la_vie_noire (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
la_vie_noire) wrote2011-07-27 06:39 pm
la_vie_noire) wrote2011-07-27 06:39 pm
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First of all: The two essays linked in this post talk about rape and sexual abuse and are BIG TRIGGERS.
I’m Gonna Need You to Fight Me On This: How Violent Sex Helped Ease My PTSD is an essay Mac McClelland wrote talking about her PTSD. And mind you, I didn't want to trivialize it or say something that could led to the interpretation she had no right to experience PTSD so didn't want to talk about this in public.
The race and class privilege in her essay made me uneasy: her trauma was about being exposed to the trauma of Haitian people (which, of course, she has every right to feel); the way she wrote about that, specially about other woman whose experience was.... actually more traumatic than hers, was trivializing and insulting.
But theneccentricyoruba linked me to this:
Edwidge Danticat Speaks on Mac McClelland Essay.
The woman whom McClelland talked about said this:
Which is just damn awful.
Danticat says this:
I’m Gonna Need You to Fight Me On This: How Violent Sex Helped Ease My PTSD is an essay Mac McClelland wrote talking about her PTSD. And mind you, I didn't want to trivialize it or say something that could led to the interpretation she had no right to experience PTSD so didn't want to talk about this in public.
The race and class privilege in her essay made me uneasy: her trauma was about being exposed to the trauma of Haitian people (which, of course, she has every right to feel); the way she wrote about that, specially about other woman whose experience was.... actually more traumatic than hers, was trivializing and insulting.
But then
eccentricyoruba linked me to this:Edwidge Danticat Speaks on Mac McClelland Essay.
The woman whom McClelland talked about said this:
The full text of the letter in K*'s own handwriting is attached and is written in Haitian Creole. It says:
You have no right to speak of my story.
You have no right to publish my story in the press
Because I did not give you authorization.
You have no right. I did not speak to you.
You have said things you should not have said.
Thank you
Which is just damn awful.
Danticat says this:
I have K*'s permission to publish this letter and to talk about K* because she is angry at the way Ms. McClelland has portrayed her in the tweets, has ignored the wishes of her letter and continues to make K* part of her story.
This week, K* wrote me an e-mail from Port-au-Prince saying, “I want victims in Haiti to know that they can be strong and stand up for their rights and have a voice. Our choices about when and how our story is told must be respected."
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The tweets put K*'s life in danger because they identified the displacement camp where K* was living--with details of landmarks added--her specific injury, her real name, and suggest that she is a drug user.
Skin crawling. UGH. HORRIBLE.
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I followed McClelland on Twitter for a while after someone on my timeline retweeted her earlier tweets on K. It was easy for me to assume that K had given McClelland permission to publicise her experience but the feeling that McClelland did not see K as a two-dimensional human being lingered. At the same time, I've seen comments to McClelland's PTSD post and a lot of people assume that she actually witnessed K's rape. Correct me if I'm wrong but I personally don't think she did.
I'm sorry if this comment appears disjointed.