Occupy Patriarchy

3:33 pm - Thu, May 3, 2012: 665 notes

You know how there was an awesome sign at a church that said “bigotry wrapped in religion is still bigotry?” And it became huge on the Internet? I think we should start something along the lines of “transphobia wrapped in feminism is still transphobia.”

TRANSPHOBIA WRAPPED IN FEMINISM IS STILL TRANSPHOBIA

Can this be the new hip saying please

(Source: breewriteswords, via gothicegg)

10:20 pm - Mon, Apr 30, 2012: 3,052 notes

(Nuns) were the first feminists, earning Ph.D.’s or working as surgeons long before it was fashionable for women to hold jobs. As managers of hospitals, schools and complex bureaucracies, they were the first female C.E.O.’s.

They are also among the bravest, toughest and most admirable people in the world. In my travels, I’ve seen heroic nuns defy warlords, pimps and bandits. Even as bishops have disgraced the church by covering up the rape of children, nuns have redeemed it with their humble work on behalf of the neediest.

So, Pope Benedict, all I can say is: You are crazy to mess with nuns.

The Vatican issued a stinging reprimand of American nuns this month and ordered a bishop to oversee a makeover of the organization that represents 80 percent of them. In effect, the Vatican accused the nuns of worrying too much about the poor and not enough about abortion and gay marriage.

What Bible did that come from? Jesus in the Gospels repeatedly talks about poverty and social justice, yet never explicitly mentions either abortion or homosexuality. If you look at who has more closely emulated Jesus’s life, Pope Benedict or your average nun, it’s the nun hands down.

Since the papal crackdown on nuns, they have received an outpouring of support. “Nuns were approached by Catholics at Sunday liturgies across the country with a simple question: ‘What can we do to help?’ ” The National Catholic Reporter recounted. It cited one parish where a declaration of support for nuns from the pulpit drew loud applause, and another that was filled with shouts like, “You go, girl!”

At least four petition drives are under way to support the nuns. One on Change.org has gathered 15,000 signatures. The headline for this column comes from an essay by Mary E. Hunt, a Catholic theologian who is developing a proposal for Catholics to redirect some contributions from local parishes to nuns.

“How dare they go after 57,000 dedicated women whose median age is well over 70 and who work tirelessly for a more just world?” Hunt wrote. “How dare the very men who preside over a church in utter disgrace due to sexual misconduct and cover-ups by bishops try to distract from their own problems by creating new ones for women religious?”

Sister Joan Chittister, a prominent Benedictine nun, said she had worried at first that nuns spend so much time with the poor that they would have no allies. She added that the flood of support had left her breathless.

“It’s stunningly wonderful,” she said. “You see generations of laypeople who know where the sisters are — in the streets, in the soup kitchens, anywhere where there’s pain. They’re with the dying, with the sick, and people know it.”

New York Times columnist NICK KRISTOF, “We Are All Nuns” (via inothernews)

I think this is the petition mentioned. Right now it has 26,887 signatures. The petition is organized by Nun Justice who are on tumblr.

(via coolchicksfromhistory)

Wow. I cannot even with how suddenly enraged I am. Like. Suddenly lividly enraged. I have a weird relationship with the clergy, nuns specifically. When I was younger, 5 nuns from a convent about half an hour away were raped and murdered in Liberia, and I remember hearing about that for years afterwards. I also went to a Catholic high school (a parochial school, not a swank private school) and there were 3 nuns on the faculty while I was there. Two of them are still teaching there (which is great, since the other one was kind of a bitch); one is the Advanced English Lit teacher (Sr. Elaine), one the Advanced Spanish teacher (Sr. Marcia). As I didn’t take Spanish, I was closest to Sr. Elaine. I kept in touch with her after high school; I didn’t sell my lit anthologies back in college, but took them to Sr. Elaine’s class so her students could use them. I remember hearing about how she got appointed to work the Bishops’ Conference in Rome and on one of her last days there, she missed her train so she sat in a piazza and had pizza and a beer and watched everybody speak Italian. I remember hearing about how she got arrested back in the 70s for protesting the then governor for ignoring the need of the people in Cairo, Illinois; how she chained herself to the State House and got carted off to the slammer. Sr. Elaine was open about her father’s battle with alcoholism, her brother’s battle with alcoholism, and as the daughter of an alcoholic father that meant a lot to me. She was always, always, always there for her students, much as I imagine she is still there for the students she has today. She coached the Scholar Bowl team; she was intensely open-minded and unfailingly kind and a little bit sassy, and she’s still one of the very best teachers I have ever, ever had.

