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When people say they're not racist, homophobic, etc., that immediately sets my hackles on edge because this kind of statement is most frequently used by people who are currently being exactly that.
To clarify:
Fine: A person saying that a specific thing they said or did that actually isn't racist, homophobic, etc... isn't one of those things. Not everything that someone says is bad is actually bad. In order to avoid triggering unpleasant flashbacks in people affected by these issues, it may be a good idea for the accused person to address the issue in a non-defensive way and make it about the behavior, and not about them as an individual.
A Problem: A person claiming that they, categorically and as a whole, are not racist, homophobic, etc. People in general exist on a spectrum. Sure there are a few way out on the extreme edges of that spectrum, but mostly, people say and do some combination of racist things and non-racist things and some combination of homophobic or non-homophobic things. And so on. Also, these things look different when coming from different ideologies, but there is no ideology that makes people completely immune from perpetuating these issues. Self examination is always necessary.
What's even more mind boggling is when people who say they aren't, for example, homophobic, immediately go and prove themselves wrong by then, say, equating the situation of fans making the absolutely boatload of characters who are straight in canon gay in fic with fans making the handful of characters who are gay in canon straight in fic. Like, notwithstanding the question of how much we should focus on fictional representation to begin with and what constitutes 'good' representation, these two situations do not have the same context at all and equating them shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how society works.
And yet this sort of thing is so common it could practically be a copypasta where one could simply sub in the words racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.
To clarify:
Fine: A person saying that a specific thing they said or did that actually isn't racist, homophobic, etc... isn't one of those things. Not everything that someone says is bad is actually bad. In order to avoid triggering unpleasant flashbacks in people affected by these issues, it may be a good idea for the accused person to address the issue in a non-defensive way and make it about the behavior, and not about them as an individual.
A Problem: A person claiming that they, categorically and as a whole, are not racist, homophobic, etc. People in general exist on a spectrum. Sure there are a few way out on the extreme edges of that spectrum, but mostly, people say and do some combination of racist things and non-racist things and some combination of homophobic or non-homophobic things. And so on. Also, these things look different when coming from different ideologies, but there is no ideology that makes people completely immune from perpetuating these issues. Self examination is always necessary.
What's even more mind boggling is when people who say they aren't, for example, homophobic, immediately go and prove themselves wrong by then, say, equating the situation of fans making the absolutely boatload of characters who are straight in canon gay in fic with fans making the handful of characters who are gay in canon straight in fic. Like, notwithstanding the question of how much we should focus on fictional representation to begin with and what constitutes 'good' representation, these two situations do not have the same context at all and equating them shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how society works.
And yet this sort of thing is so common it could practically be a copypasta where one could simply sub in the words racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.
