Not being racist is not some default starting position. You don’t simply get to say you’re not a racist; not being racist — or a sexist or a homophobe — is a constant, arduous process of unlearning, of being uncomfortable, of eating crow and being humbled and re-evaluating. It’s probably hard to start that process if you’ve been told that every thought you have is golden and should be given voice, and that people who are offended by what you say are hypersensitive simpletons.
– PostBourgie (via genderbendingriotqueer, meow-sense) (via sweetcalamity) (via trashera) Via dumpster dives
This dress was inspired by the student in my sociology class who thought that all feminists were hairy and butch. I just want to make sure that everyone knows that a feminist can wear whatever the fuck she or he (or both or neither) feels like wearing. My sociology professor loved the dress and she gave me extra credit! I used a potato stamp to make the print, I used a vintage pattern to make the dress, and I embroidered the phrase “This is what a feminist looks like” on the bodice.
It took a special kind of guts to be a fuckup as a woman, I thought. To say to hell with being the nice girl, the responsible one, the one who makes sure the man takes care of himself and eats properly and doesn’t take too many drugs. To be just as nihilistic and self-destructive as a man, knowing all along that you’ll get crucified for it, because somehow, the world will make everything your fault. He’ll be a martyr, and you’ll be a succubus. He’ll be a genius and you’ll be a groupie, He’ll be a hero, and you’ll be an ugly fat crack whore who deserves to die.
– Rachel Shukert, on Courtney Love (via occult-symmetry)(Source: eredit)
Via dumpster divesI don’t think it’s terribly controversial to note that women, from a young age, are required to consider the reality of the opposite gender’s consciousness in a way that men aren’t. This isn’t to say that women don’t often misunderstand, mistreat, and stereotype men, both in literature and in life. But on a basic level, functioning in society requires that women register that men are fully conscious; it is not really possible for a woman to throw up her hands and write men off as eternally unknowable space aliens — and even if she says she has, she cannot really behave as though she has. Every element of her life — from reading books about boys and men to writing papers about the motivations of male characters to being attentive to her own safety to navigating most any institutional or professional or economic sphere — demands an ironclad familiarity with, and belief in, the idea that men really are fully human entities. And no matter how many men come to the same conclusions about women, the structure of society simply does not demand so strenuously that they do so. If you didn’t really deep down believe that women were, in general, exactly as conscious as you, you could probably still get by in life. You could probably still get a book deal. You could probably still get elected to office.
– Jennifer duBois, Writing Across Gender (via florida-uterati) Via dumpster divesBecause I’m fucking fat.
If you want to stop having self-doubt days, go right ahead. I will support you in any way that I can.
But fuck you for saying that the days you feel gross and lazy and unsuccessful are your “fat days.”
Because my fat days are full of love, and…
On January 12, 2010, one day after his 18th birthday, CAPA High School honors student Jordan Trent Miles was ambushed by three plain clothes Pittsburgh police officers, who failed to identify themselves and approached him aggressively. The officers did not say “Stop! Police!”, they jumped out of an unmarked vehicle, one of them yelling “Where’s your money? Where’s the drugs? Where’s the gun?” Miles, never before in trouble with the police and thinking he was being robbed, began to run, and slipped on the icy sidewalk. The officers overtook Miles and administered a brutal beating that left him unrecognizable, ripping dreadlocks out of his head, and continuing to beat him as he lay on the ground after their initial assault, stammering the Lord’s Prayer. There can be no explaining away or excusing what was done to Miles.
The police officers lied about what happened, claiming there was a bulge in his pocket they assumed was a gun but “turned out to be a Mountain Dew bottle”. No bottle was ever entered into evidence, and Jordan and his friends will tell you he doesn’t even drink the soda. The officers also attempted to claim a neighbor reported him as a prowler and attempted to bring assault charges against Miles, which were tossed out of court when the neighbor said she did no such thing. Despite all this, the City of Pittsburgh went on to reward these violent officers with a commendation and, during their suspension, paid them more than they earned while working. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh DA has not brought charges and the Justice Department announced on May 4th, 2011 that it would not prosecute the three officers. The mayor and police chief announced on May 5th that the three officers would be returning to work.