Every time I see her she says to me: “Human language is liked a cracked kettle on which we make music for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.” It’s a line from Madame Bovary and it was in an email I sent her when I was in college, back when I used to email her every month or so just to keep in touch. To see someone trying to fuck with all the good she and her fellow nuns have done is enraging. I am enraged.

(via andthenisay)

(via wallacewellsbian)

8:53 pm - Wed, Apr 18, 2012: 6,581 notes

High-Res

tslillykat:

whenafteranswers:

And another <3

http://www.redbubble.com/people/no1fanmcr/works/8704918-some-women-have-penises

Rebloging this again cause it only has like 180 notes but the “Men have Vagina’s” has almost 1,700 notes. WTF?? What about us girls?

Please Love & Support ALL trans people! Us girls matter too & we get a lot more hate & hate crimes against us, so please remember, all of us struggle.

p.s. This is NOT a stab at trans men, I LOVE & RESPECT TRANS MEN & have rebloged the other one myself.

Just pointing out the deference in the way people treat & support us.

Thanks, I love you ALL! <3

(via socialistexan)

8:49 pm: 1,077 notes

The “When” is Huge (Ally)

stfuconservatives:

racismschool:

I see a lot of questions around “When” an ally should speak up. I would never be able to go over each and every possible scenario but I can give you a few rules of thumb. As with most “ally” discussions this can often be applied to other areas but in keeping with theme, this will be about anti-racism allies:

Speak up when the offended party is not around- You and your friend are hanging out. You are both white, they say something racist. Speak up. You need to speak up for two reasons. 1-To let them know what they said was wrong and 2-To let them know that YOU don’t think it is okay. Always remember, silence is acceptance.

Speak up until you are told otherwise- You (a white person) your friend (a white person) and another friend (a Black person) are all hanging out. Your white friend says something racist. Speak up. For the same reason’s as listed above. However, if the Black person says to let it go, let it go. It does NOT mean that the Black person agrees with what was said, it (more often than not) means that they feel like the argument is both futile and will single THEM out. This is not an easy place to be in, especially if you are the only person of color in the room. In many cases, you will be asked to stop just so they can not have to be the center of attention anymore. Please comply with the wishes of the PoC.

Never speak up- You (a white person) your friend (a Black person) and another friend (a Black person) are hanging out. One Black person says something about the Black race and the other friend disagrees. This turns into a discussion. Say nothing. You can however speak up if your opinion is asked for-but be warned. If you are the minority white person in the situation, know that human nature will likely cause the person you disagree with to say “This person doesn’t know.” They would not necessarily be wrong about that. Still, this is something that, in this situation I would strongly encourage you to stay out of altogether.

Know your place- This is the one that causes the most problems for allies. It’s really about knowing when to stop. Okay, you (a white person) are in a racial conversation with your friend (a Black person) this is an open conversation and the Black person has let you know that they are comfortable having this conversation. Now, you start asking questions about their experience or their view point as a Black person. This is perfectly fine if you have PREVIOUSLY been given the okay. Where this get’s tricky for some is when an opinion is given that you don’t agree with. It seems to be very difficult to remember that the experience you are asking for is that of the other person’s. The other person who has a vastly different experience than yourself. When they say something you don’t agree with, do not, I repeat DO NOT DISMISS THEIR WORDS. You disagreeing does not make you right. There is a VERY good chance that your experience and their experience are two very different things. The conversation itself (as long as you’ve been given the okay) is perfectly fine. Disagreeing is perfectly fine. However, talking over, dismissing, belittling or even arguing about who is right is a big NO-NO. This is not and never can be a situation of “I am right and you are wrong” because in this particular case, you think you are comparing green apples to red apples when in fact, you are comparing green apples to ice cream. Two very different perspectives and that is SO IMPORTANT to always remember as an ally.

Good to remember.

(via gothicegg)

4:33 pm: 4,203 notes

fromonesurvivortoanother:

sequin-stuffed:

drvy:

“Me love you long time” came into prominence with Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” (from 1987) as a Vietnamese prostitute tries to pick up Matthew Modine’s character with broken English. The phrase was then popularly picked up by 2 Live Crew in the song “Me So Horny.”

