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7toked · 7 years ago

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**WHY I’VE DISABLED THE COMMENTS SECTION AND WILL NOT BE USING THIS CHANEL FOR A WHILE**

I’ve Disabled the comment section of my most recent video for a variety of reasons, and will not be using this channel till December. Here’s a conversation I had with a very belligerent man which I believe illustrates why:

Holly Lemyre: Hi everyone! The comment section of my videos are not going to be a space for hateful declarations and close-mindedness. If you have questions or concerns, and are excited to listen to alternate perspectives, you are MORE than welcome to discuss the issues… but if you’re out here making conclusive statements like “no first world country needs feminism”, or violently using language that does not belong to your community like the word “dyke”, or bashing on other people’s religion, you have been (and will from now on be) blocked.

The comments section is a privilege. I can turn it off completely if I want to, but I’d rather hold a space for debate. Please use “I statements”, and if you don’t have something constructive to say don’t say anything at all.

If this continues to be a problem I’ll just turn off the comments on this video :)

Ps. We’re clearly going to have to have our first lesson on Feminism because y’all are (collectively) severely misinformed. Read more REPLY

Comment From Adam ???: 3 hours ago Holly Lemyre If you are all for debates, why do you insist on blocking others when they bring up good points and evidence to back it up? Are you advocating for echo chambers? REPLY

Holly Lemyre: 3 hours ago Adam ??? There is a massive difference between “healthy debates” and the epistemic violence that is being reproduced by viewers on my channel. Nothing I’ve deleted has been based in fact, or grounded by “good points”. And I’m sorry, but I will not fall into the “tolerance of all ideas requires tolerance of violent ideas” paradox.

Honestly, running this channel and receiving ya’lls comments is fucking exhausting. I thought I could run a short series about rape culture, and after receiving people’s questions and concerns realized that for ANYONE on this channel to understand the systems of power, privilege, and oppression that support the structure of rape culture the series I’d be making would have to be dozens of videos long. It’s just too much.

In my real life I’m an activist and an academic, working in several classes and organizations that deal with issues of violence (including rape culture). My two majors (and currently 9 classes) are focused on topics of race, class, and gender in politics and social movements. I am not a leftist. I am not a liberal. But for me, the topic of “rape culture” isn’t a debate— it’s an active reality that I am trying to combat by joining forces with others who are deconstructing systems of power (racism, sexism, classism, etc) that allow it to exist in the first place.

MY POINT IS that until I finish my degrees in December this channel is the least of my concern. All I’ve had time for is policing the extremely violent content that I couldn’t tolerate. I am too busy to have a debate about sometime I do not consider to be debatable.

If anyone wants to talk about how we deconstruct systems of power that allow violence against women to be a leading issue in this country, or are actually ready to learn about sometime they previously thought was a “myth”, great. We can talk in December. Read more REPLY

Adam ???: 2 hours ago (edited) Holly Lemyre If you’re busy with schoolwork, I’d rather not bother you, but understand that you’ve made a lot of baseless claims with your video in question and your comment.

Nobody here, as far as I saw, was directing violence toward you. You sound a little defensive. You’ve blocked the other account for absolutely no reason at all.

Women in the developed world are cared for and are cherished members of our society. They have access to abuse shelters, receive the benefits from a divorce, they serve easier prison sentences than men for the same crime, they don’t have to serve in a war draft, and female genital mutilation is illegal.

I’ve seen your other videos of you on stage, and I’m very confused about this supposed rape culture. How can it possibly exist in the 1st world? Convicted rapists go to prison and are looked down upon in society, even getting attacked in prison by other inmates. Even making a small rape joke is enough to get a man fired from his job. Why are you generalizing an entire society based upon the sections of a few horrible individuals? Read more REPLY

Holly Lemyre: 1 hour ago Adam ??? I’m so sorry, but there’s a big difference between “baseless claims” and not citing my sources. This video did not aim to give direct examples and description, it was an announcement about the information that was to come. And now, after realizing the level of information that I would have to disseminate, I do not have time to do so until the circumstances of my life are different.

Additionally, I need to make it very clear that I am not claiming people are directing violence at me. I’m saying that people were sharing violent ideologies that I will not host on my channel. If you care to know more about rape culture RIGHT THIS SECOND, or wish to educate yourself on the systems of oppression and levels of violence that make it possible, go look it up. I am not the only person promoting these ideas, and it’s not my job to give you facts on demand. But just to prove my point..

In 2016, U.S. Department of Justice reports that 17,700,000 women have been raped in the United States since 1998. 1 in 5 women experience attempted rape. Women are 2X as likely to be raped than they are to get breast cancer, and nearly 13% of women in the U.S. get breast cancer…

Women in the military are 4x more likely to be raped than a civilian. 3% of male civilians have been raped, but 1 in 7 people in the military (a majority male institution) have experienced rape or sexual assault. Women with disabilities are 2X more likely to be raped than able bodied people. 64% of trans folx experience rape or sexual assault in their life time.

