Politeness?

I haven't been keeping up with the sex blogging community this week, since I've been gone. Now I've come back and there's some sort of kerfuffle about a supposed "in crowd", and the people who are accused of being exclusive and cliqueish have ALL been totally awesome, supportive, kind, and did I mention awesome to me? Little nobody me with my brand-new little blog.

Sometimes people are popular for good reason, ya know?

And about being always sweet and nice and polite and tactful: how shall I put this. Fuck that. We're sharing some of our most intimate experiences here. When someone insults your body type, or anyone's body type, or sexuality, or gender, or etc., you have every right to get mad. Politely worded letters have their place, but activism isn't about politely worded letters. I consider myself an activist, as a sex-positive feminist, and that means ruffling some feathers.

As with so many things, Jane Austen said it best (from my favorite of her novels, Persuasion):

She prized the frank, the open-hearted, the eager character beyond all others. Warmth and enthusiasm did captivate her still.  She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped.