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Serena Williams reveals baby bump on stunning Vanity Fair cover

P

Preacher

Member
Media said:
I er...didn't do any of those things. I did wonder about your use of LMAO so often because I was wondering if you actually trolling and not being serious.

You actually have told us to stop being offended by dumb shit, called posters names, and now called me a dick.

I don't understand why being being offended about something is so offensive to you.
Click to expand...

Ok, let me seriously and carefully respond as best as I can.

People in this thread have done those things
Hence some of [you] (Sorry for categorizing you since you're all technically on the same argument)

I called poster's names out of frustration with the bully esque culture I frequently see on internet forums.

Are you going to pretend that the poster in question didn't say a comment which resulted in like 4 page?. It wasn't even that left field, others have expressed similar discontent with the picture. I don't really ever wanna read an entire thread of blatant bullying especially if I feel its unjustified.

My posts while being ramblings, were an attempt to explain the thought process behind the comment (Which may have just been bait) without immediately labeling him as racist or misogynistic.

And heres the thing, you have to think critically about things.

I understand full well why you're offended. In fact I understood your points so well on a basic level.

Pregnancy is indeed a core aspect of femininity for a lot of people. It is something several woman deal with and I can understand the aversion to someone who expresses distaste towards a process. I also understand that a lot of you have emotions which is why I'm chilling out with my posting habits throughout the thread.

However, you need to understand that people on forums, comment sections, real life engage in mob mentality. And not everyone is down for that shit
Sure you don't mind because you just posted your piece and see yourself as an individual but what about others. Others who don't necessarily share your point of view or are just indifferent and rather not see you gang up on a poster.
And it's hard to have these arguments (Which is why I dislike having them) because despite appearing to be a collective, each of you are just individuals who share an opinion.

And yeah I don't appreciate being lambasted for how I type especially when I'm not even at my computer. I don't follow the school of thought that everyone online has to have thick skin. Again sorry since I did insult people but I was frustrated at the state of the thread. I don't necessarily agree with the poster but I don't appreciate what appears to be bullying.

And no I wasn't trolling you. Sorry if I gave off the appearance.

Tl:dr I got heated because I perceived an injustice going on in the thread. It seems I'm the one who may have overreacted!

And if you're wonder why my posts are so long, it's because I like to elaborate in a sense. I also ofc ramble
 
M

Media

Member
Unbounded said:
Did the person who originally said gross ever elaborate on what they thought was gross?

Like at all?
Click to expand...


eosos said:
I dunno - I just don't particularly like pictures of nude pregnant women. Feel like that's not a crazy thing. I imagine that the pics are going for the celebration of the human body, life, and all that, but... this just seems excessive.

Edit: and why are y'all assuming that I'd even want to hook up with her? Sheesh
Click to expand...

I don't think he responded again after someone pointed out that pregnancy is kinda a big deal and some women want to celebrate it so it doesn't seem excessive.
 
G

gaiages

Banned
Preacher said:
This is exactly what I mean by being a pseudointellectual. Stop looking for reasons to berate people lmao

Lmao I call it quantiferon because my doctor called it that.

That was also my 3rd post in this thread. If you don't like it ignore it you big baby

If you were smart you'd have realized I only ever posted in this thread because you manchildren can't stop berating people over dumb shit.
Click to expand...

Hmm...
 
R

Reckless Abandon

Member
Khaos Kontrol said:
Imagine if her and Roger Federer had a kid...
Click to expand...

Ha, I thought about that too. Fed can only do twins, but it'd be cool if they had a boy/girl set and each went on to win 30 Grand Slams.

Congrats to her, looks beautiful in these pictures.

Also: soooo many people taking the bait. Just caaalllm dooowwn everyone. Don't be so easy to offend, it's what trolls want.
 
G

gaiages

Banned
Reckless Abandon said:
Ha, I thought about that too. Fed can only do twins, but it'd be cool if they had a boy/girl set and each went on to win 30 Grand Slams.

Congrats to her, looks beautiful in these pictures.

Also: soooo many people taking the bait. Just caaalllm dooowwn everyone. Don't be so easy to offend, it's what trolls want.
Click to expand...

