the thing about the “why can’t we say pregnant WOMEN instead of pregnant PEOPLE, PC gone mad!” discussion going on right now is that even the “cis ally” side is kind of not understanding why, exactly, “official” stuff about pregnancy needs to use gender neutral language.
the use of gendered language, whether in law or in company guidelines, has been used as an excuse to exclude trans people from various kinds of reproductive healthcare. there have been stories of abortion providers pointing to the use of “pregnant women” in all clinic literature to justify not giving trans men assistance. there are issues where “women’s health clinics” will refuse to accept referrals for anyone who doesn’t have “F” on their records, which of course includes many trans women. there are in turn stories of trans women being unable to access “male” prostrate cancer screening.
language in this sort of capacity needs to be as factual and neutral and carefully constructed to avoid loopholes as possible. at this stage in my life, as a non-woman capable of pregnancy, i don’t really CARE anymore if you talk casually about pregnancy as something that happens to women. but i DO care if the medical system writes out some guidelines that, in only acknowledging pregnant women as a possibility, open me up to the possibility of being denied care by transphobes who can claim they’re just following the rules.
this is a real issue for us, the gendering of health care leading to single-sex guidelines which are actively used by assholes to say “no, we only treat [gender] here”. it’s not a matter of nitpicking over everyday language; it’s about ensuring we are safe from loopholes that can be used to exploit us.
it is responsible, and the mark of a good audience, to critique problematic elements in the media we consume. For example, I love gothic lit – but a lot of it is incredibly sexist and racist. I can acknowledge that these elements are a problem and objectionable while still enjoying the piece for a multitude of other reasons. I can also say to myself “if I ever want to write my own gothic lit, here are some elements I should avoid.” Or, if I do want to tackle the issues of racism and sexism in my future gothic lit, then I can say “I will avoid writing in a way which implicitly or explicitly condones racism or sexism, while still emulating the praiseworthy elements of gothic lit.”
In essence, the fundamentals of intersectional media critique is this: “these elements of [x media] are problematic and we should rethink them in future media, both as audiences and as creators.” By rethinking these elements, I don’t mean utterly doing away with them, but rethinking how we approach them and how we read them.
We enter purity culture when our statement moves from “these elements of [x media] are problematic and we should rethink them in future media, both as audiences and as creators,” and becomes “these elements of [x media] are problematic and therefore anyone who consumes or creates [x media] is condoning everything about [x media].” The implication here is that, if one wants to be a good person, one should avoid [x media], because to do otherwise is to either implicitly or explicitly condone everything in [x media]. This type of attitude towards media is very common in conservative religious circles.
It moves fully into censorship when the statement moves from “these elements of [x media] are problematic and therefore anyone who consumes or creates [x media] is condoning everything about [x media]” and becomes “these elements of [x media] are problematic and therefore nobody can consume or create [x media] for any reason.” Those who break this rule are seen as evil and shunned. This type of attitude toward media is very common in fundamentalist circles.
A culture of censorship is the natural outcome of purity culture, because purity culture by its very nature seeks purity until even the whisper of objectionable content, in any context, is suppressed.
I would wager a guess that many people who are against anti culture are familiar with either these toxic conservative or fundamentalist attitudes towards media, and we are alarmed by their striking similarity with antis’ attitudes towards media. It is most certainly why I am against anti culture.
I just saw someone saying to report non-con fic because it’s illegal.
You… you do know the difference between fiction and reality, right? Or do you think we should report people who post things about Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, or Shakespeare because there are non-consensual relationships and sexual assault in all of their writing? Or … that their books should be illegal?
Like, there’s pedophilia, incest, bestiality and non-consensual sex in A Song of Ice and Fire. This is a fact. It’s still fiction. None of that is real, and people no more go out and rape someone after reading a non-con fic, because of reading that non-con fic than violent video games cause school shootings. (They don’t.)
Reporting people on Tumblr is just picking on people close enough for you to hit, most of whom are marginalized creators. It’s the definition of punching laterally or punching down.
This current anti bullshit is just puritanical suppression in social justice pants. It’s the right-wing thinking that says we can’t teach To Kill a Mockingbird because think of the children wearing a ‘but tags aren’t enough, that just shouldn’t be on the internet’ hat.
And just so it’s clear: I do not support, condone or make apologies for actual pedophilia, incest, bestiality, or sexual assault. I can’t believe I have to say that, but since pointing out the difference between fiction and reality and saying that reporting people for writing fiction you don’t like isn’t bullying people via Tumblr’s reporting system seems to make people on here think you’re somehow okay with actual abuse of any sort, I’m gonna say it.
Writing fiction isn’t illegal, even if the acts being written about in that fiction are illegal. Abusing the reporting system against people who write fiction that you don’t like, however, is abusing the reporting system.
“kids these days are so cringey w their fortnite dances-” are none of yall going to acknowledge the shit we did. are we not going to acknowledge gangnam style. what does the fox say. if we go older hamster dance. crazy frog. the fucking duck song. the llama song. charlie the unicorn.
let he who is without sin throw the first stone
I may not be a fan of Halloween but it looks like Huckleberry is ready!
Cody had nine cups of coffee that morning, and was vibrating into the fourth dimension so he stopped listening after “execute order six-” order six, CANONICALLY, is “get rid of your communicator as fast as possible”. So that’s what Cody hears, and that’s what Cody relays to the GAR. So Palpatine executes his master stroke and six million clones just YEET their communicators and keep going about their business.
konekorambles 