Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I've had it up to here

Okay, I have avoided commenting on this because meta makes my head hurt (and I realize that my avoidance, and ability to do so is a function of my privilege) but I can't keep shirking that responsibility. A basic run down for those of you who don't follow the politics of progressive (and I use that term loosely) bloglandia: a boycott of some big name feminist blogs has been called for by members of the trans blogging community due to repeated issues of representation, the lack thereof and/or the representation that they do get being derailed by centering it around the concerns of the cis-people in the thread.

Below is a list that outlines some of the blog posts that have been at the center of, or in addition to the malestrom.

(ganked from Gender Goggles)

The Feministing/Feministe Boycott

[1] Men in Women’s Bathrooms: Is Your State Next?: the Focus on the Family transphobia post with errant comment thread on Feministing*
[2] By Any Other Name: transmisogyny post with errant comment thread at Feministe
[3] Bathroom panic, it’s totally feminist: Queen Emily’s response to errant comments on Feministing.
[4] Very Necessary: Voz Latina’s call for a boycott of Feministe/Feministing.
[5] It’s Always About The Cis Women: Lucy’s post about both Feministing and Feministe.
[6] On Cis Supremacy, Feminism and Feministe: Cara’s response to all of this on Feministe.

The Dust-Up at Bitch, Ph.D.
[1] Teabag Me: the original post at Bitch, Ph.D.
[2] Ann Coulter Really Is A Cunt, People: the response at Bitch, Ph.D.



I just read the Bitch, Ph.D posts, and that was essentially the shit cherry that topped off the vomit sundae. Its what made me realize that I couldn't keep avoiding this.

Big note to anyone who wants to be considered "progressive" and "feminist":

I DON'T GIVE A FLYING RATS PATOOTIE WHAT YOUR RATIONALIZATION FOR IT IS. TRANSPHOBIA, TRANSMISOGYNY, AND THE ERASURE OF TRANSPEOPLE IS NOT PROGRESSIVE NOR FEMINIST.

Also, fucking up and showing your ass as a privileged person is going to happen. When it does, the proper response on being called on it is SINCERE APOLOGY AND MAKING SURE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN.

Now I know what its like to teach five-year olds. Christ.
Anyway, I have removed both Feministing and Bitch Ph.D from my blogroll. I'm keeping Feministe for the moment as they are the only ones that have taken this criticism in and tried to improve. As of now, I don't know if Feministing has responded at all, and frnakly, Bitch Ph.D's non-apology ("well I'm sorry that you're offended" etc) just pissed me off more, so I don't think I can, in good conscience, go back there.
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:22 AM

    I took feministing off of my reader a long time ago. Even when I didn't feel that some of the bloggers there were showing huge amounts of privilege the commenters are pretty much free to be the biggest self absorbed ass holes ever. It's not a safe nor friendly place to be if you don't go along w/ whatever is said...and I am not a person who usually cares.

    I have seen feministe go up and down, and when they are called out they usually do something about it, whether it fixes anything or not is not for me to decide, but at least they don't stay silent when stuff like this is called out...

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  2. Anonymous11:30 AM

    The thing that makes me sad about feministing is that I do think that they have a great opportunity but that, and understandably so, they are focused on their own individual careers to the point that they cannot manage a blog as big as it has become. IT has gotten to the point where I cannot read comments there because it hurts my head as much as some right wing blogs do.

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  3. T. R Xands3:14 PM

    Not to sound all uppity but although Feministing was part of my engagement in the feminist blogosphere I had to give up on them a while ago. The white and, surprisingly, male privilege is BLINDING. The way Feminsting responded was just...fecking odd, shutting down all the community posts on transphobia and making one big meta post so they could "moderate" it better. I still like Feministe because I appreciate the effort everyone over there takes to at least try to improve but just...ugh.

    Also I think you made a good point about avoiding meta-drama possibly being related to privilege. I wanted to protest, I hate meta-drama because I just hate freaking dumb drama in general, but then I realized...I'm not trans. I'm cis gendered. It's frighteningly easy for ME to avoid this meta because it doesn't actually have a lot to do with me (other than the fact that I care about it). So...thanks for the unexpected thinky thought.

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  4. Anonymous4:04 AM

    I have been reading Feministe and Feministing for some time now just for the news. Because they're so big they cover a lot of the news radar, but I seldom if ever partake in discussions - on either site. On Feministing I've taken to read more community posts than main blog posts, but participating? Nah.

    I was so disappointed when they decided to close the trans threads and pool them all into one - as if that can be done, when people were having conversations elsewhere. Ignorant, arrogant. That move made me think of reservations and refugee camps: "No we can't keep an eye on you when you're all over the place (five threads *gasp*) so we'll just force y'all into this designated space we've made for you, whether you like it or not."

    *barf*

    So disappointing.

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