It's always the quiet ones

ithiliana

So Jim Butcher posted this & many of his followers rushed to support him. Except one who tried to explain. Nicely. Repeatedly.

Same old same old: a reader posts critical review (not professional critic, a reader, because, well, we have the internet) a month ago on tumblr, frustrated at the way Butcher's fictional Chicago contains all the racist stereotypes imposed on her hometown AND whitewashing.

A month ago. Recently, the AUTHOR finds it and posts about it to his twitter with his gazillion fans, who are now mostly up in arms defending their hero.

Because he feels hurt. And he's the expert on his fictional Chicago, not anybody who lives in Chicago. And how dare they play "the racist card."

Lather, rinse, repeat.

this is what white supremacy looks like. it has lotsa people behind it who wouldn't call themselves racist, and yet it crushes poc easily and quickly.

it isn't an isolated event. it's happened often enough that there's a clear pattern.

Tom MacMaster, the US graduate student behind the Gay Girl in Damascus blog hoax, has been accused of creating another fake Arab female online identity to defend his own reputation online.

"Amina" was popular because her writing appealed to white audiences, she dabbled in erotica, she wanted to bring the Castro to Damascus and she was at best lukewarm on Israeli apartheid. While that may be good for pieces of fiction, I prefer the real voices of real Arab queers--who are not on the radar of the mainstream media and who's real issues will never focus prominently on NPR or anywhere else.

SlutWalk won’t change much. Men who rape are still going to need to dominate and harm their victims. Men and women who disregard the rights of others because of the perception they have of those people aren’t going to stop believing that those people deserve it. Let’s face it, SlutWalk isn’t going to prevent victims from being created.

But it will create unity among survivors which have already been through it. SlutWalk means unity. It means I’m going to walk among women and men who have been there, who refuse to be silenced any longer. Who will confront the truth, even if they never have the opportunity to confront their attacker.

I’ll be there.

"Victim blaming in not acceptable, it doesn’t matter who the victim is. Slut shaming is not ok, all it does is support and perpetuate rape culture. I’m doing this for personal reasons. Maybe I don’t unanimously support the SlutWalk message, but this is a start for a lot of us."

However, writer and author Anna Broadway, in the end, comes down on the side of "God thinks it would be better that you not masturbate."

And this makes us sad, because we’re just not conflicted at all about vibrators or orgasms. But we’re not the only ones here. How about it, readers?

But masturbation fixes none of that. Instead of hope, it brings emptiness. Instead of moving you from loneliness and self-absorption to things that are excellent, praiseworthy, and encouraging (Phil. 4:8), it takes the mind to increasingly dark places. And instead of fostering greater self-sacrifice toward others, in breeds an increasing self-concern and inward focus.

The good news is, we don’t need masturbation to prepare for marriage and sex — if God has those ahead for us. There are many ways to grow in loving others well without being in a romantic relationship, and the more we learn to love like Jesus, the better for all of our relationships.