Indie's Nice Guy Problem

Matt Perpetua posted this to his Tumblr the other day, and I think it's long overdue:

"I think there’s this assumption that the indie world is full of nice guys who have evolved beyond sexism, which is anything but true. I realized a long time ago that any indie-centric show I went to in NYC, any bar, whatever, was likely to have these very same anonymous commenters [on indie blogs] lurking around somewhere. It’s easy to pretend they’re not, that they’re part of someone else’s life or social circle, but these creeps are everywhere and need to be shamed."

I'm old. My club days are long over, but yeah, I know this type well: the kind of liberal-minded guy who'd never cop to sexism or misogyny because that "that's just not cool," but also wouldn't challenge lewd and anonymous blog comments.

Here's the thing: not being a misogynistic ass should be the default; you don't get a cookie simply because you're not overtly sexist. Participating in a culture that allows it without openly challenging or changing it is a large part of the problem.