Some of you wittier commentators might point out “Oh, but look, YOU just displayed YOUR black face on THIS website before establishing YOUR credentials! Hypocrite!”
Well, I would point out to you that this is a rather small, heavily moderated, closely scrutinized and high-brow (at least, from what I have observed) blog and commenting section – and, having inferred such as a cautious and…wait for it…SKEPTICAL purveyor of the interwebz, I have deduced that the pros of my display of negritude (i.e. not having to change my avatar) grossly outweigh the potential cons (i.e. detriments to my experience on this site).
Now I’d like to address the “bracin mah anus” comment.
There is such a thing as perspective (as eamc alluded to above), and I do believe that not quite enough of it has been exercised with regards to this entire affair.
I read a rather lengthy and impassioned defense of the potential non-sexual readings of “bracin mah anus” as a literal “tightening of the buttcheeks” from marilove. And hey, know what, I don’t even disagree with her. When *I* think of “bracin my anus”, *I* think of clenching up for something; just as she does.
But *I* am not the internet, you see. Oh lordy, no. And because I am a 20-year-old male that has been commenting on forums and interacting with strangers over the internet for longer than this girl has been alive (my late father used to play MUD [Multi-User Dungeon] games over our dial-up connection; he would let me watch and input commands and even follow the story for an hour before bedtime when I finished watching NOVA), I understand that before I post something – anything – it would behoove me to really think about what I’m saying and all of the readily accessible contexts and interpretations that my post could be availing itself unto. Clearly this girl has had the pleasure of fresh air and a loving household, and therefore has not been subjected to the endless murk of filth that is manifest on virtually every popular website that allows for a commenting section.
Now if the girl said something nebulous or unquestionably innocent like “I sure do love French bread!” only to have some jackwagon come up with “I’d like to roast my baguette in your brick oven”, then yeah, okay – that’s completely unprecipitated, uncalled for and crass.
But when you say “Bracin mah anus”? Now, one of two things happened here: either the girl was knowledgeable of the figure of speech, understood the potential for sexual interpretation, but completely underestimated the vehemence and magnitude of response – in which case she simply committed an error in judgment, which I believe to be the case – OR she was completely and I mean COMPLETELY ignorant of the potential for sexual interpretation (which seems to be marilove’s take), in which case I would beg to enquire as to why in the world she is posting her picture, age AND this comment to a site on the internet. The former explanation merely asks that she exercise a touch more caution, the latter asks that she further educate herself in the art of context.
Regardless, I take personal issue with your final paragraph, Rebecca; as I believe that in your fit of skepto-feminist rage that you have taken some egregious liberties with logic. I’ll break it down piece by piece.
You wrote: “I’ll also add a quick note for those of you (not yet in the comments below, but elsewhere) who cry, “So what! Terrible people are everywhere! It’s the Internet!” You? You are awful, too.”
Really? I don’t really see what’s so awful about pointing out a readily confirmable, provable, undeniable fact about the Internet. As a fellow skeptic, I would believe that you tend to value such cold, detached and emotionless truths of the world around us over the nuzzling embraces of falsehood and misdirection, but it appears as if I have been mistaken in this instance.
You then wrote: “R/atheism is a huge community of atheists, and here is an example of a young woman attempting to join it, to get more involved, who is sexualized and mocked for being a girl.”
Wrong. She is not being mocked and sexualized for “having a vagin*”, as someone above me previously asserted. She is mocked and sexualized for being an attractive 15-year-old girl that posted a picture of herself on the internet and commented with “Bracin mah anus”. The lion’s share of sketchy and disgusting commentary stemmed from that one post OF HERS. I don’t see anything overly offensive in someone stating how old they are in comparison to her (e.g. old laptop, vivid memories, etc.). Now the jeans/full of holes comment? Tasteless. But if we turn the tint down on our victim shades for a brief moment, we might notice that…hey, guys are full of holes too. Clearly it’s different for girl, I’m not trying to argue that. But the joke could be made about a guy and be just as apropos, albeit not necessarily as amusing.
You wrote: “Why would she ever want to be a part of any atheist community, if that’s how she’s treated?”
