YOUR FAVE IS PROBLEMATIC. SO IS MINE.August 10, 2015 by Rowan in Culture, Feminism, Geek, Internet, Social Justice[Content note: Mentions of rape, abuse, and potentially how your fave is problematic.]I live in a world where literally everything is problematic. There is no unvarnished good. I was going to say wild strawberries are unproblematic, but even thosesomeones allergic. Baby otters are cute, but otters engage in aggressive sexual behavior that could be considered rape.1 Everything is problematic to someone.A couple of times recently, someone has pointed out to me that something Im enjoying has a problematic aspect. Usually with tones of hushed shock, as if they cantbelieve that someone committed to social justice could be enjoying something with problematic content or connections. As if to be a real, true SJW, I must forgo every piece of media, all the time, because I might otherwise look like I am endorsing the worst media has to offer.Ive been thinking about that a lot, recently. Because I dont want to support trulyproblematic content (theres a reason I will never watch a Woody Allen film, forexample), but at the same timeevery human being in the world is raised in a society that fills them with problematic messaging and values. I, personally, am still dismantling internalized biases and prejudices. I catch myself using the word bitch to refer to other women even now, years after I began the work to remove itfrom my vocabulary. I live as on guard against these things as I can, but Im notperfect, no one is. Not even those weve raised on pedestals and given celebrity.And I think in many ways it must be harder as a celebrity, because youre dealingwith your problematic shit in public. When Nicki Minaj says something cis-centrist, it immediately undoes all the work shes done to be feminist, to be intersectional. When Marvel Comics makes Miles Morales the official Spider-Man in continuity, fans take it as an opportunity to talk about how Peter Parker should be black, because hes the real Spider-Man. Every time someones fave is shown to be problematic, others take it as a chance to leap on the bandwagon of condemnation.Im not saying that we should, as individuals or a community, simply ignore the problematic shit that comes before us. Im not asking anyone to deny that there aremicroaggressions in the world around us, that there are celebrities who engage in heinous behavior and say ugly things being lauded by their friends. Im saying instead that everything has the potential to be problematic, and that it is ok tolike problematic thingsas long as we work on acknowledging why theyre problematic, and work to dismantle the systems that enable these continued biases and aggressions to exist.