And so the Internet has found a new woman to hate. Most of you are probably already familiar with the Adria Richards debacle that’s developed over the past several days. If not, Jill at Feministe has a good summary of events:
Adria Richards, formerly of the company SendGrid, was at a tech conference this week when some dudes behind her made a series of inappropriate and sexual jokes. Annoyed by the pervasiveness of misogyny in the tech world, she snapped a photo of them and put in on Twitter with a complaint. One of the conference organizers spoke to the men and they apologized. Totally reasonable! Good response, PyCon. Later, one of the dudes got fired. Instead of getting mad at the company that made the choice to fire him, the internet hordes descended on Adria. She was on the receiving end of rape and death threats. Her address and phone number were published. Her blog and her company’s website came under DDoS attack. Oh and then her company, SendGrid, fired her.
Like Jill, I think firing someone for a “dongle” joke is an overreaction, to say the least. But Richards wasn’t responsible for that; indeed, she told the fired man she hoped his employer would reconsider and take him back.
SendGrid’s firing of Richards is far more problematic. It’s one thing to get in trouble for acting like a sexist boor; it’s quite another to get in trouble for simply pointing out someone else’s problematic behavior. Richards faced a virtual lynch mob for simply documenting an example of the everyday sexism that permeates the tech world; by firing her, SendGrid essentially sided with the mob.
Is “lynch mob” an unfair term to describe those who’ve gone after Richards? No. In this context, the term is sadly apropos, as the target of all this online “activism” is not only female but black – two strikes against her in the minds of many of her, er, “critics,” who attacked her as a “fucking nigger” as well as a “cunt.” (The more genteel racists referred to her derisively as a “diversity hire.”)
Numerous commenters have already documented some of the appallingly racist and misogynist attacks on Richards. (The links in the above paragraph contain plenty of examples.)
Here, I’d like to focus specifically on the attacks on Richards coming from Men’s Rights activists – that is, from people who like to think of themselves as upstanding human rights activists for the 21st century, virtual equivalents of Martin Luther King. In fact, many of the reactions of MRAs show them to have far more in common with the bigots who fought against the civil rights movement than they do with King.
In the Men’s Rights subreddit, the MRA masses gave more than one hundred upvotes to a graphic describing Richards as a “racist, sexist and hypocritical cunt.” Evidently pointing out that white men as a class have certain advantages in the world is a kind of “racism.”
Elsewhere in the subreddit, aasorted commenters indulged themselves in gendered slurs. Greyfeld got dozens up upvotes for comments denouncing Richards as a “feminist cunt” and a “screeching harpy cunt.” DerpaNerb described Richards as “a racist/sexist cunt [who’s] clearly … not capable of doing her job properly.” Buster2209 scored 160 upvotes with a comment describing Richards as a “stupid bitch [who] brought it on herself.” Cyridius simply declared “I hate her because she’s a dumb ignorant bitch.”
Others happily gave the Men’s Rights movement credit for Richards’ firing. The execrable EvilPundit got 180 upvotes for a post essentially endorsing the virtual lynch mob and declaring Richards’ firing to be proof that the Men’s Rights movement had entered a “new phase.”
Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Pundit, but there’s nothing new about men harassing and threatening a black woman.
AnnArchist – a former contributor to Reddit’s now-banned Beating Women subreddit — reacted with indignation to someone who pointed out Richards had been harassed:
Over on A Voice for Men, where the locals describe themselves with no sense of irony as Men’s Human Rights Activists, there was much rejoicing over the firing of Richards, who was variously described as an “entitled bitch,” a “sociopathic bitch,” a “femshit” and a “bush pig.” Naturally, the c-word, applied to all feminists, made an appearance as well.
Daflory hoped that Richards’ firing would be the start of an industry-wide purge:
Adria Richards seems like an entitled narcissist, who had become used to deference as a moral authority through her impeccable credentials as a diversity goddess: black, Jewish, and female. …
No one ever told Adria Richards that she was at best only an tolerated guest in the world of tech, and she could either play by male rules and contribute, or get lost. Hopefully other feminists in tech will get a similar message.
And August Løvenskiolds’ mind went straight to the gutter:
[A]fter being outed as a betrayer of her customers, none of them will want to work with her, and any tech company that hires her will instantly lose credibility.
She’s going to be hard-pressed to find a job as a sex-worker unless the light is quite dim.
