Wednesday 18 October 2017

Social media silence and what the heck it has to do with activism

What a world we live in.

Impending Nuclear War. Racism. Lack of access to safe options for abortions and birth control. Assignment of washroom you need to use based on a flimsy piece of paper given to you at birth.

I live in moments of wanting to grow my family, and moments of refusing to expose a perfectly innocent human to the atrocities of this decade (not that many other decades have been that much better.)

As a loud mouthed individual, I try and be really intentional about sharing very little about my political stance on social media (although I did post a handful of think pieces around the election as I navigated  my disbelief of that whole situation, and I sometimes "like" things forgetting they will show up on my friends feeds as though I shared it.) I see lots of posts about how as a cis-gender, middle class, white woman, I need to stand up and fight for equality so being silent is complying with the enemy. I  see posts condemning people for tiring of activism and demanding action.

Sometimes these things hurt my feelings - as though they might be a personal attack on me for my choice to stay silent on social media as much as possible (but some things are just SO likeable!) even though they probably aren't.

I have to remember that activism doesn't have to look the same for everyone. Anyone who knows me personally knows I am not silent about my political beliefs, or my passion for each human to have an equal chance at being treated as the valuable human they are. I just don't think I'm going to change anyone's mind by posting a scathing article about all of the (what seems to me) blatantly obvious issues with white supremacy in North American culture. I don't think reading a facebook status is going to turn a passionately pro-lifer in my world into an pacifist who wants people to make their own choices about their bodies.

Relationship makes those changes.

I grew up in a very anti LGBTQ+ household. I remember my mom crying in the laundry room when Canada made same sex marriage legal - and I was sad to. I didn't know why - but you follow your parents lead for so much in life, and in my tweens, I didn't have a reason to believe much else.

Then, in high school, I started to meet people who didn't identify as cis gender or heterosexual. Sometimes I was weird and insensitive about it - but over time, realized I really cared about people, and their gender or sexuality had no impact on their value. I learned, through experience, that everyone deserves to feel safe in a school washroom, to fall in love and get married, or to walk down the street without an ounce of fear.

I started talking about this more at home. Sometimes casually over dinner, and sometimes in heated debates. I educated myself in the rhetoric my family had heard before me and challenged those ideas a bit at a time. And over time, a little bit at a time, my family home has become an inclusive place for my friends of any sexuality (working on gender still to be honest - but bid strides have been made). I've often been called a bad influence as I've become more and more vocal about my beliefs, but what my parents might consider a bad influence now, will hopefully, someday, become a school of thought that they understand and support.

For me, this is activism. And I wholeheartedly support whatever form of activism is working for you in your world. It's all about a team approach - because isn't inclusivity what we're really striving for?

- e

Monday 25 September 2017

revival.

Welcome to my revival.

For real this time!

I`ve been thinking about blogging again for a while, but the timing felt off. I wasn`t ready to be open again.

And then I had to decide if I was going to start fresh, or build on what`s here. After much thought, i decided not to leave my past experiences in their space, but to build on them.

I've changed and grown a lot and I'd love to share my thoughts and feelings once more. I make no promises about blogging regularly or keeping to a theme. I think I just need a place to document my growth, ideas and feelings, and since this has been a great outlet for that before, I am doing it again.

So, welcome back to this journey with me. May my thoughts and beliefs inspire and offend you.

Ella Faye