WARNING: this is when i get really angry, nay… disgusted with people. feel free to close your browser now.

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i received an email yesterday from a woman, offering money in return for placing her ad as a link in one of my previously written posts.

i get a lot of these. all bloggers do. and typically i just delete them and move on. this email, however, struck me as odd because she referenced the post in which she wanted to place her ad.

she specifically requested this post i had written back in february. i’ll let you take a minute to read the post to understand why my curiosity was peaked when learning that someone wanted to place an ad link in that particular post.

odd, no? who requests and ad link be placed in a post like that?

so, i wrote her back and simply asked for specific details.

this was her response…

The link would be to www.types-of-nurses.com/forensic-nursing

And we’d like it on this post http://www.mybottlesup.com/2011/02/create-the-mold-of-a-rape-victim/

All you would have to do is edit the second paragraph to read: “..i’ve sat with them in emergency rooms while a forensic nurse collected evidence, and i’ve sat with them in SARC…”

Then make the words “forensic nurse” link to our site

And that’s it. As soon as the link is in place we can immediately pay you via PayPal. Let me know if you are interested and if we can work something out. Thanks!

to say i was flabbergasted does not even touch it. i was astounded. disgusted. enraged. i was hurt and disappointed.

i told paul about the brief email exchange i had with this woman, and as he shook his head in disbelief, i let my anger out. i said nasty things, cursed humanity, and told paul where i would like to see this woman go. i was so mad that i cried. i got up off the couch, went to the bathroom, and cried.

how dare she! how dare anyone! what is wrong with people?!?!

but i made sure to write her back first…

Dear __________,

No. There is no amount of money anyone could PayPal me to place ads for forensic nursing programs in my posts regarding rape and sexual assault.

Nic

i know just as well as the next person does that the blog world can get ugly sometimes. i know that there are bloggers deemed as “sell outs” for accepting money for posts, ads, etc. ya know what though? i also know that people need to make a damn living. bloggers need to put food on the table just as much as anyone else does.

have i “sold out” and accepted payment for posts? sure. will i continue to? possibly. if the opportunity is the right opportunity.

and yeah, there are times when i cringe at certain offers, the inner starving artist inside of me yelling DON’T GIVE IN TO THE MAN!!!

but there are times when i feel overjoyed and grateful for opportunities (paid and unpaid) that are offered to me as a blogger.

what you won’t see me do is accept any form of payment for placing an ad link in a post i have written about rape and sexual assault.

isn’t the subject taboo enough? isn’t there enough controversy surrounding abuse, rape, and sex crimes? what do you think offering bloggers money for ad links in rape-related posts will do? get you more clicks? traffic to your site? no. it won’t. all it will do is make the association between consumerism and sexual abuse.

use that money that you were going to paypal me and give it to a sexual assault response center. donate it to the Joyful Heart Foundation and work to end the backlog on rape kits.

don’t offer that money to someone who wrote a post months ago in the hopes of being heard and making a change. that’s just insulting, and makes you look like an asshole.