clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2021-10-23 07:37 am
clevermanka) wrote2021-10-23 07:37 am
Entry tags:
Racism in Fandom
If you, a white person, are tired of hearing about racism in fandom imagine how tired non-white fans are of the abuse they continually suffer in our fan spaces. I know we are all tired and we want to enjoy our things, but what about the other people who want to enjoy those things, too? We need to accommodate for their needs. We need to provide them a safe space and it's beyond insulting, not to mention hurtful and rude, to suggest if they don't like it, they can just go elsewhere. Don't people notice how similar that sounds to "America? Don't love it? LEAVE!" Do you really want to be associated with that mentality?
Posts like this (Tumblr) are heartbreaking. How can we look at that creator and tell them to go away? That we're not willing to protect them?
We now know that AO3 has the resources to improve, they are aware there are issues, and there are lots of people out there with suggestions on how to begin the work. Yet people in the OTW, people on my DW read list, people everywhere, cry censorship and refuse action because it's not their job to make the call on what's allowed. The attitude discouraging for me, a white person. The emotional weight that puts on fans of color must be awful.
We've got to do better, and silence is complicit. Neutrality places us on the side of the oppressor. If we don't believe it's the responsibility of AO3 to protect its users from exposure to hateful, hurtful content, we are part of the problem.
I'm not asking my mutuals to make the decisions on what must be done--pretty sure none of y'all are on the OTW board. But I expect the people I'm mutuals with to support reform in fandom spaces. I expect my white mutuals to voice their support for anti-racist actions in fandom spaces. I'm done being friendly with white fans who don't engage with even the minimal point of agreeing we need change. I get being tired! I'm tired as fuck y'all, but I guarantee I'm not as tired (or at risk) as fans of color.
naye put together a truckload of anti-racism resources and links if you'd like to acquaint yourself with them. Let me see your voices. Let me see you asking for change.
Posts like this (Tumblr) are heartbreaking. How can we look at that creator and tell them to go away? That we're not willing to protect them?
We now know that AO3 has the resources to improve, they are aware there are issues, and there are lots of people out there with suggestions on how to begin the work. Yet people in the OTW, people on my DW read list, people everywhere, cry censorship and refuse action because it's not their job to make the call on what's allowed. The attitude discouraging for me, a white person. The emotional weight that puts on fans of color must be awful.
We've got to do better, and silence is complicit. Neutrality places us on the side of the oppressor. If we don't believe it's the responsibility of AO3 to protect its users from exposure to hateful, hurtful content, we are part of the problem.
I'm not asking my mutuals to make the decisions on what must be done--pretty sure none of y'all are on the OTW board. But I expect the people I'm mutuals with to support reform in fandom spaces. I expect my white mutuals to voice their support for anti-racist actions in fandom spaces. I'm done being friendly with white fans who don't engage with even the minimal point of agreeing we need change. I get being tired! I'm tired as fuck y'all, but I guarantee I'm not as tired (or at risk) as fans of color.
naye put together a truckload of anti-racism resources and links if you'd like to acquaint yourself with them. Let me see your voices. Let me see you asking for change.
no subject
(I am so far out on the fringes of fandom this could be happening and I wouldn't know. :) )
I'm not really sure what forms of organization actually work to create change--how to do activism effectively. It seems like we're at a point where that's needed, if it isn't already happening. And it does seem like here, there is also the issue of getting community norms to shift, which is intertwined but takes different sorts of action to achieve.
no subject
Nobody is asking individual fans to solve the problems. That sort of defense is making me increasingly angry. We're asking the OTW and AO3 to hire professionals to solve the problem. This shouldn't be a contentious stance. AND YET.
eta: I'm gonna get a little salty here, too, and note that one's ability to avoid awareness of these issues is a HUGE example of privilege. Huge.
no subject
I agree, the OTW leadership should be taking action they're not taking.
I know that individuals have been posting about the problems and the need for change and ideas for solutions. I know there have been collective actions in the past, aimed at trying to get the OTW decision makers to change things, like last year's open letter. I don't know of any such current organized actions but I would guess that they exist -- in which case, joining such a thing would be one way for and individual to help make change happen. Or, if they don't exist, helping to organize such a thing would be a way for an individual to help make change happen.
As in national politics, I'm looking for ways that I, as an individual, can contribute to getting change to happen.