Taking a step back from the particulars of the incident, Mark Trueblood wondered if a man strike might help to put things right once again:
I’m pretty sure Amnesty International doesn’t exactly endorse this sort of “human rights” activism.
Warning labels are way too much of a blunt instrument, as well as potentially being, you know, censorship. The most effective way to deal with artists whose lyrical content you don’t like is a. don’t buy their stuff, b. don’t go to their shows, and c. tell other people (and the artists themselves, if you like – most of them have Facebook or Twitter) why you’re doing both of those things.
You can’t stop bands from saying things you don’t like, but you can vote with your wallet and encourage your friends to do the same.
@cassandrasays
That’s a good point. I guess I don’t know much about them 😛 I won’t be buying anymore of the artists cd’s I think (it was three days grace, if I remember).
And I’m rambling….
Yeah, the criticism of Swift’s lyrics is mostly about sexism. I could sit here and name a dozen bands who say that same stuff without even having to think about it. Which doesn’t mean that you need to listen to her stuff, just that you should be aware where the criticism is coming from and apply the same spirit to the artists who you actually like – the message doesn’t become OK just because the music is better.
For example! Musically I quite like Interpol (not live – they’re a terrible live band), but the lyrics? So much whiny Nice Guy crap.
I should really start keeping a link to that essay about how to be a fan of problematic stuff handy.
No no, Scrapemind is correct. It only takes a minute of blank staring to figure that out though: Shit and fuck cannot be “bad words” at the same time as “drunk” and “Dumb” or “crazy”, because there is a natural limit on the amount of Bad Words any given language is allowed (Decided by that commitee I mentioned, and yes, we’re still working on the Silly Issue).
So clearly, if we want to be allowed to have opinions on a given subject, we must first change the rules regarding that subject as commonly defined, because we are not allowed to merely have opinions about things as they are.
—
Still though, let me help: The reason Carly Rae Jepsens epic lamentation about the crazy activities she gets up to is allowed to use the word crazy as a description of actions is simple, or, as you would prefer it, not-crazy, because the word crazy is not naturally a bad word (A concept that I’m somewhat certain does not exist, since it’s a crazy idea, ie, somewhat silly). Crazy, right? Let’s review:
Writing crazy as a description of an activity you are doing. Not crazy.
Using a word that implies not being attached to reality to describe someone else? Crazy.
Calling someone else crazy? Very crazy.
Insinuating that people are “Crazies”? Very crazy.
Insinuating that only mentally ill people, ie, crazies, do bad things?
wrong
Language means things and the construction of sentences matter. The ideas you express, however incidental or accidental, are important – and when someone goes “Hey, what you’re saying there is a little iffy, here’s why”, it does not boil down “Oh oh ho, what a crazy belief” (There’s that describing someone else in a negative way again)
But I’m sure this all seems somewhat silly.
@cassandrasays
I think I’ve seen that essay before 😀 Mostly, if I’ve noticed a band saying things I don’t like, I don’t buy their CDs, though I buy most of my CDs from half price anyway, since they are expensive. 😛
If your goal is to hurt an artist financially in order to make a point, in most cases you can do that more effectively by not going to shows and not buying merchandise, since that’s where they make most of their money. If the goal is to let the record company know that you think the lyrics are a problem, that’s when not buying the CDs matters more. (Though I don’t like the idea of using record companies to control an artist’s output because, again, censorship.)
But really, if we’re talking artists who’re mostly influential with younger people? Social media is your friend, and your peers might listen to you, so that’s your best bet as far as communicating the fact that you don’t appreciate songs about how easy drunk girls are to rape.
@cassandrasays
I don’t go to shows or buy merchandise from anyone really 😛 Lack of funds. And I also don’t know if I have any friends that listen to their music. I’m pretty friend-less 😛 I’m not trying to make a huge goal to hurt them financially, since for the most part I’ve moved onto other artists, I just wanted to give scrapemind and example of something I’d have appreciated a warning on. Not that he’ll listen anyway.
/rambling. I do that a lot….
I’m kind of talking to the peanut gallery as well as to Marie here, btw. If the fact that your favorite artists say some things that you have an issue with bothers you, you’re not powerless. Walking away is an option, but so is engaging more directly and trying to make a point about what you have a problem with and why. I think this is especially the case for young bands that have a young audience, both because harmful messages are extra problematic when aimed at that age group and because younger artists are more likely to be actively engaged with their fanbase.
