shapefutures: neil-gaiman: Amanda Palmer, on Twitter, after seeing this advert and getting very sad: i don’t have a tumblr account (i’m sorting that), but if i did i’d put that photo up there. do it for me. it’ll make me feel better. And, well, I have a Tumblr… You can follow the conversation about the photograph, advertising, age, freedom, independence, body hair etc. via a lot of retweets at https://twitter.com/amandapalmer And you can talk about it here. “brave & sexy are in the mind, not on the leg or under the pits.” If any of my kids were o see this, the girls would jump all over it. And that what makes me want to simultaneously cry and tear the world down. dear god in heaven…
Pop-upView Separately

shapefutures:

neil-gaiman:

Amanda Palmer, on Twitter, after seeing this advert and getting very sad:

i don’t have a tumblr account (i’m sorting that), but if i did i’d put that photo up there. do it for me. it’ll make me feel better.

And, well, I have a Tumblr…

You can follow the conversation about the photograph, advertising, age, freedom, independence, body hair etc. via a lot of retweets at https://twitter.com/amandapalmer

And you can talk about it here.

“brave & sexy are in the mind, not on the leg or under the pits.”

If any of my kids were o see this, the girls would jump all over it.

And that what makes me want to simultaneously cry and tear the world down.

dear god in heaven…

Source: neil-gaiman

Any woman who has spent time in the workforce likely understands what a powerful, defining force gender can be. “We used to have a saying in the women’s movement,” says Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake. “It takes life to make a feminist.” The real divide among women of voting age is between those who have encountered gender-based hurdles and affronts as they pursued their professional ambitions and those who have not: between women in their twenties, still in college or recent graduates, and women who have worked at a job where something (money, prestige, reputation) is at stake. This may in part explain why very young women voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama: The parity on college campuses, where women often outperform men academically, can feel like it must translate into parity in the world. I remember reading Sylvia Plath’s journals in a college seminar titled Biography, Gender, and Suicide—it was straight out of a Woody Allen movie—and finding them overwrought and whiny, a bitter recitation of every domestic duty and slight. Similarly, I wondered what Hélène Cixous and her feminist poststructuralist sisters were howling about. At that point, my only experience with sexism was a high-school debate in which my coach asked me to take my hair out of a bun so that I didn’t look “so severe” for the judges. (I left my hair up—and won.) To my mind, equality was the rule. -From “The Feminist Reawakening: Hillary Clinton and the fourth wave”
Pop-upView Separately

Any woman who has spent time in the workforce likely understands what a powerful, defining force gender can be. “We used to have a saying in the women’s movement,” says Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake. “It takes life to make a feminist.” The real divide among women of voting age is between those who have encountered gender-based hurdles and affronts as they pursued their professional ambitions and those who have not: between women in their twenties, still in college or recent graduates, and women who have worked at a job where something (money, prestige, reputation) is at stake. This may in part explain why very young women voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama: The parity on college campuses, where women often outperform men academically, can feel like it must translate into parity in the world. I remember reading Sylvia Plath’s journals in a college seminar titled Biography, Gender, and Suicide—it was straight out of a Woody Allen movie—and finding them overwrought and whiny, a bitter recitation of every domestic duty and slight. Similarly, I wondered what Hélène Cixous and her feminist poststructuralist sisters were howling about. At that point, my only experience with sexism was a high-school debate in which my coach asked me to take my hair out of a bun so that I didn’t look “so severe” for the judges. (I left my hair up—and won.) To my mind, equality was the rule.

