there was a discussion on tumblr about triggering–the first I saw of it was the following post:
Calling out people is important but if you trigger the shit out of an abuse victim or someone with an anxiety or panic disorder in the process, you’re being a bigoted shitbucket yourself.Always be ready to change your methods so you don’t act bigoted yourself.
although it might’ve started some place else. The following is what I responded to it:
the question is: where is there *any* room in the social justice swarm style calling out to respect “triggers”? When the very justification of social justice swarm style is the swarm has been triggered? also, admitting to being triggered requires you to be fairly vulnerable—something I’m not very inclined to do in front of people telling me to fuck off and accusing me of triggering just because I exist (just happened recently). I did say I’m triggered, and for whatever reason, the group backed off—but it about killed me to admit it. my natural inclination was to start swinging—and I did at first. I calmed myself down—but 2 years ago….I just have a gut feeling that “calling out” especially in the context of “within a community that are more often than not survivors,” it should just be *assumed* that that the person(s) being called out is a survivor, and may have had to deal with any number of (potentially) violent situations under the guise of being “held responsible” and should be “confronted” (or called out) in a way that is respectful of that. there is a difference between being “held responsible” and “being accountable,” I think—I was held responsible for the entirety of [abusive persons] life, including the fact that this person was abused. I didn’t have a choice in it. when this person was “triggered,” my entire life came to a halt, because I was the person responsible for managing this person’s triggers.
Being accountable I think, implies a relationship. All people within the relationship have reasons to be there, want and desire to be there, have the choice and choose to be respectful of the history within the community, the future of the community, and the needs within the community. I think it is also understood that if somebody is not being “accountable” to the community (remember, that means there is choice in it, and everybody has agreed this is what “accountable” means and everybody has agreed “this” is the way to hold people within the community accountable), people have the right to either move the person out of the community or leave them community themselves.
Now—of course, all of that brings up and exposes lots of questions and things that need to be discussed—like what is accountable and how is power negotiated and who/what is community and how do we invite people into community etc etc etc—and i think that these answers aren’t easily answered—and I really really question if it’s something that even be done on the internet at all. which is why i tend to lean more toward: i will not treat you in anyway that i would not want to be treated—which is based more on personal ethics, and of course, is abstract and can’t be translated into a “rule” or a “strategy” or “theory” that communities can use.
but yeah….I’ve been thinking a lot about this, I have no answers, and I am feeling more and more like there’s just no way to figure this shit out online.
And Mai’a commented some interesting stuff too, as did gender bitch. I don’t think anybody (including and especially me) has The Answer–but it was nice to see some conversation. At least the subject is open for discussion, something it wasn’t and hasn’t been for a really long time. Also, see here for some really good conversation as well.
ETA: I’ve been following links, and nixwilliams has some really great thoughts, as does amandaw. I’ll continue to think about all of it some more–and again, I’m so glad that people are talking about it–I think that this is the *hardest* kind of work of any movement, is uncovering how ambiguous and gray and *integrated* power is within a particular space. that is–power is NOT One Ring to Rule Them All–power is a spider web that weaves in and out and around and over things–and actually *supports* the very necessary spider (i.e. power can be good, and power as good can easily cloak how unnecessarily huge the spider web has gotten and some times the problem is how to deal with the spider web rather than how to deal with the spider…)….i’ll be interested to hear what everybody has to say in comments….