“I feel that my son was racially profiled,” Terez Miles said. “It’s a rough neighborhood; it was after dark. … They assumed he was up to no good because he’s black. My son, he knows nothing about the streets at all. He’s had a very sheltered life, he’s very quiet, he doesn’t know police officers sit in cars and stalk people like that.”
this is exactly what i’m talking about.
look at the pathetic amount of notes on this. why can’t this get coverage? i don’t give a shit about another missing white girl.
Omg :-/
It’s a sad fact, but for every Trayvon Martin, where the nation rises up and cries for justice, there a dozens of Jordan Miles and Marissa Alexanders. Jordan needs justice, but we can’t stop with having the police officers who assaulted him jailed. Our society needs to change. We need to stop seeing black men and thinking “criminal,” we need to stop seeing black women and thinking “it was her own fault.”
This shit is so shocking to me. Like I can’t believe people are actually this awful.This is disgusting. What they done is totally unjustifiable, and they should be prosecuted. And reading about them ripping out his dreadlocks made me cringe
(Source: kushite)
Via dumpster dives
I want a soul mate who can sit me down, shut me up, tell me ten things I don’t already know, and make me laugh. I don’t care what you look like, just turn me on. And if you can do that, I will follow you on bloody stumps through the snow. I will nibble your mukluks with my own teeth. I will do your windows. I will care about your feelings. Just have something in there.
– Henry Rollins (via melodyandviolence)(Source: isetthingsonfire)
Via dumpster dives“Like it or not, fat people are at war. I’m not hyperbolizing or dramatizing. If you don’t believe me, Google “War on obesity”. Tonight HBO premiered its new documentary series “The Weight of a Nation”. On the premiere page it says “Obesity in America has reached a catastrophic level. Almost every aspect of our lives is threatened. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back.” I spend a lot of my time politely asking people to please stop oppressing me. I don’t apologize for that, nor do I begrudge it – it’s proven to be a very effective way to create change and I think that people deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt and the support they need to shift their thinking, and it’s a reasonably pleasant form of activism. I will continue to do it. But I also have to acknowledge that there is a war being waged against me because of how I look, by people who have been given every opportunity to know better. In concert with HBO’s documentary, I received a Tweet letting me know that Kaiser Permanente is launching the “most aggressive anti-obesity campaign in history.” They know that there are healthy fat people and unhealthy thin people. They know that not a shred of research shows that any method of weight loss works in the long term. They know that research shows us that we could vastly increase health by providing access to healthy foods, safe movement options, and affordable/free evidence based health care. Nobody is obligated to be healthy or thin; however, I wonder how many people would make different choices if they knew they just need 30 minutes of moderate movement 5 days a week? If they knew that people who choose simple healthy habits have very similar health outcomes regardless of weight. What would people choose if they knew they could abandon the goal of weight loss completely and they could still pursue health. America could be a successful role model for giving people access to health, but instead they are choosing to be a failed role model for thinness - waging war on people based on their appearance for tremendous profit and actively blaming the casualties of the war for the war’s massive failures. Let’s be clear - they are pathologizing a body size. It doesn’t matter if they say that we need to seek solutions environmentally instead of at the individual level, or if they say that we should have “compassion” for fat people – they are still telling people that is is not ok to exist in fat bodies and that they should see fat bodies as a threat to America. There are tons of thin people who eat unhealthy foods and are sedentary (which is completely their right), but as far as the government is concerned, as long as you are thin you’re part of the “solution,” feel free to do whatever you want. They want people to look at me (and you, if you’re fat) and think “She is part of a catastrophe. She is threatening almost every aspect of our lives. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back against her.” I say that if they want a war, I will damn well give them one.”THE GOVERNMENT FOUND A GROUP OF PEOPLE IDENTIFIABLE BY HOW WE LOOK, ALLOWED THOSE WITH A PROFIT INTEREST IN ANTI-OBESITY TO CALCULATE OUR “COST” TO SOCIETY, DECIDED THAT WE SHOULD BE ERADICATED TO MAKE THINGS CHEAPER, THEN BROUGHT TOGETHER PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INTERESTS AND DECLARED WAR ON US. THAT IS TERRIFYING. AND IT’S HAPPENING.—
They Want A War, Let’s Give Them One - By Ragen Chastain
This fat body is not your battleground nor your cannon fodder. You want a war, you’re going to get one right back.
