Hello all!

The name of this group caught my eye at once.  Although I have hardly ever delved into the realm of fiction, but instead write intensely creative autobiographical and topical interest pieces, it seemed like it may be a good group for me to join (I'm new to She Writes).  Then I read the description, and I had to become a member at once, as it repeated many of the words I use to describe myself in the brief bio about myself at the top of my website -"Practice of Madness [street sociology, survivor stories, a madwoman versus society]":

"A proud woman, East Vancouver-based social researcher, “certified ‘bipolar’ madperson”, survivor (of abuse, medical malpractice, abuse, life, etc.), staunch feminist/humanist/rabble-rouser/radical thinker, and recent grad school drop-out – who made this choice after realizing she did not know what she wanted to do when she grew up after all – explores the crazy world we live in with mad pride!"

I have a question to ask you, fellow feminists, punks, anarchists, queers, etc. (I am also a lesbian, though I haven't included this in my description, as one annoying thing I've encountered in the blogging world is receiving many comments "challenging" me to discuss my sex life; My long term relationships - except for one that I do not tend to discuss on the blog as it was not negative, inspiring me to write about it as an example of a personal situation that speaks to a larger negative reality in society, with the goal of letting others know they are not alone, and ultimately seeking some form of justice - have been with men, and I used to consider myself to be bisexual, though I've recently realized I am only truly attracted to other women, and come out as a lesbian):

What kind of adversity have you been subject to because of the subversive, status-quo-challenging, justice-seeking, Amazonite nature of your writing?

Aside from the to-be-expected annoying spam comments I receive on my blog/website (I define spam as any comment that has nothing to do with the topic at hand - for example, barrages of personal insults that do not relate at all to anything I've written, but who I am...and I've been called just about every name in the book!), I've had two seperate people create blogs with the sole purpose of defaming me - for the most part via wild accusations and lies, nothing that reflects who I actually am - and, most disturbingly, accusing me of lying about the sexual abuse I've endured at the hands of men I was in relationships with when the assaults occured.  Furthermore, one of these men managed to get a paper that I wrote for a graduate-level criminology class = an ethnography about my trip to Peru to escape the 2010 Olympics here in Vancouver, where I encountered something much worse: a few Texan business reaping huge profits from the exploitation of girls (12 and 13 year-old waitresses forced to wear uniforms that reveal their buttocks, and who do not get paid if they "do something wrong" or, in the opinion of their boss, haven't been working hard enough) and women, including female Shaman, via drug tourism during which wealthy westerners pay a steep price to take hallucinogens/psychedelics that have been part of the medicine of ancient cultures that still exist deep in the Amazon for centuries - into the hands of one of the tycoons I criticized in it.  This "business owner" in turn wrote to my professor, claiming I had fictionalized everything, and the A- I originally received for the course was changed to an F, along with a formal charge of academic dishonesty.  A few months ago, I considered taking down my site, but then I remembered why I created it in the first place = so that women, as well as men, who have faced similar difficulties in their lives to those I have written about do not feel so alone, as alone as I did at the time I went through these events.  Serendipitously, just after that I received several comments for the first time telling me that my website and my writings had done just that for them - a dream come true for me, a woman who was once a little girl who dreamed of being a writer, and has never wanted to achieve much more in her career than affecting others through my writing (hopefully in a positive way!), whether it just be making them think for a few moments, or helping them get through a particularly dark night.

Please share your stories so that we may all laugh together at those who try to stop us...as they're wasting their time.  We will never stop writing, or seeking respect and justice.

In solidarity,

Jen (a.k.a. scarsarestories)