Misery loves company's Journal

A clusterfuck of racefail and misogyny on Snapedom
Some time ago, when there were complaints about sexist treatment of Lily in Snape fandom, people on

snapedom insisted that there isn't an ounce of sexism in their attitude towards Lily. Several days ago the

snapedom mod

sylvanawood issued totally not a misogynistic challenge - Lily revisited:

Years ago (we've been around for a while, oh yes!)we had 'Severus and Lily' as a monthly challenge.

alicekinsno1 suggested to take a closer look at Lily's character:

Maybe something that discusses the character of Lily more deeply? I'd love to see what some of your ideas are for just how Lily went from treating Snape so harshly and talking back to James, to being the stereotypical "saintly mother" at the end of her life. There's something about her personality that doesn't add up.

That is to say, how her apparently selfless decision to die for her baby makes sense in light of the way she treated Severus or even James. With possibly a side comment about how despite being so powerful and gifted she didn't really show any of that by dying pleading for her baby's life without even trying to take on Voldemort.

Please post your entries here or in a separate post. I'm looking forward to your entries.

That couldn't go well. And it didn't. Some comments of choice:

( Read more )

The worst came when

mary_j_59, who is white and who knows that there are WOC who identify with Lily out there (such as

ravenstar84 and

randomneses, who both wrote essays in Lily's defense), posted this:

Another thought about Lily - this one is completely random. Lily, like Hermione, is a bright and talented Muggleborn, and a lot of people have attacked us here because they identify with her and consider Severus a lifelong racist.

Of course, he's not. It's canon that he changes. But-

I am starting to wonder why bright young women of color would identify with Lily. After all, her situation is not at all like theirs. They may well suffer low-level prejudice everywhere they go. Anyone can tell, by looking at another person, whether they are primarily of European, Asian, or African descent. And far too many people make judgements about others based on their ancestry. I can completely understand why these fans get outraged by young Sev's yelling "Mudblood" if they equate it with the "n" word.

But - it's really not equivalent. And Lily's situation is not in the least like theirs.( Read more )

Both ravenstar84 and randomneses wrote responses to this in their livejournals:

Oh...oh this is just gold....

When fandom and privilege meet!