@cassandrasays
whoops sorry :/ Kind of rambly today, I wasn’t thinking much on all of who it was addressed to. I’ll try to collect my brain.
What Cassandra said about engaging, goes double for not buying the merch. Young/new bands live and die by merch.
Yep. If what you want to communicate is “I am really not OK with what you just did”, don’t stop buying the CDs, stop buying the tshirts. And if it’s a young band they may man their own merch table, so go tell them why you’re not buying their merch any more.
@ hellkell- I’m so glad that your dad is okay!
@hellkell
That’s great news about your dad
/takes a shot to his continuing good health
Thanks, M Dubz. Me too! I know it sounds awful but I don’t know how I would deal with my mother if my dad were to get seriously ill. I’m an only child, so there’s no one else to pick up slack.
Shadow: what are we drinking?
I think Taylor Swift shows beautifully how sexist culture operates. She has become the face of whiny passive aggressive breakup music, and is constantly called to task for it, while there are dozens of male-fronted bands that produce similar messages. It’s not that “all women are awful” or “all men are awful” but rather that men seem to get a pass on the terrible behavior that women are eviscerated for. Oh, and also women are eviscerated for all sorts of other behavior.
@m dubz
Kind of reminds me how everyone jumps on twilight or w/e but not so many fantasy or sci fi books by male authors with just as much ickiness and sexism. Idk, I hope that makes sense.
@hellkell
A friend of mine visited from Africa and hit me up with a bottle of Mampoer (South African moonshine), so I’m getting drunk on that and nostalgia :D. Nothing but the best for your dad 😀
@kitteh (about hemp oil) I rub it directly on my sore muscles and when my mom uses it for her torn rotator cuff, she also just rubs it in. It relieves the pain for a few hours and personally it helps me relax for sleep. We also both injest about two tablespoons a day for general health and anti-inflammatory purposes. I used it with balsamic vinegar on my salad. I wouldn’t cook it because it’s gonna loose it’s potency. You can mix it into smoothies and stuff too.
Slowly catching up here, been a long day as, among other things, I dared to mention this on twitter (thankfully 2/3rds of the replies where from people who could disagree like adults and not go all rage-face…the other is switching to PERL over pycon’s reply!)
Anyways!
“I can’t just make myself believe that crazy is a slur. Belief is not a choice.”
Now, I know scrapemind’s MO, I know I shouldn’t expect logic. But wtf? Crazy is a belief? Yes I’ll just belief myself sane, that’s it, I’m sure! Actually, my freshman roommates said exactly that, I “just need to be closer to god” yeah…
WeeBoy — fuuuuck *offers hugs if those are welcome*
hellkell — w00t for it not being cancer!
TomBCat — don’t worry, there’s no test of eloquence around here (which is good, because I fear we’d all lose to Pecunium! His troll take downs are a thing of beauty) — just don’t shit in the sandbox and you’ll be fine.
Did I offer the complementary welcome package consisting of a misandrist hard chair, matching bath towels, SCENTED MOTHERFUCKING CANDLES and cupcakes, delivered by female (whore) penguins in spanx.
@ Marie- I literally never thought about that, but you are totally right! I think mostly because I have heard criticisms of both Twilight and other misogynistic sic-fi mostly in feminist spaces. But the general world does have a particular hate-on for Twilight that it doesn’t for other sic-fi or fantasy.
@ Jessay- I have also heard about the goodness of coconut oil, especially for skin and hair health.
Oh also @Weeboy, I’m so sorry that your friend it not getting the help and support they need. HUGZ to you both.
Shadow: moonshine plus the tawa masala I just inhaled would make for an interesting morning! 🙂
@Sid Taylor Swift is older than me. She is 23. I would consider myself a woman not a girl.
As far as double standards….
-Sexual partners; Slut vs stud
-Looking professional: Makeup is now seen as the norm for women
-Sports; men play=awesome women play=boring
-Women are expected to maternal and involved in their childrens lives (otherwise they are bad mothers. Men who are uninvolved are just bringing home the bacon
-Oral sex? Men expect and women should be grateful if they get it
I’m sure there are more. Of course there are double standards that work badly for men too and I dislike those as well. However, those are also the result of patriarchy. What is good for the goose is good for the gander I suppose.