Once upon a time – or, two years ago, on January 31, 2011 – I wrote a post called “Easy A: A Fauxminist Film.” In this post, I alleged that the film Easy A was not very feminist, despite having an on-the-surface feminist message. This post was featured on Bitch Flicks and re-blogged in different places.
On December 14, 2012, I received this comment on the Easy A post. The poster identified herself as Tess. This is what Tess wrote:
“Would have been nice if you had discussed the extreme lack of POC in the cast. Apart from Olive’s younger brother, I can’t think of any other POC in the entire film.”
This comment rubbed me the wrong way. I was put off by the beginning of the sentence, the “would have been nice if you had…” I pictured the commenter, this Tess, clicking the “post” button while sniffing haughtily. I responded with this:
“Well, fortunately I have people like you to tell me what I should write on my own blog.”
I clicked “post comment,” and then thought, “Oh, shit, did I just start a flame war?” I thought about deleting the comment, but realized that Tess would be able to read the comment whether I deleted it or not, and the damage was already done.
Surprisingly, Tess did not comment again. I did, however, receive a comment from Lisa, on January 24, 2013, a full month after the comment from Tess:
“Well that was unnecessarily rude…It seemed like more of a suggestion than the previous poster “telling [you] what to write on [your] blog.” And it’s a good suggestion, at that! But I guess there will always be some self-proclaimed ‘feminists’ who only care about ‘oppression’ through their white/cis lenses.”
This comment irked me even more than the original comment from Tess for two reasons: one, the inappropriate use of single quotation marks, and two, the mention of “white/cis” lenses. I never mentioned cis/trans issues in the original post, and Tess never mentioned cis/trans issues in her comment, so I don’t know why Lisa felt the need to mention “white/cis lenses.” What does my being cis have to do with Tess’s original criticism about my lack of commentary on racial issues?
Anyway, I was still irked, so I responded like this:
“Sorry, I don’t take kindly to people who read a post and then leave a comment addressing nothing I actually wrote and instead snottily inform me that it ‘would’ve been nice’ if I had written about THIS instead of THAT. Had the comment been phrased as a question – ‘What do you think about the lack of POC in the film?’ – I would have responded differently.
As for you, when you came to the conclusion about what I do and don’t care about anyone but white women, was this before or after you perused the 10+ posts I’ve written on racism and racial diversity? Or is standing up for people in comments sections just a hobby of yours?’
Again, I expected Lisa to respond to this comment. She never did. However, on February 8, 2013, a poster who identified herself as Anne responded to Lisa’s comment:
“I agree with you. The original commenter actually made a valid point and the op responds with a tone argument. She might have made racism and racially diverse posts in the past but missed the mark in this particular post. Intersectionalism is part of feminism and critiquing the lack of poc in media is a feminist issue. If anyone has a problem with that then maybe they’re not as much of a ‘feminist’ as they think they are.”
And again, with the improper usage of quotation marks. Sigh.
I thought about responding to Anne’s comment, but instead, I decided to write a new post about this mini-kerfluffle. (Though really, it’s so mini that I can’t even call it a mini-kerfluffle. It’s more like a mini-kerf.)
To begin with, I was not in a very charitable state of mind when I received Tess’s comment. The comment popped up in my email while I was having an exceptionally rotten day, for personal reasons that I won’t get into, and my patience was already running thin.
It’s possible I made too much of the “would have been nice if” comment. Maybe Tess did not intend for that comment to come off as rude and challenging. I’ve had my share of Internet trolls, and maybe I was oversensitive due to past experiences. Thanks to the benefit of hindsight – and a conversation with a friend – I have come to the conclusion that I was unnecessarily harsh in my response to her. Tess, if you’re reading this, I apologize for snapping at you.
However, I still think it’s weird for someone to leave a first-ever comment on my blog, on a post that’s almost two years old, say nothing about the content of the piece, and only comment on what I didn’t write about. Weird, and a little rude. Probably not intentionally rude, probably not malicious, but a little rude.
