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[–]cinnaflo 14 insightful - 2 fun14 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

I do think it’s dumb when mods delete threads when it doesn’t follow the guidelines to the T but this isn’t new within forum communities and it’s pretty normal. You do make good points with how some of the circles are too similar/can overlap though, and I do think that should be brought up. Also there’s censorship on Ovarit because there are TRA lurkers who screenshot posts and upload them on Reddit to criticize and make fun of, and its important that we don’t give them a reason to further smear us as white supremacists or have calls for Ovarit to be taken down (which is absolutely possible, and something TRAs have been trying to make happen by having the public think we’re alt right). Normal onlookers get told that TERFs are violent/hateful white supremacists, but when they see these types of screenshots or if they do decide to check Ovarit, they’ll realize how manipulative and untrustworthy TRAs actually are and will begin questioning them.

Before GC reddit got banned, I also used to felt the focus on TIMs was really annoying/overwhelming, it came to the point where the entire front page was all about TIMs and memes. I originally joined GC to find a community discussion on feminism that focused on women/ oppression of poor women, but they became rarer as the subreddit grew. The places I liked to visit, the people I interacted, the topic of transgenderism/ people who were trans didn’t even make a blip outside of GC spaces (and unless it was LGBT related, which being a bisexual GC I hated anyways). I didn’t get why some women were so upset about TIMs because I never saw any of it happening around me. But now I’m seeing them in TV shows, video games, comics, niche hobby communities, feminist/women’s health orgs, and now more in political positions, being mentioned by my senators/governors, on the news speaking about their transition, in sports, and having law policies being changed to accommodate them while hurting women’s rights. They’re growing and are everywhere now, and I get the frustration.

[–]akkordeonplayer[S] 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I felt the same way about GC before it got banned regarding the TIM issue. Nowadays I DO see how this gender ideology gets shoved down our throats, and I see it as a threat.

I definitely felt as if a lot of the the reddit GC posts were also tone deaf to women who were impoverished/ single mothers, etc. Quite a few opinion-piece articles posted, for example, were written by women who were extremely wealthy and privileged to begin with. There was one woman who's articles kept being posted, for example, who lives in the most expensive part of NYC and works in a STEM job. Every time I saw her articles getting circulated, I rolled my eyes. Part of me sees this as a side effect of having an online community moderated by people in STEM, who often seem dismissive and nasty to those who are self-described poor and/or single mothers online. (This is also part of the reason I find technology infiltrating every aspect of our lives as problematic-- those who work in this industry tend to be wealthy and look down on people who don't earn as much as they do-- of course their tools would be biased in favor of the wealthy--> that's another topic all together.)

I also noticed (as of late) some really bizarre racist posts on Ovarit, which makes me wonder if there has been some major infiltration on that site. Most women who identify as feminist of any stripe are decidedly anti-racist. I'm sure gender activists have the time and inclination to do so, as they've already shown how talented they are for that kind of thing.

[–]censorshipment 7 insightful - 9 fun7 insightful - 8 fun8 insightful - 9 fun -  (4 children)

If by bizarre racist posts you mean real racism, not "anti-white racism"...

Did you know there was a gc_woc subreddit created because of the classist and racist bullshit on the GC sub?

White women's rights activists have always been this way. Back when they were suffragists. And during the late 60s into the 70s.

Thank goodness I have my mom and aunts to tell me the truth. They said white women's racism+classism was worse than black men's sexism. I was skeptical about that at first because male-partnered women have an infuriating tendency of siding with their own men (white women side with white men, black women side with black men, etc). Speaking of which... before the GC sub was banned, there was an announcement about the banning of several prominent GC sub members... they were banned for being "uncivil" towards men on the sub (and also libfems on the sub who had recently "peaked" but were only anti-trans and not radfems at all). Turning against your own is ridiculous. GC mods would've banned Valerie Solanas had she been alive and on Reddit. :(

[–]akkordeonplayer[S] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I saw something like "black women aren't really women" or something like that, which freaked me out.

I wasn't sure if it was meant in sarcasm, but I reported it regardless-- that's the kind of post that could be used to "justify" calling Ovarit a "hate site".

I DO think there is some truth to arguing that the whole "Karen" meme is a way of discrediting all feminism via some form of "anti-white racism"... a way to discourage minority women from embracing women's rights.... or as a way to cast all white women as "always wealthy and always extremely racist", which isn't the case... OR to make the insinuation that women who argue on behalf of women's rights are ALSO "always racist, too".

The classism thing I can definitely relate to-- women who are married comfortably or have high paying jobs tend to be more classist than those who are single. It's like they're incapable of realizing how difficult it is to be single, borderline poverty or impoverished, with children. For that reason, I am often extremely reluctant to bring up my personal life at work, because I know that can and will be used against me... What used to make me really cringe (particularly at work) was when I'd hear these same comfortably married women complain about certain groups of people "being on welfare", etc., when I knew their own grandkids, kids or husbands were on SSDI. It was like, "seriously?". Where I work now I don't hear as much of this stuff, thankfully. Now bring up being single/with kids/poor online and you DEFINITELY get slammed, no matter where you go.

Yes, I do remember the gc_woc subreddit existing. I remember one post on regular GC where the article posted discussed a black woman going to college, getting a job in social work, and being paid a low wage-- and remembered reading all the ridiculous comments about "she should've thought of XYZ before having children.. she should have picked STEM" and that kind of thing. I was like "what the f---"? So, yes, I wasn't shocked when the new sub was created.

[–]Nosce_te_ipsum 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

This is an argument that seems to be quite popular among trans activists: that black women are "manly" and, if we accept them as women, we should also accept transwomen as women. Gender Critical feminists criticize/make fun of that argument constantly, which leads me to believe that what you saw was, most likely, sarcasm, or perhaps, quoting one of the assholes who say stuff like that. I'm not on Ovarit and I'm sure that, like any other online community, they have their issues, but I don't think anyone there would post stuff like "black women aren't really women", unless they were a troll.

[–]akkordeonplayer[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It could have been sarcasm, but wasn't marked as such-- one could easily say it could be used as an "example" to "justify" smearing the whole site.

[–]Nosce_te_ipsum 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree. But there are people in this thread who are accusing them of censorship too, of removing things that they find offensive. I've never been a moderator, but I imagine it's difficult to walk the fine line between not allowing anonymous people online to post insulting or "bait" material, but also making sure you don't suppress genuine debates and conversations centered around sensitive subjects.

If they don't delete some questionable comments, even those made with no ill intent, that can be used against the entire community, but if they do keep track of these things and use the "better safe than sorry" principle, people will, inevitably, accuse them of censorship. Especially since people usually disagree on what constitutes opinions that are offensive enough to deserve being removed.