(long-time lurker, first time commenter) As a queer, autistic person, I would've been more open to the idea of safe spaces; if Tumblr's version weren't a bunch of echo chambers with a "one strike and you're out" or "you have to be this queer/oppressed to enter" scale. Having problems already with navigating (polarised) debates online, I fear saying something stupid inadvertently, and then all hell breaking loose for it; not to mention if discussions get heated, it sends me into panic as 1/2
[2/2] the whole "processing emotions" bit goes haywire. I still find it hard to understand nuances in (es. SJ-related) discussions, and that sort of polarisation just sends me off-edge.
I, personally, don’t believe in “safe spaces”, but I do believe in safer spaces. So many people I know have trauma responses that are so unpredictable and unavoidable, it’s impossible to make a space safe enough that they’ll never be upset or feel unsafe. Â
What makes spaces safer--I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again--is how the people inside them agree to treat each other. And especially for neurodivergent people, that means giving space for letting people process things and interact on their own terms. To let them stop and think if they’re getting stressed, to let them ask questions and work things out in conversation if they need to.
Of course, that’s work that takes people with the spare time and cope to do so, and on the internet, community moderators are practically never compensated for all the work they do, so they’re in continual short supply. I’ve been in internet spaces where that kind of emotional work happens, but they’re rare, and necessarily small to keep the moderator:commenter ratio low enough. The more things go viral--today’s internet seems to want 100,000 people to see something before considering it worthwhile--the harder it is to keep the comments from turning into a cesspit.
(Heck, even I have my bad days, times when I get short-tempered and bitchy and uncharitable. and have to stay offline until I feel more human again. I yelled at someone last week about costuming and of course various randos following the conversation sent them nasty anon messages, because aaaa Tumblr.)
So yeah. I would love to have more, safer, spaces, but right now I’m limited to what I can do personally.