The great majority of rape cases go unreported, and only 2-10% of rape accusations are false. Almost none of those have ever lead to conviction. The U.S. justice department also reports that 99% of the perpetrators of reported rapes walk free, and 89% never face criminal charges.

These are statistics from the United States Government in 2016. These are the bases of my claims. This is rape culture. Read more REPLY

Adam ???: 53 minutes ago Holly Lemyre If i were to present you various sources and videos from women, would you be willing to look into the matter? REPLY

Adam ??? 47 minutes ago Holly Lemyre I would like citations for these claims. And furthermore, why are supposed rape from twenty years ago evidence that we live in a rape culture today? That’s like saying Europe is still under threat from Adolf Hitler. Also no one here is presenting anything violent toward you. You’d have to posses a victim complex to see that. And technically men experience rape more, it’s just that society doesn’t care. It was feminists that protested and eventually shut down a potential home for abused men.

If we live in a rape culture, exactly how does modern society advocate these actions? They don’t, that’s why we aren’t living in a rape culture. You’re thinking of the Congo Republic in Africa. Read more REPLY

Holly Lemyre 45 minutes ago Adam ??? You don’t seem to understand, I’ve already looked into the matter. I’ve spent the last 5 years of my life studying this issue (and others) from multiple angles, and this is the conclusion I’ve come to. Furthermore, the fact that you can look at those statistics and still not see the systemic issue of rape in this country shows me that you are part of the problem. You are more willing to convince yourself of false realities by grasping at the exceptions instead of doing the work it takes to confront the issue we have in this country: violence against women and female identified folx is a huge problem.

THIS is the reason I can’t run this channel anymore. I did not open this forum to debate rape culture, I opened this a space to share ideas that can help us better understand what rape culture looks like so that we can fight it.

But THIS, this right here, the conversation WE ARE HAVING is a perfect example of rape culture: you are being presented with facts from THE US GOVERNMENT that says roughly 20% of our society experiences rape with almost nobody being convicted, and STILL want to deny that rape is an overwhelming issue in this nation based on your notion that we’re “first world”. That level of crazy denial is what MAKES RAPE CULTURE POSSIBLE.

I think I’ll just disable the comments on these videos until I want to use this channel again because y’all are too much. Read more REPLY

Adam ??? 39 minutes ago Holly Lemyre How do you know that most rapes go unreported if they were never reported?

Where are you getting the citation that 2% of rapes are false?

If these women were raped, why didn’t they report it to the police?

Have you any idea how easy it is for a woman to lie and get her spouse arrested and imprisoned for a crime they did not commit? It’s happening more and more often, and these women often face only a few months in prison, meanwhile the accused men resort to suicide after having their reputations tarnished, sometimes even their mothers. Give me a break already. You are fighting an imaginary war. Read more REPLY

Adam ??? 32 minutes ago Holly Lemyre You can spend a million years convincing me that the moon is made of cheese, it won’t make it so. You haven’t substantiated any of your claims, nor have you provided any links whatsoever. People like you reduce that meaning and actions of rape into nothing by constantly banging on about it. How am I a part of a non existent issue when I’ve brought into attention countless times that rape is taken very seriously in the United States? You spread cliche feminist myths that even women are starting to debunk. You constantly see yourself as the victim and anybody else who dare think different is automatically the problem. You are a perfect example of how far feminism has fallen since its inception. What, you think you can just share your beliefs online, publicly, and not expect any disagreements? I’ve spoken to you in a respectful manner, and now you’re resorting to acting like a child that didn’t get their way.

I thought you were different, Holly. I thought you had some decency.

Don’t even bother speaking to me again. Go back to Tumblr and continue punching at shadows. Show less REPLY

—End of Conversation–

I just want to highlight the fact that I did cite my source (A United States Justice Department Report on Sexual Assault, Published in 2016).

I’m not going to take the time to pick apart “Adam’s” final reply, because I don’t have the time or energy for it. But this type of denial and dilution is not what I signed up for when I reopen my channel.

Additionally, everything I’ve said within that conversation stands true: I was not here to debate, I was here to inform open minds. And while I always encourage healthy dialogue, there’s no hope in convincing someone that US Government stats are equivalent to claims that the “moon is made of cheese”.

Instead of focusing on this channel, as much as I would have liked to,I’m going to focus on organizing with people in the real world and getting through the last semester of my Bachelors degrees.

Oh, and Adam, you don’t need to worry– I will not talk to you again. In fact, you were the only person trying to have this conversation in the first place. But you know that, and I trust that I don’t have to post all the other pathetic comments you tried to bait me with. Xo

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