I’ve gotten a number of messages about this post here where the author is essentially talking about how women’s (obviously justified) fear of men in general is, in fact, racialized (bc race is not invisible) and the messages are just appalling. Seriously, it’s cute how none of you are willing to say this stuff with your names behind it. Clearly you know you’re being douches or you wouldn’t be on anon. (And if you feel the need to unfollow that’s just fine, I don’t need or want racists hanging around my blog). Some of the messages are below the cut at the end of this post if you’re interested. Also fair warning, this post is long so grab the popcorn and settle in because it’s time to go to school.

So let’s break it down. That post is about intersectionality. There’s a difference between how people in our culture perceive white men and how people in our culture perceive black men because black men have very specific stereotypes that only apply to them. There isn’t a history of white men being wrongfully accused of and convicted of the rapes of white women that black men committed but there is a long long long history of black men being wrongfully accused of and convicted of the rapes of white women that white men committed (just like there’s a correlating stereotype where only white women can be raped, black women can’t be raped because they’re hypersexual and always “want it” but the delicate, fragile white ladies are the only ones needing and worthy of protection). In fact, rape laws in the US were originally and ONLY created to protect “delicate” white ladies from those “beastly, savage” black men and there was a time when only black men could be convicted of rape. There also isn’t a “big scary white guy” stereotype while there is a “big scary black guy” stereotype which, incidentally, is why George Zimmerman was able to successfully claim that he was so afraid of Trayvon Martin that he had to kill him despite the fact that Trayvon was an unarmed kid who was literally doing nothing but running for his life.

So since we live with this racialized difference in real life it’s important and necessary to talk about it. There’s nothing wrong with women being wary of men, of ANY men regardless of race but that doesn’t mean that race is somehow invisible. Black men get different kinds of fear AND different responses to that fear than white men do and THAT is what that post is about. When women (any women) complain about being afraid of men in general WHITE men crawl out of the woodwork screaming and crying about how “not all men are like that!!!” and they go on and on and on and on about how unfair it is for ladies to be wary of them and how they’re “nice guys” so they don’t deserve the suspicion and they tell women over and over again how they need to stop being so “prejudiced.” But when WHITE women complain about being afraid of BLACK men or really any “big scary BLACK guy” all of a sudden those same WHITE guys start defending those poor, scared white ladies who need to be protected. They’re not saying “not all (black) men are like that” they’re not saying that such suspicion is “unfair,” they say that not only is being wary of the “big, scary black men” totally justified they are willing to jump in an beat, assault, abuse, and murder black men based SOLELY on that fear AND they get away with it the majority of the time because thanks to institutionalized racism white guys who beat and/or murder black guys are rarely punished for it since those “big scar black guys” had it coming and legally those the white guys were justified in their fear.

So yeah, it’s a little different for black men than it is for white men because we live in an anti-black and white supremacist society. That’s literally what that post was saying and if you can’t handle a basic discussion of the nuances involved in the intersection of race and sex when it comes to rape culture then you need to get the fuck out of here because this blog is not for you. We discuss ALL aspects of rape culture here, not just the ones that don’t make you question your most basic assumptions about yourself and your life, not just the ones that you’ve already thought about and agree with, not just the ones that make you feel vindicated, ALL OF THEM, and that includes the ways that men are affected by rape culture BECAUSE THEY ARE. We are not color blind here and if you don’t like it you know where the unfollow button is and you won’t be missed.

*Asian men and Latinos have different stereotypes and experiences with rape culture too, I don’t want to leave them out but that would make this post way way longer and the original thing I’m responding about has to do with black men specifically so that’s what we’re talking about. I’ll go ahead and make another post about the other stuff later*

Here are some messages since I know all of you really really want to see your hate-filled words in print:

“This just in!! black men aren’t rapists, you silly racists! JK you’re a fucking idiot, men of all races are equally awful towards women. Good job being okay with rapists as long as they are oppressed too!”

“pump the breaks idiot, rape is worse than racism, good job PROMOTING RAPE by telling white women they are racist for AVOIDING RAPE. FUCK YOU”

“You think avoiding rape makes people racist? Are you insane? I just threw up in my mouth.”

“Hmmmm, sooo… "paranoia” of black men (aka men regardless of race) while alone on the streets is women (of any race) overreacting … Sounds exactly like a flawless way for men to victim blame! I liked your blog better when it was anti rape culture"