If we're being honest here, not confronting the trolls has led to some... questionable societal movements in recent years so maybe it's better not to let shitty people fester.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Morrigan Stark said:
Here's another summary, closer to the facts:

<a few people saying it's a beautiful photo, then:>
P1: "gross tbh"
P2: "I'm a woman who had babies, this is offensive"
P3: "also a woman, I agree"
P4: "gross? grow the fuck up"
P5: "lmao stop overreacting you pseudo-intellectuals lmao lmao (lmao)"
P6: "wahhh respect mah opinion!!"
Click to expand...
Preacher's posts are like even worse than the gross comment considering how often he contradicts himself, but it has made the thread entertaining &#128514;
 
M

Media

Member
Preacher said:
Ok, let me seriously and carefully respond as best as I can.

People in this thread have done those things
Hence some of [you] (Sorry for categorizing you since you're all technically on the same argument)

I called poster's names out of frustration with the bully esque culture I frequently see on internet forums.

Are you going to pretend that the poster in question didn't say a comment which resulted in like 4 page?. It wasn't even that left field, others have expressed similar discontent with the picture. I don't really ever wanna read an entire thread of blatant bullying especially if I feel its unjustified.

My posts while being ramblings, were an attempt to explain the thought process behind the comment (Which may have just been bait) without immediately labeling him as racist or misogynistic.

And heres the thing, you have to think critically about things.

I understand full well why you're offended. In fact I understood your points so well on a basic level.

Pregnancy is indeed a core aspect of femininity for a lot of people. It is something several woman deal with and I can understand the aversion to someone who expresses distaste towards a process. I also understand that a lot of you have emotions which is why I'm chilling out with my posting habits throughout the thread.

However, you need to understand that people on forums, comment sections, real life engage in mob mentality. And not everyone is down for that shit
Sure you don't mind because you just posted your piece and see yourself as an individual but what about others. Others who don't necessarily share your point of view or are just indifferent and rather not see you gang up on a poster.
And it's hard to have these arguments (Which is why I dislike having them) because despite appearing to be a collective, each of you are just individuals who share an opinion.

And yeah I don't appreciate being lambasted for how I type especially when I'm not even at my computer. I don't follow the school of thought that everyone online has to have thick skin. Again sorry since I did insult people but I was frustrated at the state of the thread. I don't necessarily agree with the poster but I don't appreciate what appears to be bullying.

And no I wasn't trolling you. Sorry if I gave off the appearance.

Tl:dr I got heated because I perceived an injustice going on in the thread. It seems I'm the one who may have overreacted!

And if you're wonder why my posts are so long, it's because I like to elaborate in a sense. I also ofc ramble
Click to expand...

I dislike dogpiles as well. Especially if they are just a lot of 'gotcha' one liners. I enjoy having discussions about things, and honestly wanted to know the reasoning behind him calling it gross, as it was out of left field at the time. Others have since responded in similar ways yes. There was about a page of the one liners dog pile stuff, and then a lot of people aruging about how women shouldn't be offended by a statement like that and should just ignore sexism or whatever when they see it. It honestly felt for awhile like people were saying that guys can say they are disgusted by a pregnant woman, but women cannot express that that's a bit offensive.

This forum is guilty of dogpiles yes, but I've been here for years and it's also guilty of ignoring the few women we have here when we express an opinion about women's issues. That frustration can take a toll, even on someone as nice as I try to be.
 
H

H.Protagonist

[-_-]/
Preacher said:
And if you're wondering why I attacked any of you its because some of you guys are saying people shouldn't procreate...
Click to expand...

Others are addressing your, er, other points, but as Keri said, if you think pregnant women are gross, it's very fair to say that you shouldn't procreate then. Not seeing any fault in that logic.
 
P

Preacher

Member
Media said:
I dislike dogpiles as well. Especially if they are just a lot of 'gotcha' one liners. I enjoy having discussions about things, and honestly wanted to know the reasoning behind him calling it gross, as it was out of left field at the time. Others have since responded in similar ways yes. There was about a page of the one liners dog pile stuff, and then a lot of people aruging about how women shouldn't be offended by a statement like that and should just ignore sexism or whatever when they see it. It honestly felt for awhile like people were saying that guys can say they are disgusted by a pregnant woman, but women cannot express that that's a bit offensive.

