An Open Letter to Feministing on ableism and disability issues.
(And a general rec for Meloukhia’s blog, which is a powerhouse of feministy delight.)
The Open Letter has been co-signed by many, including over at the Feministing Community [Headdesk warning for comments].
See also this terrific, annotated post at Three Rivers Blog.
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And if anyone could come help in the Feministing thread, it’s just me fighting back at the moment, and it is taking just about every last spoon.
Oh, but the comments are the best part! The bit where reading the blogs of women with disabilities is ignoring the true concerns of women who are incapable of writing blogs due to economic hardship is in my top three, but my FAVOURITE is still the one where no one is doing real activism work or is a real feminist if they don’t write about the lack of elevators in NYC.
So Abby Jean did. I guess us so-called defenders of the disabled can’t be tripped up with that anymore! Ha!
Yeah, I’m officially done with Feministing. That comment thread was the final straw. I think I’ll stick to Hoyden and Shakesville for now, and all those motherhood blogs I’ve found (and keep finding :)
That comments thread is a cesspool. On a so-called feminist blog, people are whining about not being able to casually drop ableist slurs any more, getting tired of this whole privilege thing, demanding that PWD prove to their satisfaction why disability is a feminist issue, saying “Well, I [able person] certainly don’t see any problems so I don’t know what you [disabled people] are on about”…?!?!
For ages I just have not been clicking on links to Feministing at all. I wrote it off (for the racism and transphobia mostly). I admire your—Chally’s, Anna’s, Cara’s, amandaw’s—tenacity in engaging with the commenters, but I just can’t go in there.
Later hopefully, when I’ve more energy, I’ll go through and “like” the good comments and report the bad ones, at least.
And Wildly Parenthetical.
I just wanted to say, because I want to get her a fruit basket. She’s been in the trenches, yo.
Anna: Subway accessibility in New York! I KNEW I’d been forgetting to blog about something! And I totally never blog about any accessibility issues evah. Blogger fail.
I am so tired of Marc in that thread. I mean, how hard is it to understand that using ableist slurs is *harmful*? Look, I’ll be honest, ableist slurs don’t hurt me, but they do infuriate me. And they infuriate me because other people are so clearly hurt, and yet people continue to use them!
When I told my friend I was done with Feministing, she said “It was only a matter of time. What was the straw?”
As an aside, if WP and Lauredhel want to email me their postal addresses… I would love to send you a care package. No obligation, I just want to thank you in some way. If you know of a better way, please tell me.
Ok, I’ve just realised that my comment was kinda creepy. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound that way. Operating on minimal sleep.
I would live to do something for the two of you though, so if you have suggestions please let me know.
Oh wow, I’m so sure I can only climb into those trenches because it’s not about me :-( I can only imagine how hurtful and harmful it must feel to have people being so so awful, over and over again. It’s so callous and ouchy and breathtaking for me, I can only imagine how painful it is for those who have to live with it all the time. :-(
But fruit baskets, care packages and baked goods… I’m not gonna say no, coz really, who doesn’t love ‘em? :-)
FYI, world, Annaham, Chally and Meloukhia have done what the world has been begging for (all unknowing, too!): everyone, go and greet the newest 101 blog in the blogosphere, http://disabledfeminists.com/
Thank you for the rec, WP, but FWD site was just temporarily unlocked to sort out tech difficulties, it’s not yet ready for the world.
I should have planned this mutiny better, so it would happen when y’all weren’t on holiday. But thank you, thank you, thank you for cosigning/spreading the world. And much love to all who jumped in on FAILTHREAD before it was locked; your voices were greatly appreciated.
All I can say is thank you. I have only been reading Feministing sporadically specifically because of the language they allow to remain unchallenged in their comments. I’m so glad to see I was not alone in this impression.
Thank you so much for posting this here. I was hoping it would make it to HaT. You are the only “bigger” (regular, somewhat active community) blog I can count on when it comes to these things. Everybody else tries, but you just don’t try, you actually Get It. That’s invaluable.
This post has been included in a linkspam at access_fandom.
I don’t have anything useful to say here, except wow what a tremendously toxic thread. And props to those who had the sand to keep trying to engaging there.
Comments on this entry are closed. If you wish to re-open this discussion, please leave a comment on the latest Open Thread.