Yeah there are some pretty outsanding examples of wtf-ness —exhibit A, bird in the chocolate fountain — but you know what I see 90% of the time?
People in marginalized groups who actually have to deal with horrible shit. Racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. Real people who have to deal with real crap like slurs or violence or erasure. People who can’t always confront half the shit we see on tumblr offline because it can be a real threat to our well-being, so we sure as hell don’t want to see it on the website where we’re trying to relax with friends.
And the people who tend to make the ‘well tumblr is just so sensitive, omg, trigger warnings are stupid and they’re just butthurt over nothing’ always seem to fall in the same categories; part of majority groups who either don’t get or don’t care about these issues, or just flat out think problems only go away if you don’t talk about it and keep your nose to the ground.
Yeah, there are cases of people just taking it a hair too far, but honestly they are few and far between. And even then I don’t get to choose where somebody else is sensitive. I’m always going to be more sensitive about GSM or sizeism issues than other people because those are issues that directly affect me, and they may be more sensitive about racism or transphobia because those do not directly affect me. I don’t think I get to tell much of anyone how sensitive they are to a subject because I have *no* idea how their life has been, how being part of that group has affected them, or what shit they have to put up with and how it hurts them. Thinking that just because something doesn’t bother you that it can’t bother anyone else is the height of ego to me.
Society encourages people to respect yourself and that standing up for yourself leads to empowerment and better treatment for everybody, up until the point that other people call them whiny and sensitive, I guess.
And if you care more about the perception of someone being whiny rather than actually confronting the idea that maybe something you said or posted hurt somebody and made them feel like less of a person, than I think that’s your problem. Not ours.
(via anniethedirewolf)