This forum is guilty of dogpiles yes, but I've been here for years and it's also guilty of ignoring the few women we have here when we express an opinion about women's issues. That frustration can take a toll, even on someone as nice as I try to be.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'd like to apologize to you personally because I was honestly extremely badly behaved in this thread.

I'm genuinely too emotional and Messofanego is right, I contradicted myself plenty.
I don't even know why I tried to cape for a post I don't even really agree with.

Especially when it came to the one page where I remembered that some of the posters were women. Felt bad about that since I generally don't want to tell people who are offended to chill when they should be allowed to speak their piece.

So yeah, sorry for getting carried away. Hope you don't take anything I said to heart.
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
H.Protagonist said:
Others are addressing your, er, other points, but as Keri said, if you think pregnant women are gross, it's very fair to say that you shouldn't procreate then. Not seeing any fault in that logic.
Click to expand...
Preacher to future pregnant wife:

"You know you look gross since you got pregnant, right?"

"Stop being such a baby! lmao"

"What are you crying about LMAO have you been reading that pseudointellectual bullshit again?"
 
P

perfectchaos007

Member
I'm glad the mods let this Serena thread stay open. It allowed posters with different opinions time to work through their differences and find middle ground. I feel like a lot of Serena threads from the past weren't given enough time to germinate.
 
N

Nephtis

Member
It's fair game to think they don't find pictures of pregnant women to be this beautiful, life symbolic thing. I mean, people like what they like, and they clearly don't. Their opinion should be respected as much as any other - having said that though, I think it's also fair to tell people that they can simply leave the thread and just let others enjoy the thread for what it is.

Calling people names or telling them they won't get anyone pregnant - what's the use of that? Especially with the dogpiling. Come on. Just let a moderator know and let them take care of it.

perfectchaos007 said:
I'm glad the mods let this Serena thread stay open. It allowed posters with different opinions time to work through their differences and find middle ground. I feel like a lot of Serena threads from the past weren't given enough time to germinate.
Click to expand...

This, too. But even then I feel it's best to just offer to take it to PMs, and let the entire conversation play out there before having someone else say some shit to rile up the poster to get them to fuck up and get banned. Happens a lot here.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Preacher said:
Yeah I'd like to apologize to you personally because I was honestly extremely badly behaved in this thread.

I'm genuinely too emotional and Messofanego is right, I contradicted myself plenty.
I don't even know why I tried to cape for a post I don't even really agree with.

Especially when it came to the one page where I remembered that some of the posters were women. Felt bad about that since I generally don't want to tell people who are offended to chill when they should be allowed to speak their piece.

So yeah, sorry for getting carried away. Hope you don't take anything I said to heart.
Click to expand...

Well huh, damn. Wasn't expecting that. Apology accepted.
 
C

CrocMother

Banned
Moze said:
What is with this trend of celebrities posing nude when pregnant?
Click to expand...

These women's bodies have been in the public spotlight their entire lives. People expect them to be beautiful. I think there is something empowering about being able to show off your body at a very vulnerable point.
 
M

Media

Member
Preacher said:
Yeah I'd like to apologize to you personally because I was honestly extremely badly behaved in this thread.

I'm genuinely too emotional and Messofanego is right, I contradicted myself plenty.
I don't even know why I tried to cape for a post I don't even really agree with.

Especially when it came to the one page where I remembered that some of the posters were women. Felt bad about that since I generally don't want to tell people who are offended to chill when they should be allowed to speak their piece.

So yeah, sorry for getting carried away. Hope you don't take anything I said to heart.
Click to expand...

Thank you so, so much for posting this. Like I've said before, sometimes being a woman on had feels like shouting into a void, and seeing people actually listen to what we are saying and grow is so heartening. Apology totally accepted.
 
