Merry Christmas, Everyone!
It's been a minute since I've written a post (I took a job with the Montana GOP that kept me crazy busy), but there's something that's been on my mind since the first week of December that has officially crept under my skin to the point that it's time I take to my keyboard and share my thoughts and ideas, although scattered they may be, with the world.
Anyone who has had even a semi lengthy conversation with me knows that 1) I am hardly a prude 2) my sense of humor can, at times, become very dark and twisted. Like most people, I get a kick out of the "Naughty Elf on a Shelf" pictures. You know, the ones where the elf is doing something not quite befitting of Buddy the Elf, like this little guy:
That image is obviously one of the more mild ones you will see during a quick google images search of "Naughty Elf on the Shelf." I will admit, I laughed at these slightly darker pictures a little harder than I probably should have.
Haha horrible, right? As I said, I am no prude and I can definitely laugh at inappropriate things, but to me, the following images cross a line.
At this point I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking, "come on, Samantha, don't take this so seriously, it's just a doll, joke, etc." but you see, it's not a joke, not to me. Hear me out: as someone who was raped, I am painfully aware that we live in a society where rape culture and victim shaming are all too common. Images like this that make light of violent crimes, especially against women, do not help. They don't help victims of sexual crimes, and they continue to perpetuate negative attitudes that contribute to the reasons victims of sexual assault often do not report the attack. They also have an emotional impact on the victims even once they've sought help. I can honestly tell you that images like these are mildly triggering for me, and I don't even suffer from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (anymore). My heart aches for my brothers and sisters out there who are still working through their traumatic experiences and stumble upon images like these as they scroll through their news feed.
I personally find these "jokes" so upsetting because Elf on the Shelf was originally thought up as a means to bring more joy into the lives of children during Christmas time. While I am all for pushing the line of appropriateness with most things, there's a fine line between having a dark sense of humor and encouraging, even unintentionally, horrific violence against others.
With that, I will hop down from my soapbox fashioned from gingerbread and hope for visions of sugar plum fairies while I try to sleep. To my fellow dirty birds who understand the line of appropriateness, keep the funny Elf on the Shelf pictures coming, I actually look forward to them all year.
