I dare to be a woman on the internet, so I spend a lot of my time fighting with (mostly white) men in what I like to think of as paying my internet toll. These guys will pop in at random to try to tell me that I don’t know about Doctor Who, horror movies, racism, feminism, and anything else they damn well please because men are not okay. I could dedicate a whole book to men who tried me on Regina King’s internet, but I am focusing today’s article on the devil’s advocates that moved from our film classes to the internet where they still haunt us every day.
- You do not have to defend every white man on the internet. If I post an article about something nationally acknowledged as heinous that a man has done, or said, at least three guys will appear as if by magic to try to steer the conversation away from the fuckery afoot. Or loudly tell me in different ways that whatever he did to get into trouble is cool with them. As if I needed to know other men are fine excusing terrible behavior to sleep better at night. I have watched even supposed feminist groups bend over backward to argue the side of racists, harassers, and plain trolls because “their feelings might be hurt” if we call them out. Newsflash, most of them deserve to have their feelings hurt because call-in culture does not work on most strains of assholes.
- Why are you trying to plead the case of people you do not know as if you are a lawyer? The amount of times POCs call out racism to be met with a chorus of, “I don’t see what race has to do with it,” Or…
