Marred Observations

Activists need to sit and think

darrylayo:

It just…boggles the mind how easily the self-appointed “social justice, feminist, anti-ism” group can leap forth with accusations of poor behavior but when a woman from a nonwhite demographic steps forward with a strong critique of the mainline feminist/social justice demographic, she gets called every name in the book and it comes all the way down to shut up, white people are talking.

I’m not sure if it’s infiltrators or just good old Universal White Privilege, but more than half of the comments in that blog post are practically the same stuff I’d see in the comment section of the New York Post, CNN Politics or any other place where bottom feeders reside.

You scratch the surface of privilege, out come the wolves. There are no “allies” there is no “camaraderie,” there is no sisterhood, brotherhood or any other bonds of loyalty and love. If you point your finger at someone privilege, they will call you a liar, an idiot and everything worse. 

Here’s the article, if you missed it the first time: http://tothecurb.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/slutwalk-a-stroll-through-white-supremacy/

When somebody different from you is talking, listen to their concerns, even when it hurts. Even when they’re calling YOU out. That’s the FIRST THING that social justice blogs taught me. Apply it to yourselves.

This is an interesting point that Aura, the poster of the article, and Darryl are making. There’s the intention that Aura has and then how audiences respond. Privilege is something that people seem to consider when they don’t have it. I have seen and heard aspects of both sides of privilege, the assumptions of a gifted pass based on my skin tone but also the quality of education I had growing up based on where I lived. I have met people from very different background and I’m slowly working as curbing my assumptions as to the education that other have, I assume everyone was taught how I was, but the flaws that I’ve seen in college are ridiculous. (Having to be told how to write an argumentative essay every time i write one is ludicrous.) I’ve been ‘complimented’ on “speaking good” and people said good. It’s a back handed insult because people assume by my skin tone I am incapable of speaking as well as I do. That’s addressing privilege.

Addressing the statements here, I agree with what Aura’s saying, Slutwalk is not a bad idea, it has the potential to be great. The problem is that a there needs to be a more fair depiction of those effected and assaulted.  More needs to be put into the statistics of the victims and not just the assumptions of would-be victims. What also needs to be addressed, more important than showing that it’s not the victim’s fault, is accessing the motivations behind rape and educating why it shouldn’t happen. I’ve said on a few occasions in the past that the issue is society is taught not to get raped instead of being taught not to rape in the first place. 

In my mind another thing that needs to be addressed and considered is that rape is not just male to female, there’s also female to male, female to female and male to male. It may be stastically more likely for a man to assault a woman than any other combination but in not addressing and considering the other potentials it’s the same as not taking into consideration that races other than white have to contend with. It’s not one situation fits all. Not everyone who gets assaulted is dressed provocatively, they  may be dressed conservatively. And what is provocative? The way non-Muslim women dress may be considered provocative, so what is the basis for these definitions. 

It is important to consider how race factors into assault statistics and what needs to be done to help all people. And like I said before, more important is working harder to instill in all of society that sexual assault is never right. it should never happen, and people should not have to always be on the defensive. It’s instilled to not steal and murder, people work to prevent it but there are also systems in place to actively impede theft. What proactive systems  are in place to hinder rape, other than the anti-rape condom which may come into play a lot later than needed. 

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Darryl is critiquing the commentators who stopped at the mention of race. Being blind to how race factors into our current society is faulty thinking. It factors every day, I question how people perceive me every time I walk out the door or meet new people. We don’t know each others experiences and come together with preconceived assumptions. In saying that race shouldn’t be considered and calling Aura racist and wanting white people to be assaulted, the anonymous commentators did not the message that the leaders should be all encompassing and not just display a one of the possible whole.