“It’s so many different kinds of slurs in one,” comedian Margaret Cho said. “It’s instantly putting you in the position of being a foreigner, an outsider and a sexual stereotype. It’s an all-in-one combo.”

~naturallaw for yahoo questions

The popularization by Mariah Carey’s ‘Love You Long Time,’ Fergie’s ‘London Bridge,’ and Nicki Minaj’s ““Muahhhh me love you long time like I’m asian” demonstrates how this exotification of Asian/A.American women is constantly recycled in the media, perpetuated by celebrities to obtain the hyper-sexualized image needed to make it big, especially if you ain’t got the talent.

I would get started on Nicki’s whole hyper-sexualized, Japanese dolled up shit, but racialious says it best. Well researched: here http://www.racialicious.com/2010/11/01/the-orientalism-of-nicki-minaj/

You can degrade yourself, but no, my sisters and I will NOT love you long time.

Yes for the commentary.

i absolutely HATE hearing this slur

(via stuffybabyelephant)

4:31 pm: 60 notes

Vanessa Hudgens

tickledbylemons:

anotherfeminist:

I’m always thinking about stuff. Just thinking and thinking, and for some reason I wondered which was Vanessa Hudgens’s heritage since she is a woman of color and a known actress.

Mostly, I wondered about her background because the most prominent role in her carreer is named Gabriella Montez and, even though I’ve not seen any of theHigh School Musicalfilms, I can infer from the name and choosing a WOC to play it, that the character had to be of Latin American descent.I found out her father is of Irish and Native American descent, and her mother is a native of Philippines and has Filipino, Chinese and Spanish heritage.

Then I kept reading, and it was funny because I had forgotten about her nude pictures scandal. While I kept reading the wikipedia article of her, I was amazed and angry about the reaction to the scandal. No her reaction, but how everything went on.

Firstly, someone released nude pictures of her and all the blame falls over her for posing without clothes in front of a camera, not over some asshole who published something private. She HAD TO APOLOGIZE for exposing her body privately, for taking some fucking photographs for herself or her partner or whatever the reason was. Her fucking carrer was in danger because somebody else’s actions. She was the only one responsible. I didn’t hear much people calling out the person who published the photographs.

Then the Walt Disney comments, those really infuriated me. I don’t know if they were trying to defend her, but their statements about keeping her in theHigh School Musicalfranchise were awful:

“Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment. We hope she’s learned a valuable lesson.”

The last sentence really struck me. We hope she’s learned the lesson: her body doesn’t belong to her.

And those photographs did impact her career significantly, I think. She commented in a magazine:

“Whenever anybody asks me, would I do nudity in a film, if I say that it’s something I’m not comfortable with, they’re like, ‘Bullshit, you’ve already done it.’ If anything, it makes it more embarrassing, because that was a private thing. It’s screwed up that someone screwed me over like that. At least some people are learning from my mistake.”

I don’t really know what to continue writing because I’m mad about how women are perceived. Those images were private and exposed without her consent. That doesn’t mean she feels comfortable with the idea of exposing her body to the world. There’s nothing wrong with nude pictures, or doing nudity scenes in a film or show or play or anything you wanna be in, but the person has to feel comfortable with it.

Ugh.

yes yes yes all of this. I never understood why people in the pictures were punished. Our bodies are not ours.

(via stuffybabyelephant)

4:29 pm: 4,493 notes

Many men who harass women say their intent is to compliment them, but why do they usually not “compliment” women who are accompanied by other men and often only do it when a woman is alone? Why do they tend to object to other men “complimenting” their female significant other (if applicable), female friends, or female family members? Why do some men grow hostile and violent when women do not thank them and act flattered? Why do they feel compelled to compliment women at all? Rarely are they expecting a date. Many times they do not even wait to see a woman’s reaction as they fly by in their car or as they turn to start harassing the next woman. They are doing it to exert their power, to entertain their friends, to relieve boredom, or do demonstrate that they can evaluate a complete stranger to her face, just because she is a woman.

Stop Street Harassment: Holly Kearl (via completelymoribund)

The thing that so many men need to understand is that women do not consider it a compliment when they are being harassed on the street. Women usually feel either embarrassed or terrified or a combination of the two. So stop fucking doing it.

