Sigh.
So, I'm a member of a couple groups wherein privilege & various -isms are discussed a lot.
Let me mention something that's annoyed me for the second time this month.
I always forget how *I'm* somehow the asshole because I dare to give an honest response about how I do my best to deal with issues of appropriation in my artform. That just the act of trying to give an explanatory response when someone brings up a potentially problematic part of my presentation makes me "defensive." As though pulling the "defensive!" card is in and of itself declaring victory. Well, of course what I wrote is a defense of a sort. You just told me that my thoughts are undermined by a snap judgment you made about me based on a 100x100 pixel BOX. And if my saying "I make a strong effort to be aware of these issues and deal with them as best I can" is not enough... then I don't know what would be, you know?
But it's not even like they want to engage on that topic. If they wanted to talk about why I, as a white person, perform this specific dance or wear the things I do in context when I'm performing, that's totally cool. I'm up for that. If they want to ask why I use a specific icon in various contexts, that's cool, too. Because all of those things can have questions raised about them, and I don't mind giving my perspective on why I do the things I do. But they don't want to actually talk about any of these things. They just want to bring it up as a quick snark target, put me in an ill-fitting box, pat themselves on the back for a snark well done, and then move on. And if I dare to say "hey, wait a minute," I'm automatically painted as a "whitey" "bawwwwwing" about how I'm not racist. Wait-- that's not what I said at all, nor how I said it.
I get that this is a White Person Problem and not even remotely equal to the constant, pervasive things that POC face every single day, but it is really freaking irritating to me when it happens, and ties into my larger internet pet peeve: "I'm a superior asshole who just wants to snark and then run away." And quite frankly? They can take their snarky snap judgments and shove them up their asses.
Let me mention something that's annoyed me for the second time this month.
Me: *says something*
Them: Your opinion doesn't matter. Look at your LJ icon, you appropriating white woman. Snark snark smuggity snark.
Me: I understand that Orientalism and cultural appropriation are big problems in Western bellydance. XY&Z are ways that I try to inform myself and make careful choices about what kinds of dance I perform and the costuming I wear when I'm performing. I'm aware that some people might still find this problematic. In any case, I'm no gonna get upset everytime some internet random makes a wrong snap judgment of me based on my icon.
Them: WHY ARE YOU SO DEFENSIVE, WHITE LADY? Snark snark smuggity snark.
I always forget how *I'm* somehow the asshole because I dare to give an honest response about how I do my best to deal with issues of appropriation in my artform. That just the act of trying to give an explanatory response when someone brings up a potentially problematic part of my presentation makes me "defensive." As though pulling the "defensive!" card is in and of itself declaring victory. Well, of course what I wrote is a defense of a sort. You just told me that my thoughts are undermined by a snap judgment you made about me based on a 100x100 pixel BOX. And if my saying "I make a strong effort to be aware of these issues and deal with them as best I can" is not enough... then I don't know what would be, you know?
But it's not even like they want to engage on that topic. If they wanted to talk about why I, as a white person, perform this specific dance or wear the things I do in context when I'm performing, that's totally cool. I'm up for that. If they want to ask why I use a specific icon in various contexts, that's cool, too. Because all of those things can have questions raised about them, and I don't mind giving my perspective on why I do the things I do. But they don't want to actually talk about any of these things. They just want to bring it up as a quick snark target, put me in an ill-fitting box, pat themselves on the back for a snark well done, and then move on. And if I dare to say "hey, wait a minute," I'm automatically painted as a "whitey" "bawwwwwing" about how I'm not racist. Wait-- that's not what I said at all, nor how I said it.
I get that this is a White Person Problem and not even remotely equal to the constant, pervasive things that POC face every single day, but it is really freaking irritating to me when it happens, and ties into my larger internet pet peeve: "I'm a superior asshole who just wants to snark and then run away." And quite frankly? They can take their snarky snap judgments and shove them up their asses.