BlackHeart Biohazards

queeranarchism:

theboombutton:

filmnoirsbian:

Reagan-era “stranger danger” panic has done so much harm to americans’ sense of community. It cemented the idea that only the nuclear family could be trusted with the care of the child, deterred people from cooperative living with an extended community, and continues to place abuse victims in danger by perpetuating the misconception that most child abuse is done by strangers rather than someone they know. It is in our best interest to become more interdependent than we were raised to be.

The widespread nature of child sexual abuse came to society’s notice during this era. The Satanic Panic and the hyping of Stranger Danger served different purposes for different groups:

1. It let people who didn’t want to believe that parents and other trusted adults could be predators frame the threat as external; and
2. It gave actual abusers a way to direct attention away from themselves, and further isolate the children they abused.
3. It gave people who were uncomfortable with/didn’t want women working outside the home something to point at. It’s no coincidence that abuse allegations during this time period focused on daycare providers. That’s what you get for leaving your child with a stranger.

It also gave people a way to justify their continued seclusion in all-white hetero-normative suburbs. The unspoken subtext was that the ‘stranger’ was queer and/or black and the victims were white women and children. Through stranger danger, white suburbians could claim that they were resisting housing desegregation and the spread of public transport not out of racism but because it would bring strangers to their neighbourhood. And didn’t we all know strangers are dangerous?

blackheart-biohazards:

Moralists and censors who want to shut down people who create taboo fiction and artwork will claim their opponents believe that “Fiction doesn’t affect reality”.

Nobody (generalization) actually believes “fiction doesn’t affect reality.”

⭐ We believe that fiction doesn’t reprogram someone’s morals.

⭐ We believe fiction doesn’t take away your free will.

⭐ We believe that blaming the actions of abusers on fiction absolves abusers of their guilt.

⭐ We believe that people are responsible for their behavior no matter what fiction they’ve read.

⭐ We believe that enjoying fiction about evil things doesn’t cause someone to do evil in real life.