[WARNING: RANT LOOMING AHEAD.]

Hello, world. Or should I say, cruel world. I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately, and if you have the time and respect to listen, I’d like us to sit down and have a little talk.

The thing is, you may never understand me, you may never like me, and you may never, ever accept me, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m here, and if I can help it, I won't be going away any time soon.

And while I’m here I’d like you to know that I’m here for myself, and not to be your plaything. I’m not here to be the villain in your movies, the sicko to play to your fetishes, or to be the one character type that you know will never fail to get a rise out of your audience. I’m not even a character type. I’m an individual, and I always thought I had the right to be treated like one.

See, maybe you didn’t know this, but I was born a person with feelings, love, empathy, and a conscience. I’d say I’m just like you, but I don’t really think I want to compare myself to someone who takes an entire diverse group of real people and tries to cram them into a stereotype of cruelty and violence. No, I’ll pass on the hatred.

"But Countess!" I can already hear you say, "These are just works of fiction! Why are you getting so psychotic over something that’s not even real?" I know this is what you’ll say, because you consistently refuse to appreciate that stereotyping of an oppressed group, especially in the media, even if it’s in a work of fiction, is HARMFUL. I repeat, it is harmful to all of us that have to suffer day after day of being inaccurately represented. Every time you take my identity and twist it and use it for your entertainment, you take away my freedom to express myself to the people I care about (and to the world) who I truly am without fear of being hated. You, as a ‘normal’, get to watch anything you want to without fear of your group being profiled and defined by the bad actions of only one individual. You can read any book, watch any movie or crime show that portrays a necrophile character, however they happen to be portrayed...and then you get to turn off the TV and that is where the experience ends for you. If only I could be so lucky. What is for you only an idea that you will rarely come into contact with and rarely have to put thought to (because most of us are too damn afraid to tell you who we are), is for me an inescapable part of my life.

I am sick and tired of having to explain to you that stereotypes, to me, hurt after a while of having them grated against my ears. I really shouldn’t have to do this time and time again, but I know I will never get anywhere as long as you continue to sit up on your pedestal and tell me that your “expression” and your entertainment is more important than my identity and my dignity.

I’m sick of you appropriating a huge aspect of my identity just because you want to sit back for an hour and a half for a fun scare. I’m not here on the earth for your entertainment or to be a novelty for you to use in your weird escapist fantasies. I’m tired of you pretending you know what my life and feelings are like when you don’t, and I’m also tired of you thinking that being different makes me an acceptable tool to use for whatever weird crime you want to write about today. I’m sick of constantly being looked at as a psychotic, depraved murderer with no empathy and no regard for anyone’s life. And if you still don’t get it, no matter how many times I try to tell you that you need to open your eyes and stop selfishly treating a group of people as your property for your entertainment, then I am a thousand times the empathetic human being that you’ll ever be. Sorry, but I’m not sorry.

Thank you for listening. I am indeed not here for your entertainment, and hopefully I’ll only have to explain this a few thousand more times before I run out of breath. A few thousand? I only wish it were that easy.

Countess