{"id":24462,"date":"2014-12-29T00:50:04","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T04:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=24462"},"modified":"2014-12-29T00:53:56","modified_gmt":"2014-12-29T04:53:56","slug":"mockery-and-alienation-or-thoughts-on-snark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2014\/12\/mockery-and-alienation-or-thoughts-on-snark.html","title":{"rendered":"Mockery and Alienation: Or, Thoughts on Snark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I was struck by a recent post<\/a> by fellow homeschool alum\u00a0Leon Brooks-West.<\/p>\n

\"Leon<\/a><\/p>\n

Text here:<\/em><\/p>\n

The unexamined (internalized or otherwise) misogyny of ex-fundies or ex-homeschoolers as they create a stereotyped spectacle of \u201chomeschool girls\/moms\u201d further isolates and alienates all those who identify or present as women or girls within the fundie homeschool system, many of whom are subject to a high level of abuse and control. The denim skirts and scrunchies are not the problem. Your notion that women ought to look and act a certain way\u2014to please you as the viewer\u2014is.<\/span>\u00a0When confronted with your misogyny, many women and girls within the fundamentalist homeschooling movement, regardless of their own level of individual autonomy in choosing their own appearance, will retreat toward the model that assures them that their current appearance is good because it is God\u2019s Will. If you would like to undermine the fundamentalist homeschooling model of control over women\u2019s and girls\u2019 bodies, the best thing you can do is affirm that person\u2019s autonomy, and respect their own decisions about what they wear and how they look. If their choice is to wear something you consider \u201cfrumpy,\u201d it is ultimately none of your damn business.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have to agree with Leon completely. When I first left home to college, I dressed in a manner that now makes me cringe to remember. I had no idea of fashion at all, and I mostly wore long drab dresses that were about as fitted as sacks. There are moments I wish I weren\u2019t blogging under a pseudonym, so that I could show you pictures. I wore dresses with the huge bib collars, or covered in floral print\u2014at college.<\/p>\n

Do you know what mockery\u00a0of my clothing choices accomplished? Nothing. Actually, strike that\u2014mockery of my clothing choices pushed me further into the arms of the subculture\u00a0I had grown up in. After all, in that subculture I was praised for my clothing choices. I was seen as a woman of honor. And beyond this, being mocked or derided or whispered about for my clothing choices served as confirmation for me\u00a0that those outside my subculture were as cruel and unkind as I\u2019d been taught to see them.<\/p>\n

But I want to take this\u00a0a step farther, because it\u2019s not enough to talk about mocking \u201cfundies\u201d for their\u00a0clothing choices. We also need to talk about snark more generally.\u00a0Snark and other forms of mockery are\u00a0frequently talked about as weapons, and they certainly can be\u00a0that.\u00a0But snark and mockery can also be\u00a0used as weapons against those who are themselves victimized.<\/p>\n

The idea that religion victimizes its adherents is a common theme on many atheist blogs, yet I\u2019ve noticed that those who believe this\u00a0are frequently willing to snark at and mock the religious nevertheless. But if we hold that religion victimizes its adherents, how does snarking at or\u00a0mocking\u00a0those adherents\u2014who are themselves victimized\u2014make any sense?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe that religion always<\/em> victimizes its adherents, but I absolutely understand\u00a0that religion can and in some cases does do real harm to its adherents\u2014after all, I\u2019ve lived it. And when it comes to the patriarchal homeschool subculture in which I grew up\u2014well, let\u2019s just say that it\u2019s is very hard to\u00a0grow up in that subculture and not be victimized in some way.<\/p>\n

What about\u00a0the parents in this subculture? Should they be\u00a0open targets for snark and mockery? It\u2019s not that simple.\u00a0First, an increasing number of parents in this subculture today were also raised in it. Second, as a result of the patriarchal framework of this subculture, even grown women are expected to be obedient to their male authorities\u2014whether father or husband\u2014and as a result, their independent decision making may be limited. Third, if you think you can mock or snark at the parents without their children feeling it (and personally), you are badly mistaken.<\/p>\n

I asked Leon what they thought about snark against parents in the\u00a0subculture we grew up in, and this is what they had to say:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not against it, but it probably depends on context. I think snark used as a \u201ctruth to power\u201d form of \u201cpunching up\u201d can be effective, especially if victims or survivors use it to empower themselves. But I think when snark crosses the line into deriving personal entertainment from abusive or oppressive or bigoted actions or words, and making\u00a0them a spectacle simply because we have characterized that particular iteration as especially \u201cweird\u201d or \u201cstupid\u201d or \u201cinsane,\u201d we have to ask ourselves how this helps victims. Because ultimately abusers aren\u2019t wrong because they\u2019re \u201ccrazy\u201d or \u201cstupid,\u201d but because they threaten the safety and health and autonomy of real human beings.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Leon told me they used quotation marks around words like \u201cstupid\u201d or \u201ccrazy\u201d because they are ableist. Leon challenged me to think about how ex-fundamentalists with mental illnesses might feel upon hearing people deride\u00a0\u201ccrazy fundies.\u201d I appreciated\u00a0the distinction that the problem is not people who are \u201cstupid\u201d or \u201ccrazy\u201d but rather beliefs and leaders\u00a0who threaten people\u2019s safety, health, and autonomy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard atheists defend the value of snark and mockery by saying that it was snark and mockery\u00a0that made them rethink and reassess their beliefs. While I will not deny their experiences, I would note that my own experience was quite different. I responded badly to snark and mockery, and was only able\u00a0to listen to criticism when those making it\u00a0treated me\u00a0as a valued human being rather than as a curiosity or object of derision. Indeed, snark and mockery only made me hold the beliefs of my subculture closer, affirming what I had been taught about being persecuted for my beliefs and in the process\u00a0making those beliefs stronger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder if\u00a0there may be\u00a0a difference between snark aimed at the beliefs of a subculture\u2014beliefs that cause harm and do damage\u2014and snark aimed at the people who hold those beliefs. Perhaps there isn\u2019t a clear distinction here, but it\u2019s worth considering. Can we draw a line between mocking a belief and mocking the people holding it? At the very least, it is a question we should start asking ourselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next time you engage in snark or mockery, pause for a moment and think about\u00a0whether you are snarking at a belief or a person. Consider\u00a0also whether you are snarking at a victim or an oppressor. Finally, ask\u00a0yourself whether you are centering the health and safety of victims and those who are marginalized, or whether you are instead centering your own desire for entertainment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was struck by a recent post by fellow homeschool alum\u00a0Leon Brooks-West. Text here: The unexamined (internalized or otherwise) misogyny of ex-fundies or ex-homeschoolers as they create a stereotyped spectacle of \u201chomeschool girls\/moms\u201d further isolates and alienates all those who identify or present as women or girls within the fundie homeschool system, many of whom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[470],"class_list":["post-24462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","tag-mockery"],"yoast_head":"\nMockery and Alienation: Or, Thoughts on Snark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was struck by a recent post by fellow homeschool alum\u00a0Leon Brooks-West. 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