travllingbunny:

amateuraery:

earnestwoman:

I think maybe it blows people’s minds that even awful women are still subject to misogyny partly bc of this idea of oppression as virtue

I guess it’s because it’s hard for people to think of an awful person being the victim of anything too? Idek

This certainly seems to be the case, since I’ve seen the same attitude applied to men as well. The idea that someone is a bad person and does bad things but have also been a victim of abuse or oppression (which have at partially shaped who they are) seems do prodice a “does not compute” reaction in many people. You can see that in fandom’s responses to fictional characters. Either the character is seen as a noble victim who automatically deserves forgiveness and/or redemption because of their suffering, or people try to their best to deny, ignore or dismiss their abuse (or even worse – justify it with “well they’re evil so they deserved it anyway”) and jump at anyone bringing it up and accuse them of defending this character or being their apologist. Because, apparently, victim status is something you must earn by being a good person.

Maybe it’s simply a reflection of people’s inability to see shades of grey. People want to have simple enemies to hate, and in the current climate this means: victims of abuse and/or oppression = good, perpetrators of abuse and/or oppression = bad…and then people’s brains short-circuit at the fact that people can be both of these things.