Read on Twitter
I wish I was surprised by sexual assault in movement spaces. It’s familiar territory at this point. I wish it wasn’t. Here are two connected observations:
1) survivors still get abandoned in these moments. I’m not the only one to point this out, but the focus often shifts so rapidly to the abuser/rapist that we often tend to leave them behind, communally. This is something I am always seeking to rectify
2) this is doubly so when the abuser or rapist is in a social position of relative power - a revered activist, an event promoter, a writer, a musician, an artist, a podcaster, so on and so forth.
We haven’t yet figured out how to kill off hero worship, and we need to. I say this as a person who has kind of a platform - I don’t want to be looked up to. I want to be looked in the eye, and be able to do so with others
Uneven power dynamics make it easier for abuse to take place, and they also end up majorly recentering the conversation on the “famous” abuser, leaving the survivor and their needs behind
I want us to be better to one another. Always. And I really feel like we can’t even get to that conversation without really reckoning with social hierarchies and mini-celebrity. That’s what’s on my mind this evening