R

Reckless Abandon

Member
gaiages said:
If we're being honest here, not confronting the trolls has led to some... questionable societal movements in recent years so maybe it's better not to let shitty people fester.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with you on that, however i don't think someone responding "kinda gross tbh" is trying to start some societal movement or is necessarily a shitty person. To me they were either trying to troll, or legitimately don't like pictures of naked pregnant women. There have been plenty of people ITT voicing their support for her and saying that the pictures are beautiful, so there can also be dissenting opinions (even those that are poorly worded, perhaps mildly offensive).

I just don't think people should take that kind of comment personally to the point of the backlash that it has received.

I am certainly not defending anyone for saying something shitty, I've just been kind of fed up with all the manufactured outrage at little things. To me the right response is to ignore the a-hole and move on. There are bigger things to put that kind of energy into. It has shades of the whole "people want free speech but don't want people speaking freely" thing. Or maybe I'm just crabby today and am reading too much into it, a definite possibility...

edit: shouldn't have posted this, thread was already de-escalated per the above!
 
K

Keri

Member
Reckless Abandon said:
I just don't think people should take that kind of comment personally to the point of the backlash that it has received.

I am certainly not defending anyone for saying something shitty, I've just been kind of fed up with all the manufactured outrage at little things. To me the right response is to ignore the a-hole and move on. There are bigger things to put that kind of energy into. It has shades of the whole "people want free speech but don't want people speaking freely" thing. Or maybe I'm just crabby today and am reading too much into it, a definite possibility...
Click to expand...

You're describing an insult which applies to the majority of women, as a "little" thing that shouldn't be taken personally, but it's not a little thing and the outrage you've seen from the women posting in this thread is not manufactured. Insulting a pregnant woman for being pregnant reflects on how pregnancy and child birth is viewed, generally. It's a reminder that the sacrifices women make are sometimes turned against us. It affects the self esteem of all women who are pregnant or have ever been pregnant. Honestly, I feel like all women hear that having a baby will "ruin" them and comments like "gross," are just a reminder of that sentiment.

I get that posters who came in here and threw out a one off comment probably didn't mean to touch on such deep, personal and complicated issues, but that's what those comments do.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Those fertility idols I saw in the MET as a kid make a lot more sense now.
 
R

Reckless Abandon

Member
Keri said:
You're describing an insult which applies to the majority of women, as a "little" thing that shouldn't be taken personally, but it's not a little thing and the outrage you've seen from the women posting in this thread is not manufactured. Insulting a pregnant woman for being pregnant reflects on how pregnancy and child birth is viewed, generally. It's a reminder that the sacrifices women make are sometimes turned against us. It affects the self esteem of all women who are pregnant or have ever been pregnant. Honestly, I feel like all women hear that having a baby will "ruin" them and comments like "gross," are just a reminder of that sentiment.

I get that posters who came in here and threw out a one off comment probably didn't mean to touch on such deep, personal and complicated issues, but that's what those comments do.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your well-worded and insightful response, it caused me to take a step back and re-evaluate. I guess I was looking at it more through a keyhole (focusing on naked pictures of pregnant women and people's reaction to them) instead of a more macro view that takes into account how other women feel when they hear/see negative comments associated with pregnancy.
 
MsKrisp

MsKrisp

Member
Amazing photos, she looks so beautiful and powerful.

FYI for those wondering about stretch marks, not everyone gets them, and sometimes they show afterwards instead of during the pregnancy. Also, there's fancy creams and photoshop.
 
M

Media

Member
Reckless Abandon said:
I appreciate your well-worded and insightful response, it caused me to take a step back and re-evaluate. I guess I was looking at it more through a keyhole (focusing on naked pictures of pregnant women and people's reaction to them) instead of a more macro view that takes into account how other women feel when they hear/see negative comments associated with pregnancy.
Click to expand...

w0ZEHJk.gif


This thread is now making me hopeful instead of frustrated. Thank you.
 
K

Keri

Member
Reckless Abandon said:
I appreciate your well-worded and insightful response, it caused me to take a step back and re-evaluate. I guess I was looking at it more through a keyhole (focusing on naked pictures of pregnant women and people's reaction to them) instead of a more macro view that takes into account how other women feel when they hear/see negative comments associated with pregnancy.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this, truly. It's been really amazing seeing multiple posters take this perspective into account.
 
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