Re:University Students are Afraid of Everything
by mercer on Tuesday August 11, 2015 @04:57PM
(#10044332)
I have to admit that I still sometimes instinctively feel an intense dislike for humorless, shrill, 'social justice warriors' or 'feminists' (using the word in the way I find it often used negatively around me).
I don't know why I react negatively, considering that I consider myself a feminist, but I suppose that's the whole point of something being 'instinctive'. It's a heuristic that may or may not make sense. But it's one borne of ignorance and the privilege of not having to think about these things (being a white, highly-educated male), and being surrounded by, I assume, upstanding males who don't rape, and upstanding white folk who are not racists.
it's posts like yours that remind me that my instincts can be wrong and harmful in practice, and while I'm free to feel as I feel, it's posts like yours, and stories from my friends, that shock me whenever I hear them, and that give me some perspective and make me realize my instinct is not a precious thing to protect or defend above everything else.
Please remember that it really helps to explain things the way you do. I'm not saying it's a responsibility to do so, or that not doing so gives 'us' the right to remain oblivious. Far from it.
I'm simply saying that practically speaking, posts like yours are much more helpful than blanket judgments and (perceived) knee-jerk outrage. It benefits everyone to try and paint a picture of a perspective that is not necessarily shared personally, however unnecessary it should be to do so.
I wish I was good enough to be sensitive all by myself, but the sad fact is that even I as a person with a sizable amount of close friends who are gay, bisexual, female, or minorities (in every sense of the word), can forget that not everyone shares my rather privileged perspective.
And it's really helpful for me to be reminded that, say, a rape joke might not be a problem for me, but that it might be a problem in a larger context where rapists justify their actions by it.
I don't know why I react negatively, considering that I consider myself a feminist, but I suppose that's the whole point of something being 'instinctive'. It's a heuristic that may or may not make sense. But it's one borne of ignorance and the privilege of not having to think about these things (being a white, highly-educated male), and being surrounded by, I assume, upstanding males who don't rape, and upstanding white folk who are not racists.
it's posts like yours that remind me that my instincts can be wrong and harmful in practice, and while I'm free to feel as I feel, it's posts like yours, and stories from my friends, that shock me whenever I hear them, and that give me some perspective and make me realize my instinct is not a precious thing to protect or defend above everything else.
Please remember that it really helps to explain things the way you do. I'm not saying it's a responsibility to do so, or that not doing so gives 'us' the right to remain oblivious. Far from it.
I'm simply saying that practically speaking, posts like yours are much more helpful than blanket judgments and (perceived) knee-jerk outrage. It benefits everyone to try and paint a picture of a perspective that is not necessarily shared personally, however unnecessary it should be to do so.
I wish I was good enough to be sensitive all by myself, but the sad fact is that even I as a person with a sizable amount of close friends who are gay, bisexual, female, or minorities (in every sense of the word), can forget that not everyone shares my rather privileged perspective.
And it's really helpful for me to be reminded that, say, a rape joke might not be a problem for me, but that it might be a problem in a larger context where rapists justify their actions by it.