Thread by @thisblackmagic

Okay, one more thing is bugging me about the @romancewriters decision and #IStandWithCourtney before I shut up and go back on hiatus.

And it's that Suzan Tisdale is presenting herself as marginalized and speaking truth to power based on differentials in platform size.

No.

For a while now a lot of people have operated under the erroneous assumption that platform size is an equivalent to systemic privilege, and it is not. Especially not for marginalized folk.

And the RWA decision has proved that beyond the shadow of a doubt.

A white cis straight woman with a small-to-middling platform was able to successfully deplatform a WOC with a middling-to-large platform simply because her racism was called out.

And the systems in place upheld her white privilege.

Despite Courtney's higher Twitter followers.

Marginalized folx with large platforms usually had to work 10x as hard to attain them, sacrifice 10x as much labor, deal with 10x the harassment.

And it takes 1/10th the effort for privilege to destroy it all, because positions of power will (almost) always side with privilege.

So this whole trend of "Maybe I did something wrong from a place of privilege, but you were wrong for calling out how it harmed you from a place of marginalization because you have more followers than I do, making me the TRUE victim" needs to fucking stop.

Having more Twitter followers does not make someone immune to the mental, social, economic, and physical harm caused by bigotry.

And it does not make them immune to the fallout when you flex privilege to hurt them, even if you have fewer followers.

Stop acting like it does.