Reaching Out and Welcoming

Hello, fellow Feministing Community members.  In the past couple of months since the Community Blog was started, I have seen how supportive this place can be for young feminists in a world that is often hostile to what we believe in.  Yes, we have our occasional miscreants and trolls—but do we take their crap?  No . 

I’ve written here and on my own blog about my experiences as a survivor of rape.  Because justice for fellow survivors is such an important issue for me I often find myself reading posts on other blogs about developments on this topic.  Yesterday, while commenting on The Curvature (a favorite of mine and well worth reading, by the way) I ran across another commenter named Marta who agreed with me on what Cara had to say. 

Later, Marta contacted me on my own blog, and while initially our correspondence was a dance of apologies over my paranoia and her thoughts that she might have offended me (I can be very abrupt with commenters on my blog if I’m not sure I understand their intentions, I’ve had some assholes on there before and I’m pretty quick to pull the ‘block’ trigger), we quickly began a conversation about our experiences and feminist resources. 

You see, while I am currently attending a college with a small but close-knit and lively band of feminists, Marta is dealing with the hell known as high school.  She identifies as a feminist and is, like me, a survivor of sexual assault.   I recommended the Feministing Community blog to her as a place where she can write about her experiences and find the kind of support she told me she does not receive in her daily life.  I’m not sure yet how often she’ll be posting and commenting or what she’ll want to write about, but I ask all of you here to welcome her into our community.

In the past few years it has become abundantly clear to me that dealing with difficult experiences is only possible with the support of others, and that it is impossible to survive the worst parts of life alone.