#someone in the survey was like 'put people of equal popularity against each other' i'm so sorry but i do not agree

[classicslesbianopinions]

oh sorry in advance for my really strong opinions about how to seed a bracket

[thelifetimechannel]

Well, us lgbt peeps are getting our youth centers set on fire, we're being kicked out of the military, and the SCOTUS is just about to let businesses discriminate against us, but i'm glad we have people like you to erase what little positive representation we get! When only bigots are pissed about rosemary "Trying to make everyone happy" equals "Trying to make the bigots happy". You don't have to answer this, just think about it. Your work already has that reputation. Do you want it to stick?

Let’s assuage one concern right off the bat. Rosemary is going to be fine. Rose talks about backing off, but in the same conversation she admits she’s being silly and overreacting. Earlier in canon, she assumes Kanaya wants to break up with her and claims “my girlfriend thinks I’m an idiot”. With her insecure belief that Kanaya is disappointed in her, a brief consideration of following in her family’s footsteps and bailing seemed in character to me. But she knows that’s kneejerk and prompted by insecurity rather than reality, and instead, she’s going to talk to her about their issues. A truly revolutionary move, to be sure. 

I have those conversations written. I did research, to more confidently write about how addiction can strain relationships and hurt the people you love. I wanted to explore what their dynamic looks like now with all those stressors in play and give them a chance to talk it out and make their relationship stronger. So Rosemary will be fine. Don’t worry about them.

With that out of the way, I’m tucking the rest of our responses under a cut.

Pal. Anon. Buddy. 

Yes, these are scary fucking times right now. A lot of people are frightened and for very good reason. A lot of people feel powerless to do anything against the soulless wastes of skin in the US government. A lot of people are lashing out at things they think they can control instead. I understand turning to fiction when times are stressful; if someone finds solace in my work, even for an hour or two, that makes me more glad than words can properly express at 2 AM. 

However, what I’m not appreciating is taking that stress out on queer content creators themselves. Further more, I get the funny feeling - something I’ve been getting for a long time now - that your message was made less as a letter to the editor from a genuinely concerned reader. Because, you know, we’ve gotten messages like this before. Instead, it sounds like a blatant co-opting of these very real, very scary issues in order to moralize why you don’t like a fan fiction that has less than 250 favs on MSPFA. 

This is not the first time we’ve received a message like this on this blog and I suspect it won’t be the last. But I’m writing a draft response this time instead of Kat because I saw this first and it’s 2:30 AM and I am very, very, VERY tired of this goddamn concern trolling.  

Canon, Anon, is always going to be there, will always have Rosemary, and will literally always be fathoms more popular than my dorky fan comic. Rosemary will continue to be an extremely popular canon ship. Rosemary ain’t going anywhere because of one fanfic that doesn’t have as much of a focus on it. Emphasis: as much of a focus. It’s what we call a “gen fic”. Calm down. 

I get getting defensive about your ships when people are assholes about it. But if homophobic a-holes are drawn to my comic because we’re not heavy on gay ships because that’s where the story is right now, that is on them. And there are much better ways to deal with that problem than sending passive-aggressive notes to small fry like us because we’re not dropping everything and scrambling to get more shipping content onscreen. Yeah, we’re right there. Our inbox is open. I get it, it’s easy to take our your fear and your anger with messages like this because we are such small time members of the community. But will you please grab some patience? Holding off because it’s not the right moment for it to be in the story =/= erasure, we will get there, and we will get there after I get some freaking shut eye so I can wake up so I can draw the next flash and the next update. Rinse. Repeat. 

Also literally every time I have drawn Rose onscreen for months now she’s been in one of Kanaya’s shirts. If you’re going to criticize my comic, at least do me the decency of sounding like you’ve read it first. 

-Gill

For once, I’m going to be the crankier one. 

Simply, how dare you? How dare you waltz into our inbox pretending that any of this is new to us? Neither of us is cis or straight. I select nonbinary on anonymous surveys and then turn around to put female on official paperwork because my state doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected categories for employees. I came home from rallying in front of my scumbag senator’s local office for health care and called him up about the military ban. I have poured so much mental time into this project partly because it’s a relief to have a distraction from the world falling down around me. And you pop in to compare two queer content creators to the people in power stripping their rights away. You even write that you’re not looking for a response. You’re not looking for a conversation. I’m 99% sure that you’re the same anon we’ve gotten over and over again claiming we have a “bad reputation” when you’re the one person who keeps yelling at us, and you completely ignore everything we say to you in favor of harassing us. Do you go through AO3 leaving these comments on everything that doesn’t meet your specifications? Is this fun for you?

I have tried many responses every time you reappear in our inbox. I have expressed sympathy toward your frustration. I have provided detailed explanations of why our project is the way it is. I pointed you in the direction of projects that might be more your speed. I’ve offered to write fic for you personally, for god’s sake. But I’m done. I’m tired. I get it - you’re scared. I’m scared. We’re all scared. And when it seems like no one’s listening and there’s nothing you can do, you want to hit out at something. You want to find an enemy and slay it so you stop feeling so powerless. I can relate. Take that impulse and do something constructive with it. Call a representative. Volunteer at a local activist group, if you’ve got the time, accessibility, spoons, etc. I know it feels like spitting into a wildfire, believe me, but it can help lift a little of the emotional weight of feeling entirely helpless. But us tearing each other apart isn’t going to help anything, and life is hard enough right now without me allowing myself to be your punching bag.

