Acknowledging Mistakes: I Don’t Want To Be Lisa Bloom

Yesterday I posted a video lecture from my favorite sci-fi writer who’s work has had a very big impact on my career decisions. One of the commenters responded that this writer had been outed as a serial exploiter of women. I read the evidence given and it honestly took me about five consecutive read throughs and sleeping on it for me to get over my initial desire to deny it all.

I honestly had no clue about those accusations until the comments yesterday. I’m still processing my anger and disappointment (at the author not the accuser) and it’s probably better that I remain mum about the subject until those feelings have subsided. I believe change is possible for men who have made these kind of mistakes (the not illegal kind) are guilty of this kind of wrong-doing and I hope they find it and reconcile their past.

Another post post I did was also brought up in the comments that I started to think about a little differently a few weeks after I wrote it.

Yeah…I don’t want to be Lisa Bloom. The half I regret is opining on Joss Whedon’s marriage and his wandering ways, not what I said about continuing to love Firefly or Buffy because those were not solely Joss’ creations but the work of the actresses involved as well. Whedon was never a favorite creator of mine, but I know a lot of the characters he created meant a lot to people.

Anyway, from now on I’m going to be much much more cautious what I write about male creators accused of non-criminal misconduct. We’re all working out our feminism according to our personal experiences, which isn’t an excuse but to let you know that calling me out is how I’m going to learn. There’s a lot I have never experienced and perhaps never will, and its important I don’t talk over the experiences of other women. So thanks for your patience in dealing with me.