How White People Deploy Dog-Whistles To Harm Black Film Critics
When Black people ask for accountability, terms like “Woke Film Twitter” are deployed as dog-whistles to minimize, sensationalize, and deflect. This essay discusses a suicide attempt. This past Thursday, a traumatic family event removed me from the cesspool that is social media.
What Celebrities Get Wrong About Criticism
Conflating criticism with hate is dangerous. Criticism is how we encourage growth and positive change, while shame and hatred serve to stifle both. Late last week, I had the misfortune of learning who Sarah Dessen is. One of her tweets was
Dishonor Roll: Campus Sexual Assaults Begin Before College
When engaging in conversations about campus assault awareness, we cannot limit it to higher education and college campuses. TW/CW: This essay contains extensive discussion of sexual violence involving minors, including mentions of r/pe. On June 10, a high school valedictorian had
I Asked My Friends To Document Being Harassed, Here’s What They Told Me
The news is dominated by sexual assault, but what about the harassment that fuels rape culture?
By Ally Sabatina With the news cycle being what it is—and that being one with a presidential superpredator at its epicenter—it seems every day brings a new not-so-subtle reminder of the United States’ prioritization of cis men. The very least I can do in all of this is write one piece on this day that shifts the focus for cis men to everyone else and rather than talk about the safety of their social positioning, I strive to highlight at least one element of the human experience that allows one to glean that their privileged social position, and their presumed safety, rests squarely on the assumption that no one else can be as safe—or as protected—as them. So when we talk about the ways in which cis men get to swim through life seemingly unmarred by the bulk of their experiences, we have to talk about those they damage in the process. With a news cycle dominated by sexual assault and its resulting trauma, it pays to shift focus to the covert vehicles in which the patriarchy causes harm, including but not limited to targeted harassment, catcalling, gaslighting and their ilk. While I come from the camp that magnitude cannot prove prevalence, solidarity of shared experience is a powerful drug, so if nothing else, I asked a few friends of mine to document the instances in which they felt harassed and/or micro-aggressed outside of what they would usually discern as their trauma.Related: ROMANCE NOVELS TO READ DURING THE AGE OF #METOO
