When women are being attacked on Twitter, when sexism, racism, misogynoir are on full display, aimed squarely at well-respected colleagues, and men don’t stand up against it forcefully, WE NOTICE. It’s simultaneously not surprising and disappointing. You can fix that. Speak up.
Call out that bullshit. Liking and retweeting aren’t enough. You care about your reputation too much to join the fight? Well, your colleagues’ reputations are directly on the line. Consider why some men feel so emboldened to attack your female colleagues.
Time to walk the walk. #TimesUp on your silence. You’re here on Twitter. You have a platform. You have reach. Use it. Show your junior/female/BIPOC/queer/trans/etc. colleagues you get it and model for your white cishet male pals that they’ve got a responsibility in their power.
We don’t need you to describe our experiences for us. We need you to speak up and say you see, you hear, you believe and that you will not suffer the fools who bring their flaming bags of shit to our front doors. /end rant that is obviously not about anything in particular/ 🎤
Addendum: Not all people are in a position to make a defense or issue a challenge. Particularly if it is in service to upholding whiteness or white feminism. Here I was speaking to sexism specifically, though the initiating event involved racist tone-policing. That said...
When we have power and voice and eyes to see what is happening in our workplace and discipline, we have to speak out. When possible: men, call out sexism in the academy. White people, call out racism in the academy. White men and women, call out bias against BIWOC. Etc.
If I want “men” to speak up, I need to speak up for men of color. I must interrogate my whiteness and comfort. We all do. And we all need to do more than defend, like, retweet. We need to challenge directly.
In response to the event that set off this thread, I appreciate the folks, including students and untenured faculty, and lots and lots of women, who took the risk of direct response. And if you couldn’t this time, that’s ok.
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