TW: This post discusses harassment, both emotional and sexual.
Before we proceed, two caveats:
1. I’m a cis white asexual/aromantic woman. This post is written from that POV.
2. Of course it’s #NotAllMen. It’s never been #AllMen. But it is #Enough Men That It Constitutes A Problem And Can Be Directly Linked To Communal Misogyny And If Your Response To A Woman Trying To Have A Discussion About Said Misogyny Is Just #NotAllMen Then You’re A Part Of The Problem. If you don’t think this post applies to you, or you think you’re going to get angry by reading it, then close the browser window now and leave me alone. I really could care less about what you have to say to me. I’ve heard it all before, for the 16 years I’ve been a part of various fandom spaces. You have nothing new to add. Skedaddle.
This post is going to get a bit angry. It’s a vent. It’s a healing exercise. It’s trying to verbalise something that’s been burning in my head for several months now. It’s a realisation that the sheer exhaustion I feel when trying to engage with a piece of media is the result of being conditioned to think that I have to explain myself to faceless men across the internet. It’s always being on the defensive, just in case a man takes offence and decides to form a mob to harass me. It’s having to choose every word I tweet carefully.
It’s thinking I had friends but discovering just how quickly people will abandon you to save their own skin – or, even worse, blame you for the harassment you receive.
Continue reading “Leaving The Transformers Fandom”
AROFAN 