I would like to make a few comments about this thread.
It's one of my favorite threads that I've ever written. In the thread, I analyze how people act on Twitter -- in terms of what comments they make, and how those comments are liked.
In particular with the Christina Engelhardt story, I was interested because Engelhardt basically said, Woody Allen wasn't the best boyfriend ever, and he is sort of a jerk, but he didn't violate me.
Nobody listened to Engelhardt, which I find interesting -- just like I find it interesting that nobody listens to Soon-Yi Previn when she says she wasn't raped, violated, etc., by Woody Allen.
The reason I find this interesting is because people always say, "Listen to the woman." But the fact that they don't listen to Engelhardt and Previn shows that what people really mean is, "Listen to the woman whose story proves that all women are always victims of violation."
I analyzed Twitter to find that, even when you look at likes, the tweets that are liked the most, by far, are tweets that don't mention Engelhardt or Previn at all, but only mention Woody Allen, and often mention Woody Allen as a predator, or a Jewish predator, or a Jewish predator who should be killed.
I found this interesting, especially in connection with other stories I'd followed, such as the story of Desmond Is Amazing, a drag kid who literally had Nazis and KKK members making his life a living hell, and claiming that while they were doing so, they were "defending" him against his own parents, who they accused of being pedophiles, sex traffickers, etc.
It seemed odd to me then, and it still seems odd to me now, that so many people can say they are so committed to protecting women and protecting kids, when they don't even listen to women who say, "I was not violated," and they simply let Nazis and KKK members attack young kids and their families because the kids are queer and the families support them.
This is yet another reason why I have pressed so hard on the point over the years that laws about the age of legally recognized consent to sex in the United States are really messed up. These laws are also very much intertwined with laws about women's rights -- especially abortion and birth control rights. And they are inextricably tied with laws about sex work.
But what happened on Twitter following this thread was a huge indicator to me that I was being followed by people who really didn't like me.
People from organizations I'd helped all throughout 2018 started subtweeting really nasty things about me, while I was writing the thread and for a few hours after I wrote the thread. The subtweets were very clearly directed at me.
And it made me understand -- even people who are devoted to protecting queer folks simply will not accept the fact of youth sexuality or the validity of youth sex. They will only accept youth victimization as part of their narrative -- just like they will only accept women's victimization.
But it also helped me understand -- wow, these people simply don't like me. And, no matter what I do, they will just keep on not liking me.
At this point in time, I had about 900 followers on Twitter, down from a peak of just over 1,000 followers. But, watching how much abuse I was getting from my followers via subtweeting, I was starting to decide that I was going to take my follower and following lists on Twitter down to zero.
I eventually did this throughout the course of 2019, I believe. I can't remember the exact time frame. But the reactions I got to this specific thread were what made me decide to do it.
Twitter's platform has twisted each of my threads through 2018 and 2019 out of chronological order. This thread is affected, but is still moderately coherent. My apologies.
Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.