Here’s the thing: I wrote that post on Easy A in January 2011. In October 2011, I started writing posts about race, diversity, and racial stereotypes, and tagged those posts “white girl talkin’ about racism.” I used that tag because I realized that my feminist criticism was pretty white-centric, and I wanted to write more about racial diversity and how stereotypes affect women (and men) of color.
Does this make me a perfect person who wins the Little Miss Intersectionality Pageant? Absolutely not. But I make an effort to be conscious about racism and other feminist issues that might not directly affect me and other straight, white, able-bodied, cisgendered women like me. I try (oh my GOD do I try/I try all the time/in this institution/and I said hey-ey-ey-ey…).
So to receive a comment about how I didn’t mention the lack of POC in Easy A when that post is two years old…well, it got on my nerves. My feminist philosophy and my understanding of racial issues have developed and matured since January 31, 2011. The proof is on the blog itself. It won’t take long for people to find that proof.
That’s why the two followup comments annoyed me much more than the original comment. “She might have made racism and racially diverse posts in the past but missed the mark in this particular post.” In the past? I wrote the posts about racism after I wrote the Easy A review, after.
This is how I read articles on the Internet. When I read an interesting blog post that I feel misses the mark on an important issue, I check the post’s publication date. If the post I want to respond to is two years old, I refrain from commenting until I’ve read a few recent pieces by the same author, because I want to see if the person has developed in his/her thinking since writing the two-year-old post. If a person wrote a post in 2010 called “Why Rape Jokes Are Awesome,” and then wrote a post in 2012 called “Never Mind, Rape Jokes Are Terrible,” I’m not going to waste my energy commenting on the 2010 post.
However, let’s say the author wrote a post in 2010 called “Why Gone With the Wind is a Feminist Classic” and wrote 2,000+ words about the awesomeness of Scarlett O’Hara and Melanie Wilkes, and never brought up the racist portrayals of Mammy and Prissy. I probably wouldn’t feel inclined to comment, because that post would be three years old, but if I did comment, I’d probably say something like this: “You raise a lot of good points about the characters of Scarlett and Melanie. I wonder what you think about the portrayals of black women in the film, though. I think the racist portrayals of Mammy and Prissy undermine a feminist message in the film, if there is one. I also think that the movie’s sunny depiction of slavery undermines any social justice message.”
That takes a little more time to write than “I guess you only care about feminism through your white/cis lenses,” but it’s worth it, because I believe in one rule when commenting on another person’s blog: be polite.
Let’s also consider the fact that, in my Easy A review, I said nothing racist or objectionable or anything that reinforced stereotypes. The lack of POC in the film was just something I forgot to bring up. It happens.
But since that post has now attracted unwanted attention from the social justice 101 crowd, I’ll make this statement: Easy A, like many Hollywood films, is very white. It could stand to have more people of color in the cast. Also, the actor who played Olive’s little brother seems like a charming kid, and I hope he gets more work.
Look, I expect to be held to task when I screw up. I don’t expect to be held up to a standard of perfection. And I have no patience for people who think they can determine my entire character, or determine what I care about, based on one post I write. That is what we call trolling.
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I think these are good points. Particularly with the use of search engines, seeing things with no broad context is easy on the Internet. A snippet does not define a person.
It also _may_ be there is a bit of the Internet short form written word miscommunication here. I know I have written things that in retrospect sound much more critical or dismissive than what I intended.
Particularly with the use of search engines, seeing things with no broad context is easy on the Internet.
That is also true. I’m guessing someone googled Easy A, found my review, and then commented without looking at other things I’ve written. Which is fair, but you’re right – a snippet does not define a person.
I see what you mean, by commenting the way they did they were judging you based on their own agendas rather than trying to learn more about your perspective on the subject matter.
I had a quick read of the article in question and I’m curious, how is poc relevant to the subject matter that the article addresses?
I had a quick read of the article in question and I’m curious, how is poc relevant to the subject matter that the article addresses?
