another good blog goes down

currently shakesville is quiet, with all posters taking a break. it seems they've been worn down by the negative and triggering comments, and the challenge of maintaining a safe space for their readers. it's pretty sad, but quite familiar, no.

fighting the constant misogyny and victim-blaming in our prevailing culture is exhausting business, and fighting trolls whose sole purpose is to wear you down is not much fun either. but shakesville did it so well for so long, and the posters had the courage to call out some awful behaviour, terrible advertising and sub-standard media reporting.

i hope the writers there will be back after a bit of a break, because there really aren't enough feminist voices in the blogosphere, and even fewer in mainstream media. and feminist bloggers get attacked in particularly nasty ways, with threats of violence (including sexual violence) towards themselves or towards women in general. but i find the smaller stuff more difficult, the constant little digs that lower the tone of the blog or derail the conversation, all having the same effect of silencing those who already have very few places where they feel safe to speak at all.

so yes, it's a sad thing to see another activist taken down. i hope they're all doing well. and i hope someone else will come along and take up the burden. this world desperately needs it.