i appreciate you clarifying. i thought that's where you were going...i understand that generalizing from my response it might make it seem that i don't know how this could be used. that's a mistake on my part, and you're right that it was a flippant, white dude mistake to make.

that doesn't mean that i don't understand that systems of oppression have always been more than capable of finding justifications for oppressing people. the prison system was racially and economically biased before young white women started sharing poetry on instagram. #metoo doesn't change that dynamic positively or negatively on its own...it's up to us to use the opportunity of people speaking up to remind people of all the privileges and abuses in our narratives about gender, race, abuse, consent, desire, etc.

we do need to be aware of people who will use it to buttress racist and racially coded claims. we do need to be aware of the potential for the social networks, media, and *justice* system to turn this around so that it serves to maintain privileges. we need to actively fight unjust claims.

however, we don't need to blame victims and their advocates, or feminist theory in general. it's not that i don't take these criticisms seriously. it's that i know that these claims of "excesses" are routinely used to undermine legitimate concerns about structural imbalances, in this case sexism and sexual politics.

we saw a lot of what's played out here with #blacklivesmatter, for example, when it came to people talking about which protests were appropriate, why the victims weren't so innocent, why the shootings and uses of force were justified, etc.

it's not the same, but there are similarities.

right now, i see white supremacy, patriarchy, and ageism playing off each other to undermine these feminists. sexual abusers have been getting away with it, are getting away with it, and the pendulum is swinging back in their direction. harassment and unfair expectations and shitty behavior are problems too, and they shouldn't be minimized just because we like aziz ansari or al franken and we dislike how their mistakes were brought to our attention.

we have to fight the tendency that says we have to choose between which issues in our society we need to fix, and say they're all unacceptable.

and i wasn't name dropping. i've been reading a lot from most of these op-ed people. they're established journalists with long track records, and they're writing in conversation with people i've been reading for a while.