I thought you might be a little more likely than me to have heard about those things already, so I asked. I apologize if that was out of line.
no subject
I'm not sure what people want or expect when they ask about collective action. We already are acting collectively. We are writing letters to the board, talking about it on social media, bringing attention to these issues, and still nothing happens. I don't know what larger group of unknown origin could attempt. It's not like we can unionize to affect change or something.
The "but is anyone organizing" question is often used as a delaying tactic by people who are interested in maintaining the status quo. It fits nicely with the "it's not my job to determine content" to absolve ourselves of the responsibility of taking direct action.
Direct action: Complain loudly about the fact that fandom has a racism problem. Support and amplify the voices of fans of color who call for change and defend them when they're slandered. Distance yourself from fans who question the need for improvement.
Much like cutting the racist members of the family off our lists for Thanksgiving dinner, we need to stop blithely interacting with racist members of fandom. People on both sides of the issue need to face the fact that supporting bigotry has consequences.
no subject
More seriously, though, racists themselves continue to point out AO3's not the only game in town, every time they tell fans of colors to "go make your own." And, again, the OTW isn't a government institution. It can't censor people. What it can do, as a private organization, is say, "Our house, our rules." And I'll be damned if I'm not going to keep agitating for those rules to include 1. No racists and 2. No content deliberately aimed at harming or harassing fans of color.
no subject
Thank you for continuing to fight for oppressed and marginalized fans of color.
no subject
True. I worded that poorly; what I meant to say was that because the OTW isn't a government entity, it's incapable of censorship. Even if censorship were allowed in the U.S., it wouldn't be the OTW enforcing it regarding the content on, say, Twitter or ff.net. The OTW only has control over content that shows up in its own spaces. And right now, it's the bar letting the (literal) Nazis in.
I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't deserve thanks just for showing up.
no subject
no subject
no subject
*hugs you gratefully*
no subject
no subject
Still, excuse me for not having the energy to lead the charge. I will lend support (and have done so already), but ugh fuck me if i have the energy to do everything i have to do every day to make my own life happen. *sigh*
And I realize the irony of telling you this, who usually has a lot less energy than I do. /o\ Kudos for getting this post out there!
no subject
no subject
It's... interesting, trying to engage other white people in the issue. Yesterday I had the misfortune to take an abrasive racist asshole on good faith, spent way too much effort putting together links, got to hear all about this person's "hurt feelings" and my "bad faith" and after hours of all that they pretty much literally went "lol this is trash". 🙃 And yet, bc an actual fan of color was tagged into that thread it was WAY better that I was the one doing the getting jerked around? Because like you said - yeah, I'm tired, but this hasn't been my whole fucking LIFE.
The first time I posted about the whole "hey have you ever noticed the AO3 doesn't seem to care about racism?" Thing, someone I'd been casual mutuals with since SGA decided I was being so unreasonable for not accepting the status quo that she (locked account) unfriended me on the spot. And this is me, so you can imagine how mildly I was putting things! I still get very "ah, them" when I see the username around (they're mutuals with many in my circle).
I've also come across the silencing tactic of telling me it's fake/performative wokeness to talk about any of this. At the same time apparently talking about a lot of these issues in fandom is also the actual real problem!
It's been heartbreaking to see non-white friends ask for more support, and for more white people speaking out, and that should ALWAYS be more important than feeling uncomfortable because of any mistakes we might make when we try to engage in it. But definitely a lot of people will just come out swinging for racism, whether it's with slippery slope to censorship arguments, or "make your own site then", or "white people shouldn't speak about this" or "I've never seen any proof of this racism you speak of so it's not a real problem" and then all of the above.
And I have been approaching this with links and stuff, but I'm beginning to feel if you as a white person are arguing that there can't be a racism problem because you (a white person) hasn't seen it, you're already so far down the path of bad faith that there's no point in engaging. The worst part is that this frequently come from queer people and women, who fucking KNOW that there is a lot of harassment that's invisible to those not targeted by it. But their ability for empathy just completely ends when it comes to the combination of BIPOC and fandom.
Anyway. The point is you can't stop talking about it because some assholes are going to tell your voice doesn't count or you can't prove to them that they should care.
no subject
I hear you on the complaint with marginalized people claiming they're not being bigoted because they can't be because they're marginalized in some way, too. That's not how this works, y'all.
Like you, I am also real over the "I'm afraid to say anything because I might do something wrong." Yeah, you're right! You will! So will I! It's better than staying silent. And mistakes are a great way to practice genuine apologies.
no subject
♥♥♥