"It was run by an impostor."
Jun. 12th, 2011 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psybellesparkindarkness said it about the "Gay Girl in Damascus" blog.
It was run by an impostor. A straight, white, American male who was "trying to help"...
It does not help when you try to tell our stories for us*. Our stories lose authenticity, we lose our stories, and we lose our voices; we are not heard. If you want to help, then shut up, sit down, and listen. And the more you think you have something to say about an experience that is not yours and cannot be yours, the more important it is that you listen...
*I am part of that "us" in that I am queer and female. But I am also white, American, over-privileged in so many ways... and I do my best to sit down and shut up and listen, too.
It was run by an impostor. A straight, white, American male who was "trying to help"...
It does not help when you try to tell our stories for us*. Our stories lose authenticity, we lose our stories, and we lose our voices; we are not heard. If you want to help, then shut up, sit down, and listen. And the more you think you have something to say about an experience that is not yours and cannot be yours, the more important it is that you listen...
*I am part of that "us" in that I am queer and female. But I am also white, American, over-privileged in so many ways... and I do my best to sit down and shut up and listen, too.