yeah, no, and fuck you

Really.

On behalf of those of us who were and are single women on welfare with children in the South and at some point in our lives lived in a--I need to check the wording--"rural south USA in a welfare slum trailer"--and who do not think our population should be fodder for your smug little war on the word shack:

Fuck. You.

Are you fucking serious?

Are you comparing lower income women's lives--and since you used the word 'welfare', we all know you're talking about women, who make up the majority of welfare clients; women, whose choices and lives are limited by poverty and the difficulties raising children alone, without spousal support; poor urban women, a population that is statistically more likely to be battered by their male partner--to a fucking challenge using the word shack?

I suppose indywind felt it was 'problematic' to use the term 'trailer trash'; should I be grateful? Thank you. Your buddies in that thread who were so excited to read it--and that super clever "Now them's fightin' words!!!" jab--also have my abject gratitude that parts of my life--and my family, friends, and clients from when I was a caseworker who decided benefits for those renters of "rural south USA in a welfare slum trailer"--are being held up in humourous example of how southern poverty is totally like using the word shack. I feel as if social justice is on my side.

So, my night is shit. How's everyone else doing?

Comments

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

Wait. Wait. People are getting worked up over the word "SHACK?" Seriously? Honestly?

...

...

...I got nothin.'

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

I... wasn't sure if I should respond, because the conversation is heated and also I feel that the OP is mixing up different arguments in a way that clouds the more serious issue (of First Nation poverty) and throws in problematic class assumptions.

However, I do think "shack" in the context of "what real people who live in the rural north of Canada have to live in" can be problematic. If you type "Canadian Shack" into google, you get Ces' challenge. If you type in "First Nations shack" into google, you get Shacks, slop pails on Wasagamack First Nation (CBC.ca). It's a crisis in Canada that we've totally failed to deal with. Me, personally, I'm not going to get up in arms about the Canadian Shack challenge, though someone else with legitimate problems with it might.

Seperis, again my apologies if you'd prefer that I don't try to redirect the conversation. I can always take it elsewhere and you're free to delete my comment.

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the further explanation and info! I appreciate it and your response.

[bibliotropic.livejournal.com]

This, yes.

The OP appears to be trying to make a post about the housing and infrastructure crisis in Attawapiskat and fannish appropriations of rural and First Nations poverty ends up making an incredibly misguided one about U.S. perceptions of Canadian (urban, middle class, white) national identity. I think the person who posted the comment meant to make a parallel between lower income women's lives and the lives of people on the Attawapiskat reserve, to suggest that it's inappropriate to write smut set in either location, but in the context of that post, which kind of oozes privilege (the discussion of what a "shack" is), it really fails and is offensive all around.

Also feel free to delete this.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

No, response to someone else's asking for clarification on teh main issue is fine. I'm not objective enough at this point to summarize it without that particular horrific comment coloring my view of their arguments.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

"Shacks" as temporary structures used for seasonal occupation, particularly as a base for hunting and fishing is a pretty damn established usage.

See, e.g., http://winnipeg.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-sporting-goods-exercise-fishing-camping-outdoors-ICE-FISHING-SHACK-W0QQAdIdZ345273234

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually, I mentioned over on DW that I didn't think the fic challenge was about First Nations poverty. Here, I was just answering why some people might have an issue with the word "shack" as it relates to people living in the rural north.

Okay, and now I'm really going to stop commenting like I promised!

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

No, I get it; if people are living permanently in shack-like conditions, wherever in the world, that's a very legitimate thing to be concerned about. However, I don't think that means that any story set in a shack is a creepy fetishization of rural poverty. I mean, I haven't read all the stories, especially the new ones, but I don't remember any of them being set in what would probably be more accurately characterized as a shantytown.

[apetslife.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Up here (in the rural north), we have trap-line shacks and ice fishing shacks and regular hunting shacks and supply line shacks on the snowmobile trails.

Unless there's a major difference in meaning across the border with my close neighbors to the North (very possible...the first time I learned what "bottom" was in England I was HORRIFIED and so was my British friend), 'shack' isn't inherently perjorative in common usage. Very context-based.