I thought we’d try a new feature here, and see how everyone likes it. Sound Off is an open thread where you can rant about most anything that’s bothering you, and maybe you can’t talk about with other people you know. There are only a few rules: it has to be relevant to oppression (of anyone, not just women), gender dynamics, privilege, that sort of thing. This could include a lot of small incidents in your life, and it could also be about big huge political stuff.
You’re allowed to respond to other people’s rants, but you’re also encouraged to post your own. Your rants can include requests for feedback or advice, if you’re dealing with a frustrating situation.
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Casey,
It’s YouTube. Ignore hir.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
Sylvia Sybil,
Yeah, that’s what I ended up doing but still, comments like “Are you saying that other races and gays can’t possibly function without the government holding their hands?” are things that fill me with boiling rage, I can’t really come up with a good argument against it that doesn’t involve sputtering and potential face-punching.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Casey,
I agree with Sylvia; Youtube arguments are so not worth the stress you’ll get from them.
In Britain, we have a series called University Challenge, a quiz tournament between teams from different universities. And there was one woman on an episode who was awesome enough that I think the rest of her team could have been transferred to the opposition and she’d still have won. Which was of course the cue for my uncles and grandparents to go on about what an unattractive quality it was to be so knowledgeable, and how wrong of her it was to show up the rest of (ie the men on) the team. Like it’s better to lose than have a woman for the star player.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
The Other Anne,
The Virgin Suicides. Thanks for pinning down precisely why that movie bugged the shit out of me, yet left me feeling a big potential had just been missed by an inch.
Casey,
I third what everyone’s saying about YouTube, it’s just not worth it. But Casey, you were on their home turf – a pro Ron Paul channel. This is why I refused TeamLiquid’s taunts to go to their site, with their mod rules, and their trolls, and present my points. If I had gone, they would have shouted me down with ridicule, and then when I inevitably left, they would have declared themselves victors. Instead, I told them just that – making it clear I was not stupid enough to regard their “come over here and say that!” taunt as a genuine attempt at change – and advised them to just discuss my points amongst themselves if they wanted to change anything. I’d said my piece.
And they did end up changing their mod policies somewhat, or so I’m told.
If you want to change minds, you really have to be in control of where you speak. Wandering into the lion’s den might sound brave, but it doesn’t work and it only burns you out faster.
You may want to consider starting your own site or channel somewhere, too. Don’t worry about redundancy or whether you can do as good a job as other bloggers (I am totally humbled by a lot of bloggers who write on my topics) – the more writing we have on why this stuff is wrong, the more we boost the general signal.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer Kesler,
That’s good advice. Someone invited me to write a guest post once. I wrote it, then was all, “omg this is trash, and 239344 people have written on it before” and deleted it all. <_< Then she was like, uh, someone has written on EVERY topic on the internet before.
Shaun(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, I’ve been considering starting a Tumblr to discuss some of my interests that intersect with social justice, I guess I’ve just been kinda lazy about it (plus Tumblr is hard for me to figure out how to use). >_>V
OH MAN I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING THAT PISSED ME OFF. Has anyone else seen those BP commercials promoting Gulf Coast tourism? UGH it just seems so…disgusting to me! Acting like everything is all wonderful and hunky-dory down their COURTESY OF YOUR FRIENDS BP WHO CAUSED THE BIG OIL SPILL WHAT RUINED THE LOCAL ECONOMY AND ECOSYSTEM! Yuck.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Shaun,
Heh. If you ever want to write a guest post here, just let me know! My recent post on Plan B for little girls referenced Melissa McEwan’s post, and then really didn’t add anything significant to what she’d said. I thought about not posting it, once I realized I really didn’t have anything to add (except the point that the Dept of Health really ought to be more concerned about child molestation), but then I realized you guys might. And it does boost the signal. We’re not in this to win Pulitzers for journalism. I can’t even proof my own posts, LOL. We’re in this to get a message across, and repetition can be a great tool.
Casey, Tumblr isn’t the only platform out there. We use Wordpress, and then there’s LiveJournal, Blogger… loads of stuff. And that’s just the free ones. I’m just suggesting it because you seem to have a driving passion for it, and having control over your space gives you a sense that you are empowered to say what you feel needs to be said, instead of being on the defensive all the time.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Casey,
)
if you’d like to, you could consider using my blog, too (the English version: https://internationallyhoc.wordpress.com/). I could do the posting if you’d prefer not to find out how to use the whole thing.
If this idea doesn’t sound too strange for you and you can agree with the comment guidelines (https://internationallyhoc.wordpress.com/category/comment-policy/) just write a comment on my blog and let me know.
(This is an offer so please do not feel pressured to even respond to this comment
Zweisatz(Quote) (Reply)
Aww, I appreciate all of y’alls suggestions but I just remembered that I HAVE A LIVEJOURNAL ACCOUNT…I just never really write on it for whatever reason. >_>V
I guess my New Year’s resolution will be to ACTUALLY PUT IT TO GOOD USE.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Only seven minutes past New Years and I’m already pissed off again.
I sure do hate people on DA who have stuff like this as their signature:
‘Cuz it’s so obviously NOT a rallying cry against misconceptions of feminism but rather, what they really think it is.
(this is also somebody who made a DA stamp that says “NIGGER CHINK SPIC HONKEY REDNECK KIKE NAZI COMMIE I DON’T GIVE A SHIT, I HATE YOU ALL <3" and giving it the title of "EQUALITY~!")
So basically, yeah I hate bigoted trolls like this who proliferate DA but you can't say boo about it until they actually "do something".
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Casey,
Not only that, but once you get suckered in, they make it difficult to get out. Check their websites. Giant buttons to sign up, ZERO information on how to stop your contributions.
LETMEOUTLETMEOUT!
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
*sigh* I sure do hate people (men specifically, in this particular instance) who get all hung up on having biological children. A trans woman friend of mine on DeviantArt is going through a rough spot because even though she’s been on tons of dates and whatnot, the men she meets always say they could never be with her ‘cuz she can’t have their babbyz. Bleh.
Also, I just remembered something that pissed me off about one guy in the sociology class I had before this last one. One time when we were discussing queer issues, the teacher drew out the Kinsey scale on the whiteboard explaining that sexual orientation is a spectrum from 0 to 6 and the guy got all antsy asking “UH, ISN’T THAT SCALE KINDA BIG?? SHOULDN’T IT BE SMALLER???” and when we all got situated into groups of 5 or more to discuss why girl-on-girl action is hot and why guy-on-guy action is not, the guy ended up going on a tangent about how he has to police what his kids watch on TV to make sure they don’t see anything “gay”. ‘Cuz it’ll corrupt their minds and wind up turning them gay or something?
He (along with several other people) also insisted the reason there’s hardly any guy-on-guy action on mainstream TV/films/etc. is ‘cuz either there isn’t a demand for it or that it’s just “weird and gross”. I got so frustrated that with everything he was saying (I felt personally attacked/belittled ‘cuz I’m a fujoshi, LOL) that I ended up bawling. Like, screaming and crying and hiccuping with snot coming out of my nose and everything. Ugh. Granted that was maybe a year ago when I was REALLY BAD at dealing with this stuff, but still…way embarrassing for a 20-year-old.
I also felt REALLY uncomfortable about calling him out on his heterosexism/homophobia ‘cuz he’s black and I’m white and I didn’t want to come off like some sanctimonious white lady.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
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