Helen’s last blog post..?They?ve had three months of grieving and sulking and carrying on. It?s about time they started behaving like a proper opposition.?

“Brave” seems such a trite word to use here, but you really are, and I dip my hat to you. Eden and her crowd are nasty, contemptible, evil people, and what they did to you was profoundly immoral.

You’re among friends here.

Anyway, thanks again. When I look at my Wordpress stats, most of the incoming links are from hate sites. It’s kinda strange to be comforted by the ones that aren’t, but there it is. I am.

In medias res’s last blog post..A primer on writing about abortion experiences

However, their responses to the 10 questions have been extremely popular in terms of hits on the posts and given that oz conservative’s negative response is the only one of its kind that I’m aware of I can feel some comfort knowing that a lot of other people out there must have found these women’s stories very helpful, as was intended.

Also, I found it quite distressing to see Lyman’s personal account misused like that by Nelson, thinking of the deep embarrassment and exposure she must have experienced on what should have been such a positive day for her was awful.

This is a very good topic to post on, thanks Lauredhel.

blue milk’s last blog post..Mothers and daughters – a poetry, writing, photography competition

Lauredhel’s last blog post..?Just because you can see it, doesn?t mean it?s yours.?: the political misappropriation of personal pain

I don’t think that people should never look at and discuss other people’s stories, at all – but I do think that they need to keep in mind the power dynamics, and consider intent and good faith.

Lauredhel’s last blog post..?Just because you can see it, doesn?t mean it?s yours.?: the political misappropriation of personal pain

This is a highly personalised response to a political argument.

Bullshit, Mark. Read my post again. This is a response to a very, very, very personal argument. You took the personal stories of a group of women and used it against them and all they hold dear.

What it is not is a personal response to _you_. It says absolutely nothing about your personal life or your personal story. It is a response to your political posturing, the beliefs you attempt to foist onto others, and your exploitation of women’s experience to try to score points against them, and against feminism.

It’s not easy for a man to understand how you interpret this situation.

And yet, many feminist men seem to manage just fine – because they try, and because they listen to women, they believe them, and respect their beliefs.

Don’t you dare for a second try to play the victim here. And for future reference, please read our comment guidelines and civility policy, and bear in mind that I will not host any sexist speech. By my definition, not yours.

At least Nelson had the good sense to apologise when he was called on it.

Lauredhel’s last blog post..?Just because you can see it, doesn?t mean it?s yours.?: the political misappropriation of personal pain

It’s not easy for a man to understand how you interpret this situation. I wrote a piece of analysis based on some stories by feminist mothers. You take this to be an attempt to silence you, to colonise you, to mock you, to take advantage of you.

This is a highly personalised response to a political argument. Why not instead just say why you think my argument was wrong?

Mark Richardson’s last blog post..Liberalism & power

I write my occasional pieces on “this is what it’s like in here” because I want to help other people understand. I want them to be able to think of mental illness as something which isn’t scary; I want them to understand that even though I do occasionally have days where the first answer to any question in my mind is “why not kill yourself?” I’m still interested in living. I don’t write them so some nitwit can turn around and say “this is crazy talk, she should be locked up”. I don’t write them so people can turn around and tell someone who is in mental distress that they can’t be “properly” mentally ill because they don’t feel like I feel.

I know semiotic theory says the intentions of the writer don’t override the constructions of the reader, but I do tend to believe that the intentions of the writer count for something. If the aim is to share information, then the information shared belongs to the people who are sharing it, and it’s only polite to ask their permission before appropriating it to suit your own purposes.

Meg Thornton’s last blog post..Fic: Why