To rewarm my example from earlier, that’s like my friend saying “Well why would Jean-Luc want to be a part of the Xbox Live community, if that’s how he’s treated?” Two reasons – one, because I understand that the actions of one do not stand in for the actions of a whole; and two, because it sure beats the f*ck out of being on PS3 online. You set this up as if Lunam is going to jump aboard some other pro-discussion forum of religious thought; as if she was seriously considering jumping aboard the Jainism and Zoroastrianism bandwagons. I think that if Lunam is intelligent enough to question her faith at 15, and brave enough to do so in an audience full of potentially hostile strangers, then she is capable enough of understanding the nature of the situation that she encountered, and that not every atheist is a lurking sociopath who beats off to schoolgirls.
You concluded with: “The next time you look around your atheist events and wonder where all the women are, think of this and know that there are at least some of us who aren’t willing to just accept this culture without trying to change it.”
First, I could just as easily – matter fact, much MUCH more easily – make this same point about the lack of black presence within the atheist community. r/atheism has 358,356 subscribed readers; r/blackatheism has 585 (to r/GodlessWomen’s 728). We are .0016% of the r/atheism population – in fact, probably fewer than that; since I know about a dozen white redditors that signed on to r/blackatheism in a show of solidarity and support. So let’s slow the f*ck down on the diversity train for a minute there, because as of now black atheists are still seated firmly at the back of the bus with no one to talk to.
Have you read some of the responses on r/atheism to the creation of r/blackatheism? I would encourage you to dig through the archives, or if you are interested I could most certainly provide you with ample links to facepalm-inducing ignorance and stupidity regarding matters of race within the r/atheism community.
Think for a second: how many black atheists do you know? Now how many female atheists do you know? I mean, maybe you know a lot of both, in which case I’m happy for you. But I’d wager that you’ve got a couple fewer black atheist friends than female atheist friends.
And the next time I attend an atheist event – right after asking myself “Where my nigg*s at?” – I will not wonder where all the WOMEN are; I will wonder where all the 15-year-old girls are, seeing as how Lunam is a 15-year-old girl and not a WOMAN like you and other commentors on this site. There is a difference between the two. I am friends with Latina WOMEN that are atheists. I am friends with Korean WOMEN that are atheists. I am friends with a Nigerian WOMAN that is an atheist. I am not friends with any 15-year-old atheists, however – nor do I have any intent of doing so until they do some growing up.
You pointed out the snide “dat feel” remark that the one guy made about the girl. Well if I identify myself as black, and then respond to a post about Obama with “chek, my nigg* ain’t do errythang he say he gon do, but he finna set it off next term allllready, y’all needa quit tryin a dude on his english and sh*t doe” and then someone comments with “well if you’re going to post in that dialect…”
Is that dickish? Cha. But is it accurate? Damn straight. If you want to prove to members of a community that you are intellectually formidable and capable of higher thought and comprehension, you would be well-suited to conduct yourself in a manner that is conducive to positive interpretation. That means eschewing IM speak, cutting down on slang, and being mindful of context. Because Lunam did none of these, the reaction of most atheists on r/atheism was not one of “oh look, this girl is clearly a dextrous handler of cognitive affairs, allow me to engage her in logical discussion” but rather “daawwwww, how cute, here’s an upvote, take a few more classes and get back to us; fight the good fight little ‘un.”
Now Lunam posted a response to all this firestorm, in which she tells that she followed up the “bracin mah anus” comment (which she says received mostly playful and harmless responses) with one that received the dangerous and gross responses – and I quote:
“I[Lunam] jokingly said something about being naked and single in a penthouse.”
Now, I know she’s joking. But uh…am I the only person that thinks it’s not a particularly great idea to post something like that on an anonymous forum in which you have already posted a picture of yourself? I mean, if I’m alone in thinking that; okay. But if she didn’t think anything would happen then either she hasn’t been on reddit long enough (unlikely, since she’s been a user for 6 months) or she hasn’t been on the internet long enough (more likely).
Look, I wish nothing but the best for this kid. sh*t, I’ll probably even gift her some reddit gold for the sh*t she’s had to go through. But let us remember that she is, at the end of the day, a 15-year-old girl; and that I would not expect a grown-ass woman to conduct herself in an identical manner.
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