It has to be okay, because I've become increasingly disillusioned with the feminist/social justice blogosphere. I'd been toying with take my blog in a more overt, activist direction, and instead of feeling empowered by that, I'm left with more questions.
I'm reading crabigail adams's three-part series on the some of the problems that plague the SJ blogosphere. While I can't say I agree with her on everything, I've been thinking a lot, a lot about where anti-oppression work stops and accommodation starts. And this comment, from a year-old post on Pandagon, pretty much sums what I go through just leaving a comment:
I found the atmosphere of [popular blog] paralyzed my ability to construct coherent and straightforward comments. What I ended up with were impenetrable comments peppered with parenthetical qualifications—comments that I never submitted. [...] it was a space no longer safe for progressive feminists like me to comment because regulars began (and continue) to use language policing to bully newbies who express opinions with which they disagree. The dogpiling left a bad taste in my mouth and now I rarely read the comments(Note: I removed the name of the blog because it summarizes quite well how I feel about commenting on SJ blogs in general and not directed to any particular site.)
Being so conscious of my language, or how my words are going to be perceived really hampers my writing. I don't know. Maybe that's my trigger. (I never think I'm a good enough writer.) I hate resorting to passive voice, and qualifying everything just so I don't come off as an entitled ass. And there are other issues, too, like linking to another blogger, or quoting a well-known feminist, and feeling irresponsible if I don't list every one of her past failures first.
I want this site to be a "safe-space," and by that, I mean a safe for anyone to comment without fear. Safe from silencing or marginalization, but also safe from having every word picked apart and dissected. I watched another shitshow go down this weekend and some of the comments were painful to read, and not in the "lesson learned" kind of way, just mean. Accountability is not bullying.
