All Faithful Can is a feminist Christian space that seeks to hear and share stories of those whose voices are often discounted, particularly survivors of sexual harassment, abuse, and/or assault, and to proclaim the good news that the faithful can, and in the fullness of time will, subvert the patriarchy. As such, commenting is very tightly moderated. The following community norms are required reading before commenting. The moderators reserve the right to respond to, delete, or ban outright commenters who violate these norms. You have the rest of the internet to talk to, y’all.
1) Anonymize your stories, or we will do it for you. All stories of survival, hurt, allyship, et. al. are being shared with the intent that the community is made better for hearing these stories. It is not our intention or our ability to fix people or solve problems. It is not our intention to name rapists. It is not our intention to judge situations, blame victims, offer suggestions for “what they could have done differently” or “what they should do now”. It is not our intention to imply that doing good work to subvert the patriarchy absolves somebody of any future efforts or means that they can never make a mistake again. There are websites that do some or all of these things; this is not one of them. All identifying details will be removed from each story before it is shared.
Some ways to anonymize are as follows:
I’m a member of St. Swithin’s By the Bay, and ……
While attending a large research university in the western half of the United States ……
I was shocked and horrified that members of the Fighting Foxes sports team …...
2) Comments will be disabled on story pages. Story sharing, from survivors and allies alike, is for listening without responding. Let those who have ears to hear, listen.
3) Assume good intent. It’s hard to tell tone on the internet. Assume the person who has affronted you (whether it’s the mods or another commenter) meant only the best, and respond accordingly.
4) Accept pushback with grace. You put your foot in your mouth. It happens to all of us. It’s not the end of the world. We all learn best when we stop being a defensive jerk and accept the new information / closer experience / better argument with humility and willingness to learn.
5) Be kind. The person you are responding to (including the mods) is a person. They have a life and feelings. Maybe their dog just died or their kid won’t stop eating sand or their boss belittles their work. Be a spot of kindness in their day.
6) This is an explicitly feminist, explicitly Christian space. The moderators are working from a worldview that assumes that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and also that in Christ there is no male and female. We assume that there is a patriarchy that undervalues and dehumanizes women, and that this patriarchy is one of the principalities and powers that Christ has destroyed in inaugurating the kingdom of God. While you do not have to share our assumptions to comment here, comments that intentionally challenge these worldviews will be treated with skepticism.
7) Share these stories with caution and context. The stories told here are entrusted to this blog and its readers, not to other media. They are presented within a particular context that is crucial to understanding. Taking pieces of a story to another site inhibits good storytelling and listening. All are warmly invited to introduce others to the site, and to share theological reflections and informational posts via social media, but we ask that you keep the stories of abuse or assault which were entrusted to this community, in the context of this community.
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