If you've been around at all you know how I abhor wank.
But Jesus GOD, Fandom. I just...I can't not say anything about this one.


I am a pasty white girl who grew up in a "comfortable" middle class area in the frighteningly laid back Southwest, and has encountered racism exactly twice in her life - once when I had a multi-racial boyfriend (black/Japanese/Irish) (I would really love to be more PC with that first term, given the subject at hand, but his mother knew she had black skin and was born in Japan, that's about as specific as I can get.) The second time was when two remarkably, horrendously rude young men hit on me in a train station. At least I think they were hitting on me? Their language skills were appalling, their accents thick and not any that I had encountered before (I was on the East coast), colloquialisms I could hardly understand much less translate but I know they made reference to my ass, and rude hand gestures. I was...not amused. Or interested. Ugh.

My response of a sneer that would make a Malfoy proud and "I couldn't possibly be less interested." was met with:

"It's because we black, right? I see how it is." I will never ever forget those words, nor the tone they were spoken in for as long as I live.

You probably won't believe me if I tell that until that moment I honestly hadn't noticed. It's true, but, seriously. How oblivious can I be, right?

I gaped like a speechless fish, managed to get out something about appalling manners and how "hit that sweet ass" is not exactly a world class pick-up line and then my boyfriend came back.

Okay. So. Things Poet has learned about herself 101:
Cocks are her favorite, but wow, are tits still awesome.
If you choose to declare your sexuality to her like it's some big damn deal you like one or the other, she will probably pat you on the head and say "that's nice dear" (the only time she gives a shit what your preference is is if she's trying to set you up with someone.)
HIV positive? Yeah she's not likely to blink at that one either. Sucks much, love. She adores you. No clarifications. No "in spites" or "anyways" - she's kinda cool like that.
Racist? No. I really don't think so? I could be wrong and I'm sure someone will tell me if I am.
Classist snob? Uh. Yeah. I'll totally admit to that one. I try really hard not to let it make me a bitch. Sorry.

Why am I telling you this? Perspective. I am a pretty open minded and unflappable person. Agreed?

Okay, good. I'm pretty sure I qualify as "pretty well read." I do in fact occasionally come across words I have never even heard of before, much less can pull a definition and history up on, right off the top of my head. It happened tonight. And let me be clear, in BOLD:

I didn't even know what the fucking word meant yet, nor why it was such a big damn deal but I figured out pretty quick that relating "interracial' and inter-species ie. bestiality relationships as A) kinky and B) as the same sort of thing, defined by one word, was pretty generally the most moronic and insulting thing ever. No wonder people were shocked. And then insulted by the general tone of "sorry you don't like it, suck it up and deal." That's what I tell my 10 year old when he's whining about wanting a cookie. Not something you tell someone who says "that is horribly offensive and racist and I thought you should know so you can not use that specific word and instead find a better way to phrase it."

Start HERE. It's educational, and what I've read through so far remarkably civil. I'm sure the asshats have popped up somewhere, I just haven't seen them yet.

ETA: Dude. Fandom Wank is having a calm and intellectual conversation about the etymology of a word. Isn't that, like, one of the signs of the apocalypse?

ETA2: NO! SRSLY! F_W is having CALM RATIONAL conversations *flails*