-From “The Feminist Reawakening: Hillary Clinton and the fourth wave”

bialogue-group: This is why gender neutral bathrooms are necessary
View Separately

bialogue-group:

This is why gender neutral bathrooms are necessary

(via politicaldirtylaundry)

Source: bialogue-group

STFU, Conservatives: stfusexists: I, and many mothers of my generation, thought that when...

stfusexists:

I, and many mothers of my generation, thought that when our daughters came of age, they would enter a world of unprecedented equality, with autonomy over their own bodies and life choices, and the guarantee they would be paid according to their value in the workplace, not by…

(via stfuconservatives)

Source: stfusexists

Dudes. Imagine life here in the US — or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world — is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Got it?
Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is.
This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you still have to create a character, and how many points you get to start — and how they are apportioned — will make a difference. Initially the computer will tell you how many points you get and how they are divided up. If you start with 25 points, and your dump stat is wealth, well, then you may be kind of screwed. If you start with 250 points and your dump stat is charisma, well, then you’re probably fine. Be aware the computer makes it difficult to start with more than 30 points; people on higher difficulty settings generally start with even fewer than that.
As the game progresses, your goal is to gain points, apportion them wisely, and level up. If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting.
Likewise, it’s certainly possible someone playing at a higher difficulty setting is progressing more quickly than you are, because they had more points initially given to them by the computer and/or their highest stats are wealth, intelligence and constitution and/or simply because they play the game better than you do. It doesn’t change the fact you are still playing on the lowest difficulty setting.
You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting. The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on. The player who plays on the “Gay Minority Female” setting? Hardcore.
John Scalzi tells it like it is. (Go and read the whole essay, then read the comments.)

(via thoughtsofasun-drenchedelsewhere)

Source: whatever.scalzi.com

The simplistic formula that claims “you’re either pro-marriage or against equality” makes us forget that all forms of marriage perpetuate gender, racial and economic inequality. It mistakenly assumes that support for marriage is the only good measure of support for LGBT communities. This political moment calls for anti-homophobic politics that centralize anti-racism and anti-poverty. Marriage is a coercive state structure that perpetuates racism and sexism through forced gender and family norms. Right wing pro-marriage rhetoric has targeted families of color and poor families, supported a violent welfare and child protection system, vilified single parents and women, and marginalized queer families of all kinds. Expanding marriage to include a narrow band of same-sex couples only strengthens that system of marginalization and supports the idea that the state should pick which types of families to reward and recognize and which to punish

no to state regulation of families!

CLICK THIS LINK FOR LOTS OF RESOURCES ON WHY “MARRIAGE EQUALITY” IS THE WRONG GOAL

(re: people freakin about Obama)

(via thoughtsofasun-drenchedelsewhere)

