So.
Before we get to The SockSmacking, let's get into some history.
It was after a conversation with an acquaintance and let's say, it was not constructive at all. I don't remember what was said, but I sure remember how it made me feel.
I was hurt. And I did one of the things that I do when I'm hurt: I wrote. As I typed, I noticed something: a lot of the points that had upset me were... familiar. Like a script. And I've heard all of them before, in some variance, in all my life.
So, I thought... what if I made a list? And it spiraled into TroutSlap. And I posted its very first iteration on FetLife. Why FL, in particular? Because I've come across some hella racist shit, and that also necessitated its own Kink Community section.
It was up for a while, and a lot of people of color expressed their gratitude for me putting it into words. But I also got a lot of hate. From the Just Plain Ignorant to Outright Malicious, I got it all. The love and hate only grew when I breached Kinky & Popular for the first and only time.
I answered every comment and every message I received. I edited my words. I even softened the blow in a few places, to the point of coddling. And all of that was exhausting. The last comment I remember was some white man calmly stating that I should "go back to Africa." I didn't even have the energy to give a smartass quip.
That's when I realized, I was burnt out and couldn't take the heat anymore.
I copied a version to tumblr-- by then, I realized that it was too important to be in a walled garden-- and deleted the post from Fetlife. But that tumblr blog disappeared, too, when I joined the mass exodus from that platform when they banned NSFW content. It's been in my drafts, alluded to and thought about, and worked on, since then.
I've always thought about bringing it back.
Because y'all still can't behave.
What I first said years ago still stands:
I am tired of having my words used against me, of being accused of being intolerant when I just don't want to sit back and take it anymore, of being stereotyped as the Angry Black Woman, of having my opinion as a marginalized person being seen as a personal attack regardless of the "tone" I used.
And we're in a post-2016 Emboldened-Neo-Nazi Anti-Critical Race Theory hellscape. I am beyond sick and tired.
The "TroutSlap" motif has officially been retired. We need something... with more oompth. Gone are the days of gently hitting people with fish in a chatroom. We've upgraded to a Sock with Quarters in it. SockSmack, if you will. No tongue-in-cheek $trade; this time. We're going tongue-in-cheek Creative Commons License!
Additional revisions will just be streamlining and updating (terminology and sources/links).
So the paws are a-workin'. Let's try a goal for... sometime this year. I'm a busy hedgehog, after all.