Further asks on this will go unanswered.

- Kat

[96thdayofrage]

According to a survey released last year 52 percent of white Americans said they believe discrimination against them is on par with discrimination faced by black people and other minorities. In Canada, a poll taken in 2014 showed that most Canadians don't think they're racist—84 percent claim they have friends of different racial backgrounds—but 32 percent make occasional racist comments, and 27 percent agree with racial stereotypes. Those ideas are at odds with each other, demonstrating a lack of understanding of the basic concept of racism.

Last week, news broke that Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef was born in Iran, not Afghanistan, as she'd been led to believe her whole life. The Globe and Mail revealed the truth about Monsef's birthplace, prompting Monsef's mom to admit she'd lied to her daughter about where she was actually born. Consequently, some accused Monsef of being deliberately deceitful to the public and even suggested that her citizenship should be revoked and that she should step down from her job. While many journalists were quick to back up the story as legitimate—and aspects of it might be—there seemed to be a resistance to even entertaining the possibility that a white politician who'd been born outside of Canada would not have faced the same level of scrutiny. For suggesting as much, in a story VICE published, I once again found myself being accused of racism against white people.

My default reaction to claims like this is to roll my eyes. But seeing as it's no longer just Twitter trolls who believe in reverse racism—white fragility probably accounts for a large part of Donald Trump's popularity—I decided to reach out to some social justice advocates to ask why they think a certain segment of white people get so defensive when minorities vocalize their oppression. And why groups like BLMTO are being painted as divisive and race baiting when really all they're doing is fighting for equality.

"When you're so deeply invested in your privilege, and in this case white privilege, racial equality feels like oppression," said Anthony Morgan, a Toronto-based civil and human rights lawyer.

Simply put, Morgan said reverse racism doesn't exist and a person who claims otherwise is "outing themselves as someone who has little to no experience or knowledge of what racism is."

Read More: White People Explain Why They Feel Oppressed

Racism is based on a couple of things—historical, systemic oppression and power, Morgan explained. And as far as history goes, white people have never been persecuted for the colour of their skin—so there's no point comparing their experiences to those of black, brown, and Indigenous folks.

"It's slavery, colonialism, theft all kinds of violations on systemic proportions... versus feelings being hurt."

There's a difference, he noted, when white people who are in a position of power espouse a hatred of minorities than when it's done the other way around.

In April, BLMTO co-founder Yusra Khogali was highly criticized when a tweet of hers that said "Plz Allah give me strength not to cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today" was discovered.

But Morgan said even if all people of colour straight up said they hate white people, it wouldn't affect a white person's ability to get a job, an education, or increase the odds that they'd get carded or charged for a crime. "If all white people had that view [of black people], that would have a very dramatic life impact on the material reality of all those people."

The exclusion of white people in spaces created for minorities is another controversy that sometimes comes up in the media.

Last fall, flyers for a white students union popped up on a handful of Canadian university campuses. On its website, the group behind the campaign, Students for Western Civilization, claims schools are bombarded with the message that "only white people can be racist, because white people are the sole beneficiaries of this white supremecist (sic) system." To balance things out, a white students' union "would serve as a platform to promote and advance the political interests of Western peoples."

Meanwhile Ryerson University's Racialised Students' Collective received backlash for kicking two white journalism students out of a meeting because they weren't marginalized or racialized. Ditto when BLMTO refused to sell white Toronto musician Sima Xyn one of its protest T-shirts during this year's Pride Parade.

"Denying me service due to my race when I'm showing my support to the Toronto #blacklivematter movement is ironic and killing my human rights," Xyn tweeted at the time.

Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, broke down why none of the above can be considered racism but is instead, again, about hurt feelings.

"It's interesting that as soon as you de-centre whiteness, it becomes about people being anti-white," she said, noting that at a panel for queer black people she attended, some white people were asked to move to the back to make space for black people. A few were offended.

"Why is it that in a place created for black people to have a conversation amongst themselves... to talk about what it means to be black and queer, that white folks felt they had to be at the centre?"

Morgan added that creating something like a white students union or having White History Month would be redundant.

"If you look at pretty much every profession in which folks have gainful employment or relative social prestige, it's overwhelmingly white."

As for the rise of the white victim narrative, both said issues like economic downturn—particularly in the US, where working class Americans are finding themselves struggling financially—play a role. Immigration and anti-Muslim sentiments that stem from falsely equating Islam with radicalization is another factor. But it's also just a response to more people calling out racism.

Douglas said the only reason we're talking about race more right now is because of blatant incidents that can't be ignored—the police beating death of Ottawa man Abdirahman Abdi, or the fatal shooting of Colten Boushie, an Indigenous man from Saskatchewan are two recent examples.

"As soon as we begin to interrogate issues of racism people get uncomfortable with it and hence the pushback we're seeing," she said.

If your default reaction to these discussions is to see white people as victims of reverse racism, Morgan has some advice: educate yourself.

"Anybody who would want to use or identify something as reverse racist, I would strongly encourage them to stop for a moment... and really think seriously about the last time they really have taken the time to study or get a deep understanding of what racism is and how it impacts different communities."