#bullying cw
A Gentle PSA & Reminder on Bullying and Mental Health Stigma in the RPC
A person’s Tumblr page is meant to be their safe space. Sometimes, it is their only safe space. People are free to adjust their experience to make it so for themselves, and that includes blocking, adding rules, banning faceclaims, or venting out of character sometimes. It’s okay if someone’s content or rules bothersyou, the beauty of this hellsite is that you don’t have to follow them and you can even block them! What is absolutely never okay is bullying someone based on their content, and that includes out of character posts (in general, but today we’re going to focus on mental health).
Imagine just for a second that you’re having a horrible day, and your brain makes you feel as though you have no direct safe space (you pick up the phone and have no one to call, you feel like you’re bothering your friends, etc.) so you post on Tumblr that you’re struggling with a mental illness because the people who are your mutuals are the closest thing you have to friends, but you don’t want to impose. Next, imagine being bullied because you opened up about something hard in your life that is happening to you.
This happens with all kinds of illnesses and disabilities, but there is a particular stigma surrounding people who are struggling with their mental health. The bullying happens all the time and it has got to stop. As stated before, it’s okay to not have the brainspace to see things pertaining to someone else’s mental health, and it’s valid to have triggers. Blacklist the tag, or block and move on. Do not use this as a platform to bully someone. Life is absolutely already hard enough.
And, to people who see the bullying and aren’t sure what to think or whether they should speak up: please remember that a person’s mental health issue IS an illness. It is no less valid than a physical health issue, and treating it as such is ableism, whether intended or not. Don’t be ableist. Educate yourselves, please. There are so many people on this site that are struggling in one way or another with illnesses (both physical and mental) and life is too short for hurting people over something they have no control over, that has never once made them a bad person, just a sick person. Have compassion, and be kind. Curate your space to be safe for you, but don’t take someone else’s safe space from them.