(via sexytypewriter)

it’s so telling that men tend to do this when they’re in a group of other men. and i’ve never had it happen when i’m hanging out with dudes, especially not when i’m with my ginormous dad (most men don’t give a fuck about harassing me if i’m with my mom who is as small as i am). so if it isn’t sexual, or threatening, and you just want to ~make me smile~ then why can you only do it when i’m perceived as vulnerable?

(via hyper—ballad)

I would add that it rarely happens or when I am around men who know that I am dating someone at that time. Many men (certainly not all) are willing to lay off if they perceive that you are “owned” - otherwise, you’re public property, and they’re free to treat you however they like. Any competition that erupts is less to flatter the woman than to establish temporary rights to her, even if they must degrade her to do so.

(via desliz)

that or the nature of the so-called compliments will change if youre w a man. they will go from a respectful “you look beautiful this evening” when youre w a dude to some vulgar shit about your pussy, if youre alone. because youre not worthy of respect as just a woman.

(via baddominicana)

(via lettersfromtheattic)

5:06 pm - Mon, Apr 16, 2012: 623 notes

(via gothicegg)

11:15 am - Sat, Apr 14, 2012: 2,636 notes

Huffington Post calls the shit out of LGBT organizations for doing nearly nothing for the T.

thtqueerlyfe:

creatureboy:

assholedansavage:

i-ate-jims-crow-with-hot-sauce:

iragray:

TW: CISSEXISM AND BRUTAL VIOLENCE

… imagine a 19-year-old girl being dropped off at an acquaintance’s home by a taxi on a Sunday night and finding three men on the lawn waiting for her. Imagine them kidnapping, torturing, decapitating, dismembering and burning her alive for sport, as young, raucous boys would to a Barbie doll. Imagine them chucking her torso on the side of a highway, with absolutely no regret or sense of immorality. Imagine being the mother called into the morgue to identify a defiled torso as your daughter. Swallow that bitter pill of reality and tell me that marriage is the most important issue for the LGBT community in 2011. For several in the transgender community, it might as well be 1969 all over again, because nothing has changed for them.

Fucking thank you. We’re getting beat the fuck up and murdered, and their biggest concern is gay marriage.

Oh.

Okay then.

Cool.

“I have nothing against marriage equality; I believe in it. But I also know that marriage means nothing if we aren’t alive or otherwise able to enjoy it.”

YES.

Yeah, the whole “we want gay marriage!” whilst I have to worry about myself or my friends getting killed all the time kinda sucks. This is why the gay community sucks balls and I don’t identify with them.

Hi, queer anarcho feminist scene! LOVE YOU!

This is what I aim to change in LGBTQ organizations. I want the focus to be on greater issues, more grave issues.

(via lettersfromtheattic)

11:59 am - Tue, Apr 10, 2012: 37 notes

Trans Rights Are Reproductive Rights

thebathroomsguy:

Count me among the legions of women who never thought our nation would be revisiting Griswold v. Connecticut in 2012. The spirit of the landmark 1965 case, establishing American citizens’ right to use contraception legally, is now publicly under attack from the political right. In the midst of this has arisen one of the most amazing groundswells of women’s activism in a generation. We have a lot to be proud of, even as the fight for reproductive justice grinds on. We are not ceding the field.

But as a woman of trans experience I also have to say that we need to summon more courage as feminists; we need to cultivate a far wider vision of “reproductive justice” than we have hitherto. Even as I raised my voice in defence of Sandra Fluke and in defence of women’s right to choose, even as I opened my wallet to Planned Parenthood, I felt something was amiss. As we argued valiantly for the right to have health care plans cover contraception we glossed over the fact that transgender people still lack a meaningful right to choose in this country.

When I came out, one of the first things my father lamented was the loss of his grandchildren, the loss of progeny who would—by blood—carry his name and his “legacy.” Then came the recriminations about what my body was “for” and what “God put us on this earth to do.” Interwoven in all of this is an ideology about what bodies are for. It is precisely the same ideology that has seen women coerced into having children, that has seen people of colour brutalised under eugenics programs that sterilised them, and that has created a byzantine web of regulations regarding what trans people can and cannot do with their bodies.

More at: http://feministing.com/2012/04/10/trans-rights-are-reproductive-rights/