via
http://bit.ly/30d8wQAnimium-amatrix-ingenii-sui:
tdldproblems:
maltedmilkchocolate:
birthcharts:
me reading someone’s about and not seeing their race / ethnicity, then seeing a “longer about” link and click on that and STILL not seeing anything about their race or ethnicity
As someone who grew up with the internet, in the huge era of online safety campaigns, and the constant drilling in of not sharing your personal information online because it’s not safe. I will say this:No one, not one single person, on the internet owes you their personal information.What I share on my blog, is shared out of a choice, because that’s a decision I chose to make. Because I talk frequently on neurodivergence and sexuality, and I know I have followers who connect with that.But I don’t owe people that information.Strangers on the internet are never entitled to know:Your name.Your gender.Your age.Your date of birth.Your location: City, State, Country, wherever. Your religion.Your ethnicity (your culture, your nationality)Your race (skin colour)Your mental health.Your physical health.Your sexuality.Your anything at all.That information is personal. If you choose to share it, that’s your choice, but it is nobody elses right to have it, or demand it, or to manipulate it out of you.If someone chooses not to share that. That is not some neferious plot. This is something important to understand, especially for young people on the internet. Kids in highschool. Your information is your own personal right. Keeping that safe, keeps you safe online. We’re in this very questionable internet scape where your information can be taken, and searched, and found. Where there are people who can dox you because they had access to basic information that lead them to deeper info. Where one bit of information can be used to make a smear campaign against you. Or used to target harrassment.(This is also a really shady time where our information is being quietly sold through advertisers, and taken by data breeches, and DDOS attacks. Where there’s literal fuckin nazi’s on this site that tumblr doesn’t seem to care about because apparently breasts are worse?????)This is why protecting your privacy and safety was such a huge campaign.Everyone on the internet is a stranger. And yeah, imma cry ‘stranger danger’ here cause that’s what I grew up with, that’s what I was taught as computers became the big thing, and I was growing up on forums and chat messengers at a super young age where I was incredibly vulnerable. And i’m very lucky to have not encountered what some people I know did.A/S/L was the most frequent question people would ask, and no it’s not american sign language. Age/Sex/Location. People wanted your info.You do not need to share that information with anyone. There’s another good post on this topic here more focused on sharing age.There’s a huge difference between sharing your interests and hobbies and fandoms and the general knowledge ‘trivia’ of yourself in an ‘about’ page, VS sharing the entirety of your personal information.So if someone just has their name, age, and pronouns, but doesn’t list anything else beyond their music interests and fave bands. That’s not malicious, that’s not nefarious. That’s exercising a right to choose what you share.They don’t owe anyone an indepth analysis of their gender. They don’t owe anyone the knowledge of where they live. They don’t need to reveal if they have a disability or not. They’re just 21 yr old Vera, who likes music and wants you to use they when refering to them.Protect your information on the internet. Be safe on the internet.And don’t let anyone pressure you, or guilt you, into sharing information you don’t want to share.
Feel like this is also relevant to seniors with little tech know-how.
This is a very good addition, but ALSO: There’s a fine fine line between stating your “race or ethnicity” and the implicature that you’re proud of your “race or ethnicity”.Now, that may be fine if you’re Black or Native American or South-East Asian. But let’s imagine that someone, as OP demands, states their “race or ethnicity” in their About, and it reads like this: “Lucy. 45. Fandom mum. White and British.” Don’t know about you, but I’d get the impression that Lucy, 45, is kinda proud of being White and British. And that in turn would make me think that maybe Lucy, 45, is not a very pleasant person. Even if perhaps all Lucy, 45, actually meant to do was comply with OP’s “requirement".
For one, nobody owes you any information at all. Lucy might not be called Lucy in real life, and she may in fact be 47 by now because she doesn’t update her About all that often. Whatever. It’s none of your business. (If Lucy doesn’t state her age at all, that’s also cool.) Lucy doesn’t have to tell you whether she’s Scots or English or Welsh or whatever, either. (If Lucy doesn’t state that she’s “British”, that’s also cool.)
But for two, OP seems to suggest that people who don’t state their “race” are automatically a) white and b) assuming that whiteness is the default. When actually, perhaps these people feel that by making a statement about their whiteness, they would suggest that they consider their whiteness important somehow? Which, presumably, OP wouldn’t like either.
