Are you a good feminist? Or a bad feminist?
A few days back I learned about Youtube personality Laci Green. She has built a young, hip intersectional feminist empire. But recently, there’s been drama! She’s been accused of taking the Red Pill and has fallen out of grace with some.
Okay, but what does taking the Red Pill mean? And, did she really do it? First, let’s get her take on it!
Here’s what one journalist at AffinityMagazine had to say:
In case you haven’t heard, popular YouTube feminist Laci Green has taken the red pill. “Taking the red pill” refers to the choice faced by Neo in The Matrix, where the red pill represents freedom and knowledge and the blue pill represents blissful ignorance. Laci has finally woken up to the “toxicity of feminism and SJW culture” and has decided to pave her own way for herself and the whole feminist movement. It all started with this video. She returned from her hiatus and stated she wanted to open “debate and critical analysis” between feminists and the “ANTI’s” that seem to plague the YouTube sphere. She believes that “(SJWs) heightened sensitivity is leading to censorship (of ANTIs) by making ideas too taboo to talk about” and that our apparent sensitivity makes these “poor, censored voices more sympathetic” to the hateful views that they hold.”
Another writer at The Establishment wrote:
Her influence in this space has been considerable — with 1.5 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, a lot of people listen to what Green has to say. Last year, she was even named one of the 30 most influential people on the internet by Time. All of which makes her recent turn deeply troubling. In late May, seemingly out of the blue, Green dramatically shifted her tone on harassment. Where once she supported the abused, she suddenly began questioning why there’s “more than two genders” and arguing that “both sides of the argument are valid” for everything from racism to transphobia to misogyny. In a stunning example of her newfound hypocrisy, she called feminist YouTuber and fellow member of her anti-harassment Facebook group Kat Blaque a “sociopath.”
To be honest, I’m seeing both good and reactive reporting (which I’m not including) on this story. It makes me think about how social justice communities hold each other accountable.
Last year, a local trans activist here in Seattle, Frances Lee, released a few articles that blew up in our local circles. These articles had to do with how social justice advocates work with each other, engage new communities, and create welcoming space--and they opened up a much-needed dialogue among activists vying amongst themselves to be the most pure:
There is an underlying current of fear in my activist communities, and it is separate from the daily fear of police brutality, eviction, discrimination, and street harassment. It is the fear of appearing impure. Social death follows when being labeled a “bad” activist or simply “problematic” enough times. I’ve had countless hushed conversations with friends about this anxiety and how it has led us to refrain from participation in activist events, conversations, and spaces because we feel inadequately radical. I actually don’t prefer to call myself an activist, because I don’t fit the traditional mold of the public figure marching in the streets and interrupting business as usual. When I was a Christian, all I could think about was being good, showing goodness, and proving to my parents and my spiritual leaders that I was on the right path to God. All the while, I believed I would never be good enough, so I had to strain for the rest of my life toward an impossible destination of perfection.
Another quote from Frances Lee that talks about how advocates communicate:
Callout culture. The quest for purity. Privilege theory taken to extremes. I’ve observed some of these questionable patterns in my activist communities over the past several years. As an activist, I stand with others against white supremacy, anti-blackness, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, and imperialism. I am queer, trans, Chinese American, middle class, and able-bodied. Holding these identities scattered across the spectrum of privilege, I have done my best to find my place in the movement, while educating myself on social justice issues to the best of my ability. But after witnessing countless people be ruthlessly torn apart in community for their mistakes and missteps, I started to fear my own comrades.
I’ll admit, I see what Frances is talking about often. I work with nonprofits and organizations that are constantly in a process of evaluating their historically white, male-led institution through an equity lens. Once folks have been doing the work for awhile they get excited, passionate, and fired up. They start to think “Wow! I’ve got it, I’m fighting the good fight, and I can’t believe everyone else isn’t doing it to!”. Then the callouts begin--when so often there is work to do much closer to home.
As I’ve read more and more about Laci Green, I’m not sure where I stand. I think the issue is messy, af.
I also think there is value in knowing both sides of any issue. Laci says that her focus is facing issues head-on with direct conversation. I like that.
I’m not afraid to talk to someone who doesn’t agree with me. I’m also not here to preach to the choir, because at the end of the day America didn’t elect Trump because all of us social justice advocates did our job. Nope. We failed. We f*cked it up.
Now our job is to go out there and have those uncomfortable conversations we might not want to have with people who might deeply disagree with us. We have to get really, really good at having them...so that we can have a different future ahead of us in 3 years. So, while I don’t know if I can stand behind everything Laci has ever said or done, I hope her situation prompts us to examine who we are calling out and why we’re so nervous about engaging in direct debate. After all, you can’t please everyone, no matter who you are.
*Hi friend! I’m new here and I’ll be using steemit to share thoughts on artistic practice, arts opportunities, equity, my personal projects, and other fun things happening in my world (like hiking!). Check out these pics of a snowshoe trip up a glacier! See you around! -- @lilyraabe