Thread by @mel_thegreat

Let's talk about the tale of two Romancelandias.

For background, Rhonda Merwarth sent out a tweet.

I replied back with someone sarcastic but honest then we got into a discussion.

Bottom line is that despite the many hot-takes, most often call-out culture is valid. Call-out culture also paints WOC as the bad guys.

And the thing is the brunt of call-outs come from WOC. It comes with a price.

*something

Rhonda, tho uneasy, went ahead and called out the antho.

It was noted they used Crazy Rich Asians & TATBILB as a selling point. All white authors except one were positioning their antho with #ownvoices stories. And Asian #ownvoices as that. *CRINGE*

For the moment, the thread is still up. I implore you to take a gander. Look at the reactions.

Most are going WTF, how cringe, did no one see the problem?

Even one author came along and went, Yeah. We fucked up.

Remember that moment I said a white woman can call something out in Romancelandia, get lauded and that's that.

So what happens when a WOC calls out fuckery? *The posts in question that also links back to Rhonda's tweets*

And here we go.

When I say not one person took shit for a left turn in Rhonda's thread, ATM, not a single person went left. Even tho the critisim was harsh. There were no kid's gloves.

YET.

YET.

One of the author's of the set decided it was more than okay to leave this tweet.

Instead of being called-out for a valid fuck up, an author of the set decides this is "badmouthing...all over Twitter."

I wonder what's different?

Neither approach and call out was going, "Well this is a safe space for you."

Folks were going IN.

Yet only on one thread did someone start off defensive then escalated.

But this is why, even though I understood Rhonda's hesitation (I so am a people-pleaser, don't rock the boat ever) I pointed out that white women can do what WOC simply can't.

They can be the good guys from the gate.

They can make it seem like their space is safe.

Folks won't automatically go on the attack, especially when something like race, discrimination and questionable practices regarding both take place.

WOC in this industry, our spaces, are considered enemy territory.

HERE'S THE THING: She could have done what one of her other author-mates did, "We fucked up. We're going to sit here and just eat our food."

The storm always passes. ALWAYS. You could have let this shit die. But you didn't. Twitter had moved on. But naw.

But I just really wanted to point out the passive aggressive ways WOC are treated in Romanlandia. It's such a fine line. One could argue tone (AND THEY WILL), one could argue all sorts of things.

But Rhonda, ATM, didn't have a single tweet where someone showed their ass.

Why?