Good question!
This is the answer you’ll probably get from the people who commented on that post: “Because POC are always considered irrelevant by white feminism, are never considered as important, and we’re often told that our opinions/representation doesn’t matter.”
And that? Is all true. But as Heather said below, not every post has to cover ALL intersectionality issues, because sometimes it really just isn’t on topic. A post about the lack of diversity in that particular film would be about 5-10 sentences long, because there’s not much to say beyond, “Hey, there aren’t enough POC in this film. There should be more. Just like many other movies.”
If I were going to write at length about the lack of diversity in that particular film, it would probably be within the context of a larger post: “Here are all the token minority characters in teen movies.”
Actually, that’s not a bad idea…
To Gareth, I say, “here here”! Where is it written that every piece on a work of fiction must include a discussion of all forms of social politics/ minority representation that occur in that work? Your post wasn’t about race or trans issues. It was about feminism. That seems like a very odd thing to bring up out of nowhere.
I agree – I am completely behind the idea that feminism cannot be valid if it excludes discussion of other oppressions. But that’s not the same as saying any piece of commentary that includes feminist views MUST ALSO include a discussion of racism/trans issues etc. Presumably there’s a discussion to be had there (dunno, never seen EasyAa) but it wasn’t the particular issue Lady T happened to be addressing in her post. Now, if she had a history of addressing feminist issues without acknowledging racial etc ones one might start to see a problem, but that simply isn’t the case.
When I see this kind of self-righteousness online I have to remind myself that a lot of the people using the internet to access these debates are very young, and just discovering these issues. It helps me feel a lot more forgiving of this kind of self-satisfied, unformed attitude to think that the poster might be a teenager. Hopefully these are people who will grow out of the assumption that they are the moral defenders of their chosen issues who need to flame without research, and actually start to pay attention to other voices in the debate.
I think you’re probably right that a lot of these people are very young. Next time this happens, I’ll consider that possibility. Their hearts, at least, are in the right place. Well, some of them. Some just like to be More Socially Progressive Than Thou.
It’s possible there are more in-depth race/trans issues that I didn’t consider when I first watched Easy A. I don’t remember, though. I suppose I could watch it again and see, but really, if I want to watch Emma Stone that badly, I’ll just fast-forward to her parts in Crazy Stupid Love.
I mean, I suppose I could turn every film review I write into a checklist of which marginalized groups are represented in this particular work of fiction and which marginalized groups are not, but that would get really boring, really fast.
I blame Tumblr’s brand of Social Justice for a lot of this mentality. Of COURSE feminists should be aware and inclusive of POC and LGBTQ issues, but it seems that we are now expected to cover every possible issue every time we analyze media. I’ll bring them up when I can see an opportunity to do so, but I’m not going to bring my thesis to a screeching halt if I’m not specifically writing about media inclusiveness/progressiveness. And as a dreaded white/straight/cis feminist, I don’t consider myself an authority on POC & LGBTQ representation beyond pointing out the obvious, and would rather let people affected by these issues speak up for themselves. I do think you were a little too harsh in your initial reaction, but the commentators seemed to be just looking for something to criticize and/or to perpetuate the “all white feminists are racist/[_____]phobic” thing that seems to be going around now. I mean geez, sorry for only getting Bronze in the Oppression Olympics.
I’ll bring them up when I can see an opportunity to do so, but I’m not going to bring my thesis to a screeching halt if I’m not specifically writing about media inclusiveness/progressiveness.
You mean you actually listened to your English teachers when they taught you to stay on one topic in your essays? FOR SHAME.
In all seriousness, white feminism does have a troubling history of ignoring or belittling the experiences of non-white (and non-cis, non-straight, etc) women, and I try to be cognizant of that, but every piece I write is not going to cover every issue. It’s just not.
A minor point–single quotation marks are used that way, to set off a word somehow, fairly often in British grammar. Single versus double quotation marks in this particular context is typically a regional/stylistic preference, not really an absolutely correct or incorrect matter.