9:01am December 31, 2011

➸ The Real Clara Bow

“I got awfully sore at the newspaper people in New York, because they were terribly mean to me—really nasty, you know what I mean. I finally got so I wouldn’t pose for pictures or say anything.

"Then they said, ‘She’s really mad about publicity. She’s just putting on an act.’

"But when I did try to be nice and obliging and posed without any fuss they said, 'Miss Bow was only too anxious—!’”

Clara paused with a helpless gesture. “So what are you going to do? Whatever I do, it’s wrong. If I act gay, people say I’m wild. If I’m quiet, they say, 'Oh, she wants to be poised.’ and the most harmless little things, that someone else could do without being criticized, are terrible if I do them.

I like the whole article. But that part – that part describes in so few words the no-win situation you get put into when certain of the nastier parts of the autism community decide to target you. The way no matter what you do, it can be put into a negative light and used to make people doubt you, even if lots of other people are doing identical things and not being treated like that (and you can say, "This person does the same, so does that one, why aren’t you picking on them”, and they refuse to even answer). I guess vicious gossipy types are the same whether they’re in Hollywood or in your backyard. But it felt good to see someone laying out so clearly what’s fucked up about that entire variety of situation.

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