As a self-care tactic, I’ve started unfollowing or blacklisting as necessary anyone who tags my identity as a slur.
“It’s nothing personal – I’m just looking out for my followers who – ”
“Okay. I’m just looking out for myself.”
It’s nothing personal. If the word queer is blacklisted, there’s no reason to tag “q slur” except to remind us that – unlike other slurs our community has reclaimed – my identity, on Tumblr, must be treated as if it’s radioactive.
And I’m just not okay with that, and I’m not really interested in debating it anymore.
Queer is part of my identity, like autistic. It’s my label that I choose, and it fits better than any of the other labels I’ve tried out.
knitting in the dark 