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What is this I don't even.
Apr. 30th, 2010 03:47 pmTrigger warning: I talk about domestic and sexual abuse and violence, and rant a bit about rape culture.
Dear asshole on the quad.
Congratulations! You have in fact noticed the fact that Lesley is participating in the Clothesline Project, a collaborative art project meant to raise awareness of the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence and assault. You even seem to have figured out what the project was about, meaning you paid enough attention to figure out why these brightly coloured shirts were all over the quad.
Unfortunately for everyone, figuring out what the project it, is not at all the same thing as understanding why it's done. So, it is with rage in my heart that I feel I should address a few of the things you were saying to your group, loudly, and in the middle of the quad where anybody passing by could hear.
First off, why yes, these clotheslines *are* in the way of you playing frisbee in the quad. You're right, Third Wave1 *could* have just done flyers or something. Except, the whole point of the project is to be noticable. Flyers? Not so much, nor does a dozen flyers on a table provide nearly the same impact as a dozen t-shirts on a clothesline. There are many many shirts hanging up, because there are many many people at Lesley who have been affected by violence or sexual assult.
It's just terrible that these things are all across the quad, because after all, they are just hideously ugly, with their bright colours and all. How dare they get in your way! I am so sorry that for a week, you have to be minorly inconvenienced by the fact that bad things happen, and honestly, I hope dearly that you never have to go through anything like that yourself. After all, if it's this difficult for you to be aware of the issues for five days, I just don't know how you'd cope being aware of them day after day after day because you just can't forget.
Oh, and regarding flyers? They're up. All over the school --I counted at least six as I walked from the student center to the cafeteria. They've got fun facts too, like how many women find themselves the objects of domestic abuse, or what percentage of gay men hit their partners! Check 'em out, you might learn something useful.
(And tangentially, why the fuck would you be playing frisbee this week anyways?! It is windy as hell out there right now, and our quad is really too small for it in the first place. If you need a nice green open space, maybe you could walk a block to Mass Ave, cross it, and walk the *ever* so far three blocks to the Cambridge Commons. Jackass.)
Secondly, I'm unimpressed by how gleeful you seem to be in your inability to actually learn. I know you can learn, you mentioned yourself that you "hadn't known that men could be abused" (which is such a terrible commentary in itself on the state of this country that I don't even know what to say). If you're learning things from the project, believe it or not, the project is doing what it's supposed to!
However, there's more for you to learn. Perhaps you should take a deep breath, and read a few more shirts, and figure out what it must feel like to be one of these survivors, rather than just rant about how they're ruining the look of your quad. Wouldn't it be nice if you could learn about why this project happens? Difficult, I know! Being cool for your friends is ever the more important thing to do.
What next, ah yes, the colours thing. You were complaining about how the t-shirts are nice bright cheerful colours, and that the words on them were all dark and sad. This created dissonance in your mind, and confused you! Clearly, all brightly coloured things are meant to be happy, and all sad words are meant to go with sad colours, whatever that means. Awwwwwwwww.
Now then, I know this might be confusing for you, pumpkin, but sometimes, artists use things like dissonance to make a statement. Bright cheerful colours might also be seen as bright *hopeful* colours, and to the people making these shirts, hope is something absolutely precious, and that they almost certainly can't always get enough of. And above all, there is a grim humour to using bright colours to explain away something very dark. I don't know about you, but when I have something bad happen to me, I always like to use the grim humour to get over it. Even if it's bad, it's nice to laugh.
(And again, tangentially, dude. I don't know if you're an art-kid or just desperately pretending to be one, but even the least artistic person on the planet can probably figure out the creative flaw in trying to create art on black fabric. Black makes a shitty background for drawing or writing on, hence the reason most commercial canvasses come in white. Shock, awe, what, you mean the crazy man-hatin' feminists are *practical* too? This is so confusing!)
By this point I was trying not to listen, but I recall one of your friends, agreeing with you, saying "No means no" as if it's the most obvious thing on the planet, and therefore doesn't need to be pointed out. I do believe your response was a charming "No means yes!" with a laugh at how edgy and subversive you were! Ho-ho, what wit, it is always hilarious to rape someone who's clearly said no to you! (And I'm not even going to get into the concept that you can have rape with someone who never said no, because you got them drunk, because you pressured them into it, because you scared them, or coerced them, because you tricked them, because you said "don't you love me?", because you 'seduced' them, because you had a knife, because you were their boss, because they were handicapped, because any other one of a million reasons why someone would not think or be able to say no. "No means no", sure, but it's important to remember also that only "yes" means "yes".)
So, in summation, fuck you. Sure, fuck me too for not having the courage to say all this to you and five laughing friends, at least one of whom I tangentially know, but you know what? It's not my job to educate, where it *is* your job to not be a jackass. Seriously, you are an asshole, and I would like you to no longer be on my planet.
I would say "I hope someday you know what it feels like" but I'm not cruel, and I can't wish that on anyone. So instead, have just the slightly more insiduous "I hope someday you understand."
No love
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Third Wave Feminism, Lesley's feminist club.
BYTHEWAY: I absolutely one hundred percent do NOT advocate violence against people, even assholes, but at the same time, I do advocate snubbing the hell out of them, or pulling them aside and telling them they're a jerk. So, my fellow Leslians, he's a white kid with a giant brown afro with a pink stripe in it. Ignore at will.
Trigger warnings go both ways --this entry talks about domestic and sexual abuse and violence, as well as rape culture.
