Comments | thevixenne: Thoughts on Endless RaceFail

thevixenne

Thoughts on Endless RaceFail

Oct 25, 2011 16:14

Call me naive, but as a middle-aged woman of color and a lifelong member of the geek/fandom generation, I often find myself wondering just what the hell is going on with so many writers/artists/designers/etc. committing endless, epic racefail these days. I mean, are these folks stuck on stupid or what? This isn't the 1800's where it didn't matter ( Read more... )

racefail, stupidity, fandoms

Comments 3

satellite6 October 26 2011, 01:21:56 UTC

Ah, privilege. Had a really heated conversation this week with a bunch of women who told me I needed to check MY privilege. It was the screech heard around the world. Wha??? I'm a 40 year old black woman from the deep South. You must be kidding. I have more privilege than you because I'm a woman married to a man and you're a woman married to a woman? Made me want to kick people in the teeth! You mean all this time I've been dealing with racism and sexism, all I had to do was put up my hand and metaphysically invoke thee privilege? Who knew? I just needed to cash my privilege check!

LMAO. Sorry for the hijack vent.

thevixenne October 26 2011, 21:01:52 UTC

LOL, that's a conversation I've had as well. I just laughed at the woman who said that to me, which probably didn't make me popular but it was just so ludicrous! After I filled her in on my life as both black AND female, she shut up quickly, especially when I told her that unless she tells people she's a lesbian, everyone will assume heteronormativity. As a black woman, I don't have that cover to fall back on.

What's really happening here is an unwillingness to shut up and LISTEN. For some reason being an attentive listener and absorbing what one hears is viewed as passivity/powerlessness and some people just can't handle that.

(The comment has been removed)

thevixenne October 26 2011, 21:07:34 UTC

Very true! I think that also drives the racefail crowd nuts; that we've stopped waiting for them to join the rest of the human race. Smart people know the demographics of the world are changing and those who are marginalized are beginning to stand up and be counted. The smart folks also realize there's so many interesting stories to tell and they're getting away from the standard Eurocentric mode. That's what I'm seeing with the Steampunk genre.