Roxane Gay, noted author of “Bad Feminist” and essays such as “Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them,” took to Twitter yesterday to show how bad of a feminist she really is when she advocated for male violence towards a female.
Blaque’s tweets were directed at Arielle Scarcella, a lesbian YouTuber, who recently published a video in which she discusses “A Chat About Dating ‘Preferences,’” by YouTuber NeonFiona. Fiona’s video has since been deleted, but can be found in Scarcella’s response.
Fiona’s video preached the principle that anyone who doesn’t want to sleep with a minority is a racist/sexist/misogynistic/transphobe. Scarcella’s response challenged the homophobic implications attached to Fiona’s claims, a concern which many lesbians share. Basically, Scarcella committed the Thought Crime of having an opinion.
Scarcella was met with unsurprising hate from trans advocates and liberal feminists alike. Kat Blaque, a trans-identified woman and YouTuber, chimed in and made the outrageous claim that Scarcella was “validating transphobia”.
Roxane Gay immediately supported Blaque, and proceeded to encourage Blaque to “slap” Scarcella. At a time in which 4.8 million women experience intimate partner-related physical assaults yearly, is validating silence by slap acceptable, even as a “joke”?
Gay’s only defense was that her challenger must be “shamefully idiotic” for suggesting she advocated violence, and when presented with a chance for civil discourse, she snidely refused.
Gay’s tweets speak to the larger problems within populous feminism: its lack of unity and little room for discussion. Our me-centered sociopolitical climate makes feminism and “identity politics” so individualistic, no one can unite—or even discuss—productively. New feminism is like a medal of participation. Looks great, feels good, means nothing.
Third wave feminism teaches women how to cherry-pick activist causes to create a movement that best serves them and women like them. Advocating for violence towards women flies, as long as that women is a “bigot,” or doesn’t agree with the accepted school of thought.
But if protecting women’s safety, right to speak freely, and ability to create sexual boundaries isn’t the goal of feminism, then what is?
