Hello, I'm Thursday, the other half of Weekday Blues. Today I'll be talking about bullying in social justice, seeing as I experienced prolonged harassment on the Tumblogosphere recently. Trigger warnings apply accordingly.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage for a marginalised person to say something is X-ist. To talk about the structure that kicks them to the ground and walks on them. & a person who stands up does not derive any grotesque pleasure from the callout: it's neither enjoyable, nor entertaining. They rightfully fear retribution.
This is even more the case when the person walking on you has a feminist card.
This is nothing new: there is bullying in social justice. I've experienced quite a bit of it myself, & so have people I'm close to.
Every time I speak, someone twists my voice.
Every time my voice is strangled, I must bear the brunt of their denial. Though we are all working for the same ideal so I must bear my burden in patience, no? That in itself is victim-blaming.
This is only going to happen again, and again, and again, and again. & again.
Every "bugger off" I have snapped in frustration is not without reason: the amount of time we spend fighting "allies" is ridiculous. It is exhausting. It results in worse cultural paranoia.
The various kyriarchal structures are not something to be debated. They are established fact. They need to be engaged with critically & worked through without privileged guilt because marginalised people don't need you giving yourself kudos for doing what a decent human being should have been doing in the first place.
There is that constant pressure of "needing to take sides" when there are no real sides. Because you know what? It's a continuum. Everyone screws up. It's how you deal with being wrong. & people with feminist cards hate being wrong. It's somehow worse than the apocalypse itself. Yes, some people are more guilty than others, but all are responsible.
