our work, or a hope that our work might be read and respected. And the reason is this:
"Because you cannot so much as mention “not deserving to be raped,” in a blog post about freaking GOOGLE PRIVACY SETTINGS, without getting hundreds of comments about how you should go get raped immediately, because you deserve to be raped so very much. If that blog post cracks the mainstream, if it is even so much as linked to by a newspaper, DANG, you’ve got rape threats. (“You’ve Got Rape Threats” is also the title of the worst Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan comedy ever, by the way.) So many threats you have to stop blogging, maybe. So many that you view your talent as a liability, not a blessing; so many you wish you’d never tried to write; so many you lament this uncontrollable curse, this thing called “popularity.” Maybe you come back after you shut down the blog. And maybe you don’t. And then we lose another one, because the cost of being female and talented on the Internet is just too fucking high.
"And for you? The guy making the joke? It’s “rape bait,” maybe. Maybe you don’t mean it. Maybe you’re just fucking with us ’cause we’re so sensitive. Maybe it’s a really, really funny joke, and I just don’t get it. For you, though, it’s “rape bait.” And for us? IT’S OUR LIVES."
"But here’s the thing. Here’s why I’m not deleting Tiger Beatdown: They only do it if you’re good. Seriously. They only do it if your work reaches people, and convinces people, and if they literally cannot frame an opposing argument that they think might have any chance of winning. They can’t beat you in an argument; that’s why they abuse you, that’s why they try to make you feel as worthless and self-loathing and incapable of self-defense as any other abused person, that’s why they abuse you till you can’t work or even think about anything but being abused, that’s why they try to make you believe that it won’t stop till you stop publishing or die. That’s why they make you want to stop publishing. Or make you want to die. Because after all of it, after all the “bitch” and “cunt” and “die” and “dyke” and “ugly” and “smoker” (???) and “I’monna rape ye, woman,” there is actually one threat scarier than ALL of that: The threat that you’re right, and you’re going to win. And that’s the threat that you pose."
a few select quotes for the lazy reader (*COUGH*
archy_the_roach*COUGH*). same warning for triggers applies."Other people are allowed to think it [popularity] is a good thing. And yet, over here, we know that popularity is not good, but BAD. Feminists often RUN THE HELL AWAY FROM POPULARITY. At least, we do if we’ve got any darn sense in our heads or have seen this happen often enough. (I have a little sense. Not a lot, or enough.) Or if we don’t run away from it, our first instinct is to disavow basic things to which all writers should be entitled, like pride in our work, or a hope that our work might be read and respected. And the reason is this:
"Because you cannot so much as mention “not deserving to be raped,” in a blog post about freaking GOOGLE PRIVACY SETTINGS, without getting hundreds of comments about how you should go get raped immediately, because you deserve to be raped so very much. If that blog post cracks the mainstream, if it is even so much as linked to by a newspaper, DANG, you’ve got rape threats. (“You’ve Got Rape Threats” is also the title of the worst Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan comedy ever, by the way.) So many threats you have to stop blogging, maybe. So many that you view your talent as a liability, not a blessing; so many you wish you’d never tried to write; so many you lament this uncontrollable curse, this thing called “popularity.” Maybe you come back after you shut down the blog. And maybe you don’t. And then we lose another one, because the cost of being female and talented on the Internet is just too fucking high.
"And for you? The guy making the joke? It’s “rape bait,” maybe. Maybe you don’t mean it. Maybe you’re just fucking with us ’cause we’re so sensitive. Maybe it’s a really, really funny joke, and I just don’t get it. For you, though, it’s “rape bait.” And for us? IT’S OUR LIVES."
"But here’s the thing. Here’s why I’m not deleting Tiger Beatdown: They only do it if you’re good. Seriously. They only do it if your work reaches people, and convinces people, and if they literally cannot frame an opposing argument that they think might have any chance of winning. They can’t beat you in an argument; that’s why they abuse you, that’s why they try to make you feel as worthless and self-loathing and incapable of self-defense as any other abused person, that’s why they abuse you till you can’t work or even think about anything but being abused, that’s why they try to make you believe that it won’t stop till you stop publishing or die. That’s why they make you want to stop publishing. Or make you want to die. Because after all of it, after all the “bitch” and “cunt” and “die” and “dyke” and “ugly” and “smoker” (???) and “I’monna rape ye, woman,” there is actually one threat scarier than ALL of that: The threat that you’re right, and you’re going to win. And that’s the threat that you pose."
