16 February, 2011

thought about speaking up

sometimes it feels like it would be inappropriate to speak up. I basically live on the Skins lj community right now--actually can't remember if that's what I'm thinking about in particular, but just general fandom/pop culture forums. People use the r-word or just talk about disability in a way I don't like. I think of how I don't like it--should I say something? I end up thinking, that would be weird, this is just a casual pop culture environment, I don't really know any of these people.
But the Skins fandom is heavily queer--I don't hesitate to speak up when I think something is heterosexist/homophobic or even cissexist/transphobic.
This is because I know someone will write a comment under mine saying "+1," "iawtc," "this." Whereas if I say something about ableism, it may just be awkward. Someone may be annoyed or just not say anything.
It's okay to make this decision to avoid awkwardness. I have that right. But I've noticed how instead of just thinking, "I don't want to say this because of the reaction," I actually think, "Oh don't be so serious"--but really, I feel perfectly fine being serious about things I know it's safe to be serious about.

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