Source: makezine.enoughenough.org

iamabutchsolo: just-smith: iamabutchsolo: just-smith: anirishginger: [Trigger Warning: racism, rape] yusaburu: falserapeculture: These “Dudetips” are scattered around UCLA. Can you imagine the outcry if it read: Muslim tip #32 If you get on a plane,remember not to blow it up.  This is seriously disgusting. Continuing with examples that most people would consider more offensive: Black Tip #7 If you enter a store,remember not to robthem. And yet somehow this is “okay”?  Rape is an absolutely terrible thing, but that does not makes it okay to paint all men as that fucked in the head just because there are men who are rapists.  If you could even call them “men”, or even human.  It takes a pretty sick fuck to rape someone, which makes it all the more worse to make these statements implying that men as whole are all that fucked up. Yay for misandry.  But in all seriousness, in considering that the majority of rape perpetrators are dudes, this is totally in line. @ Muslim Tip #32 But in all seriousness, in considering that the majority of people who blow up planes are Muslims, this is totally in line. @ Black Tip #7 But in all seriousness, in considering that the majority of people who rob from stores are black, this is totally in line. Still seem logical? ^ No, it is not logical at all. NOT AT ALL. This is seriously really fucked-up to be comparing rape culture that is socialized into the fabric of the way that consent and sexual interactions are taught to people to the extremely few Muslim terrorists that is in no way related nor comparable because Muslim terrorism is not socialized; that is an aberration that the West likes to make up. Nor should you be comparing rape culture to the misrepresented crime rates of black people in America and the prison industrial complex because it has absolutely no bearing to this conversation and is not comparable at all. This is seriously not something up for debate. Would you like to support that? They are entirely comparable. Bigotry is comparable with bigotry. Generalisation is comparable with generalisation.  A minority of Group X do Action Y The majority of people doing Action Y are in Group X All members of Group X do Action Y That’s illogical no matter what the context. It’s not acceptable to generalise Muslims or Christians or feminists or whites or blacks or men or women or children. That sort of ignorance and stereotyping is always going to be a problem. Stereotyping men as rapists is comparable to a made-up aberation and misrepresented crime rates, because it is both. Men face inequality in the justice system as much as any other group, if not more. This sort of stereotyping is therefore both widespread and institutionalised, and so perpetuating it is very much comparable. Read those links fully before commenting. You’re attempting to defend this inequality. Defending your right to assume that half of the world’s population and no better than sex-crazed animals incapable of morality. I’m sorry, but you cannot defend that and call yourself pro-equality. Your only argument seems to be ‘it’s not bad for men because I know it’s not bad for men’, not matter what statistics or examples people throw at you. You’re stuck in your dogma, and if you don’t open your mind you are never going to get out. Think: is there anything that would make you change your mind? If so, name it, and it will be provided. If not, please stop erasing people and attacking their viewpoints if you are never going to shift from your own. Given that a good number of modern feminists on here are happy to check their privilege, and that almost all of the intelligent young women I know in real life are equally open-minded and willing, you are living in the past. Some of the exclusive things you say are bemusing, others are downright offensive. This is one of the latter. If you honestly want to assume that I am a rapist simply because of the way I was born, then please do not contact this blog again. For your own sake, have a serious think about what you stand for. We’re talking about the West here. Muslims are a minority, black people are a minority, men as a group are not a protected minority at all. Terrorism is not ingrained in our culture, theft is not ingrained in our culture, but the misguided teachings of how consent and sex operates in interpersonal lives is something that is and spans across all groups and people and therefore is just not comparable because you are conflating the multiplicity of rape culture with misinformation on two oppressed groups that have specific needs. The original flier is a commentary on the ways in which mainstream discourse on rape is attributed to teachings people how to protect themselves rather than trying to teach people - mostly men - that the way that we’ve been taught on how to think about sex and power is wrong and that we need to change that. And it is specifically pointing out the teaching to men because there needs to be a reformation in certain ways that boys and men are taught to think about sex.
Pop-upView Separately

iamabutchsolo:

just-smith:

iamabutchsolo:

just-smith:

anirishginger:

[Trigger Warning: racism, rape]

yusaburu:

falserapeculture:

These “Dudetips” are scattered around UCLA.

Can you imagine the outcry if it read:

Muslim tip #32

If you get on a plane,
remember not to blow 
it up. 

This is seriously disgusting.

Continuing with examples that most people would consider more offensive:

Black Tip #7

If you enter a store,
remember not to rob
them.

And yet somehow this is “okay”?  Rape is an absolutely terrible thing, but that does not makes it okay to paint all men as that fucked in the head just because there are men who are rapists.  If you could even call them “men”, or even human.  It takes a pretty sick fuck to rape someone, which makes it all the more worse to make these statements implying that men as whole are all that fucked up.

Yay for misandry.  But in all seriousness, in considering that the majority of rape perpetrators are dudes, this is totally in line.

@ Muslim Tip #32

But in all seriousness, in considering that the majority of people who blow up planes are Muslims, this is totally in line.

@ Black Tip #7

But in all seriousness, in considering that the majority of people who rob from stores are black, this is totally in line.

Still seem logical?

^ No, it is not logical at all. NOT AT ALL. This is seriously really fucked-up to be comparing rape culture that is socialized into the fabric of the way that consent and sexual interactions are taught to people to the extremely few Muslim terrorists that is in no way related nor comparable because Muslim terrorism is not socialized; that is an aberration that the West likes to make up. Nor should you be comparing rape culture to the misrepresented crime rates of black people in America and the prison industrial complex because it has absolutely no bearing to this conversation and is not comparable at all. This is seriously not something up for debate.

Would you like to support that? They are entirely comparable. Bigotry is comparable with bigotry. Generalisation is comparable with generalisation. 

  1. A minority of Group X do Action Y
  2. The majority of people doing Action Y are in Group X
  3. All members of Group X do Action Y

That’s illogical no matter what the context. It’s not acceptable to generalise Muslims or Christians or feminists or whites or blacks or men or women or children. That sort of ignorance and stereotyping is always going to be a problem.