COMMENT POLICY: Comments = safe space, go be shitty somewhere else if you feel the need. Remember that this is a public entry with unscreened comments before you post.
Dear asshole on the quad.
Congratulations! You have in fact noticed the fact that Lesley is participating in the Clothesline Project, a collaborative art project meant to raise awareness of the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence and assault. You even seem to have figured out what the project was about, meaning you paid enough attention to figure out why these brightly coloured shirts were all over the quad.
Unfortunately for everyone, figuring out what the project it, is not at all the same thing as understanding why it's done. So, it is with rage in my heart that I feel I should address a few of the things you were saying to your group, loudly, and in the middle of the quad where anybody passing by could hear.
First off, why yes, these clotheslines *are* in the way of you playing frisbee in the quad. You're right, Third Wave1 *could* have just done flyers or something. Except, the whole point of the project is to be noticable. Flyers? Not so much, nor does a dozen flyers on a table provide nearly the same impact as a dozen t-shirts on a clothesline. There are many many shirts hanging up, because there are many many people at Lesley who have been affected by violence or sexual assult.
It's just terrible that these things are all across the quad, because after all, they are just hideously ugly, with their bright colours and all. How dare they get in your way! I am so sorry that for a week, you have to be minorly inconvenienced by the fact that bad things happen, and honestly, I hope dearly that you never have to go through anything like that yourself. After all, if it's this difficult for you to be aware of the issues for five days, I just don't know how you'd cope being aware of them day after day after day because you just can't forget.
Oh, and regarding flyers? They're up. All over the school --I counted at least six as I walked from the student center to the cafeteria. They've got fun facts too, like how many women find themselves the objects of domestic abuse, or what percentage of gay men hit their partners! Check 'em out, you might learn something useful.
(And tangentially, why the fuck would you be playing frisbee this week anyways?! It is windy as hell out there right now, and our quad is really too small for it in the first place. If you need a nice green open space, maybe you could walk a block to Mass Ave, cross it, and walk the *ever* so far three blocks to the Cambridge Commons. Jackass.)
Secondly, I'm unimpressed by how gleeful you seem to be in your inability to actually learn. I know you can learn, you mentioned yourself that you "hadn't known that men could be abused" (which is such a terrible commentary in itself on the state of this country that I don't even know what to say). If you're learning things from the project, believe it or not, the project is doing what it's supposed to!
However, there's more for you to learn. Perhaps you should take a deep breath, and read a few more shirts, and figure out what it must feel like to be one of these survivors, rather than just rant about how they're ruining the look of your quad. Wouldn't it be nice if you could learn about why this project happens? Difficult, I know! Being cool for your friends is ever the more important thing to do.
What next, ah yes, the colours thing. You were complaining about how the t-shirts are nice bright cheerful colours, and that the words on them were all dark and sad. This created dissonance in your mind, and confused you! Clearly, all brightly coloured things are meant to be happy, and all sad words are meant to go with sad colours, whatever that means. Awwwwwwwww.
Now then, I know this might be confusing for you, pumpkin, but sometimes, artists use things like dissonance to make a statement. Bright cheerful colours might also be seen as bright *hopeful* colours, and to the people making these shirts, hope is something absolutely precious, and that they almost certainly can't always get enough of. And above all, there is a grim humour to using bright colours to explain away something very dark. I don't know about you, but when I have something bad happen to me, I always like to use the grim humour to get over it. Even if it's bad, it's nice to laugh.
(And again, tangentially, dude. I don't know if you're an art-kid or just desperately pretending to be one, but even the least artistic person on the planet can probably figure out the creative flaw in trying to create art on black fabric. Black makes a shitty background for drawing or writing on, hence the reason most commercial canvasses come in white. Shock, awe, what, you mean the crazy man-hatin' feminists are *practical* too? This is so confusing!)
By this point I was trying not to listen, but I recall one of your friends, agreeing with you, saying "No means no" as if it's the most obvious thing on the planet, and therefore doesn't need to be pointed out. I do believe your response was a charming "No means yes!" with a laugh at how edgy and subversive you were! Ho-ho, what wit, it is always hilarious to rape someone who's clearly said no to you! (And I'm not even going to get into the concept that you can have rape with someone who never said no, because you got them drunk, because you pressured them into it, because you scared them, or coerced them, because you tricked them, because you said "don't you love me?", because you 'seduced' them, because you had a knife, because you were their boss, because they were handicapped, because any other one of a million reasons why someone would not think or be able to say no. "No means no", sure, but it's important to remember also that only "yes" means "yes".)
So, in summation, fuck you. Sure, fuck me too for not having the courage to say all this to you and five laughing friends, at least one of whom I tangentially know, but you know what? It's not my job to educate, where it *is* your job to not be a jackass. Seriously, you are an asshole, and I would like you to no longer be on my planet.
I would say "I hope someday you know what it feels like" but I'm not cruel, and I can't wish that on anyone. So instead, have just the slightly more insiduous "I hope someday you understand."
No love
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Third Wave Feminism, Lesley's feminist club.
BYTHEWAY: I absolutely one hundred percent do NOT advocate violence against people, even assholes, but at the same time, I do advocate snubbing the hell out of them, or pulling them aside and telling them they're a jerk. So, my fellow Leslians, he's a white kid with a giant brown afro with a pink stripe in it. Ignore at will.
Trigger warnings go both ways --this entry talks about domestic and sexual abuse and violence, as well as rape culture.
COMMENT POLICY: Comments = safe space, go be shitty somewhere else if you feel the need. Remember that this is a public entry with unscreened comments before you post.
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