Stereotyping men as rapists is comparable to a made-up aberation and misrepresented crime rates, because it is both. Men face inequality in the justice system as much as any other group, if not more. This sort of stereotyping is therefore both widespread and institutionalised, and so perpetuating it is very much comparable. Read those links fully before commenting.

You’re attempting to defend this inequality. Defending your right to assume that half of the world’s population and no better than sex-crazed animals incapable of morality. I’m sorry, but you cannot defend that and call yourself pro-equality. Your only argument seems to be ‘it’s not bad for men because I know it’s not bad for men’, not matter what statistics or examples people throw at you. You’re stuck in your dogma, and if you don’t open your mind you are never going to get out. Think: is there anything that would make you change your mind? If so, name it, and it will be provided. If not, please stop erasing people and attacking their viewpoints if you are never going to shift from your own. Given that a good number of modern feminists on here are happy to check their privilege, and that almost all of the intelligent young women I know in real life are equally open-minded and willing, you are living in the past. Some of the exclusive things you say are bemusing, others are downright offensive. This is one of the latter.

If you honestly want to assume that I am a rapist simply because of the way I was born, then please do not contact this blog again. For your own sake, have a serious think about what you stand for.

We’re talking about the West here. Muslims are a minority, black people are a minority, men as a group are not a protected minority at all. Terrorism is not ingrained in our culture, theft is not ingrained in our culture, but the misguided teachings of how consent and sex operates in interpersonal lives is something that is and spans across all groups and people and therefore is just not comparable because you are conflating the multiplicity of rape culture with misinformation on two oppressed groups that have specific needs.

The original flier is a commentary on the ways in which mainstream discourse on rape is attributed to teachings people how to protect themselves rather than trying to teach people - mostly men - that the way that we’ve been taught on how to think about sex and power is wrong and that we need to change that. And it is specifically pointing out the teaching to men because there needs to be a reformation in certain ways that boys and men are taught to think about sex.

(via daughterofmulan)

Source: falserapeculture

What’s next? Youth water? “Keep your youthful, beautiful looks by hydrating with our zen-infused, antioxidant-rich Youth Water!”
Pop-upView Separately

What’s next? Youth water? “Keep your youthful, beautiful looks by hydrating with our zen-infused, antioxidant-rich Youth Water!”

(via helloyoucreatives)

Source: ad-busting

Don't Imprison Marissa Alexander for Standing Her Ground

“The Stand Your Ground Defense isn’t protecting domestic abuse victim Marissa Alexander - who didn‘t shoot anyone.
After enduring a year of violence from her husband, Rico Gray, who has a documented history of abuse, she decided to arm herself for protection. 
The next time came just nine days after giving birth to their daughter. Gray, in a rage, had her cornered, and when he saw her pistol, he threatened to kill her. But instead of shooting him, she aimed upward. The only thing she hit was the ceiling.
Gray responded by running into the street, claiming his wife had threatened to kill him and his boys. Marissa, on his word alone, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Alexander now faces twenty years in prison. And even though Gray has since recanted, a Florida judge just denied her the right to a new trial under the state’s Stand Your Ground law.
Tell Florida to grant Marissa a new trial!”

Fields Takes Fox to Titty City

“Anyone watching Fox News’s Neil Cavuto Wednesday afternoon was in for a real treat of exposed breasts. Free of charge. The star of the soft porn film, er show, was The Daily Caller‘s Michelle Fields, who decided to go on national TV with a large portion of her breasts jiggling out of her shirt.

This isn’t the first time Cavuto’s program and others have been criticized for having on scantily clad female guests. Media Matters wrote about the rash of sexism emanating from the network’s programming in January 2011. They pounded that point home again in March 2009. And as far back as 2007 Conservative Radio Commentator Laura Ingraham voiced strong complaints to FNC’s Bill O’Reilly. To which O’Reilly said, ‘I don’t have anything to do with Cavuto. He’s a demented guy.’ Ingraham complained of the male newscasters playing loops and loops of racy images of females. ‘I don’t know if there’s a rampant midlife crisis going on on this network among the male anchors, but I can tell you that my female listeners are saying … what is the purpose?’”