…but it has to be said: At a certain point, endless Tumblr-enabled debates about sexual identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual interests take on the flavor of those how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin debates that obsessed theologians in the Middle Ages.
That pathetic moment when the worst an identity erasing creep can do is compare you to a theologian. No, not that! Careful there “Tumblr-enabled debates”! Dan Savage is noticing that you’re breaking new ground in gender studies without his input. You think he can let that slide?
(via manhatingman)
OH NOES PEOPLE ARE USING LABELS I DONT UNDERSTAND AND THINKING ABOUT OPPRESSION THAT DOESNT AFFECT ME ITS MADNESS WHAT IF NOBODY WAS OPPRESSED IT WOULD BE ANARCHY AND THE UNIVERSE WOULD COLLAPSE
Seriously why do these people even care? If Dan Savage and those who agree with him don’t like it, they can stay out of it and kindly STFU. Better a few “special snowflakes” getting to mess around with gender or sexuality labels than people who actually are those things getting dismissed/erased/scoffed at. It has nothing to do with the actual content of what people are saying and everything to do with policing others’ lifestyle choices and denying their own privilege.
(via shulamithbond)
No but you know what “endless Tumblr-enabled debates” has actually done? It has created an open dialogue, easily accessible and incredibly accepting, for everyone to participate and be involved in. It has given a platform to people who would otherwise be completely shut out and marginalized in all other spaces.
Through these “endless Tumblr-enabled debates” people can critically analyze and discuss the problematic elements of the society we live in. They can pick apart the nuances, the tropes, the harmful stereotypes that permeate our culture, draw attention to them, and demand change.
And I believe that, most importantly, “endless Tumblr-enabled debates” can educate well-meaning people on these incredibly important, complex subjects, where they may otherwise have no venue for learning about them. What school system will explain what transphobia is and why it is harmful? What TV show or movie is going to accurately portray the perpetuation and effects of racism? What undergrad university will require a gender and women’s studies course as a general requirement?
The answer is none of these, at least not commonly, and yet—speaking personally for myself here—I have learned so much about all of this, just through reading and listening to people on tumblr talking about their experiences and hearing their point of view on things I have never personally experienced.
So Dan Savage, I am sure you will never read this, but I will say it anyway: It is exactly those people with identities which you consider to be theoretical, rhetorical playthings at best, who deserve the most room to speak, and it is people like you and me, who would benefit the most from listening.
(via aquietrevolutionary)
(via aquietrevolutionary)
A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have been painted; while within the narrative, we have many apparent choices of exit, but when the author leads us to one particular door, we know it is the right one because it opens.
John Updike (via writingquotes)(via rainbowrites)
A woman can preach, a woman can work, a woman can fight. A woman can build, can rule, can conquer, can destroy just as much as a man can.
(via ozyreads)
…but it has to be said: At a certain point, endless Tumblr-enabled debates about sexual identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual interests take on the flavor of those how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin debates that obsessed theologians in the Middle Ages.
That pathetic moment when the worst an identity erasing creep can do is compare you to a theologian. No, not that! Careful there “Tumblr-enabled debates”! Dan Savage is noticing that you’re breaking new ground in gender studies without his input. You think he can let that slide?
(via manhatingman)
OH NOES PEOPLE ARE USING LABELS I DONT UNDERSTAND AND THINKING ABOUT OPPRESSION THAT DOESNT AFFECT ME ITS MADNESS WHAT IF NOBODY WAS OPPRESSED IT WOULD BE ANARCHY AND THE UNIVERSE WOULD COLLAPSE
Seriously why do these people even care? If Dan Savage and those who agree with him don’t like it, they can stay out of it and kindly STFU. Better a few “special snowflakes” getting to mess around with gender or sexuality labels than people who actually are those things getting dismissed/erased/scoffed at. It has nothing to do with the actual content of what people are saying and everything to do with policing others’ lifestyle choices and denying their own privilege.
(via shulamithbond)
(via shulamithbond)
[F]or the first several years the SAT was offered, males scored higher than females on the Math section but females achieved higher scores on the Verbal section. ETS policy-makers determined that the Verbal test needed to be “balanced” more in favor of males, and added questions pertaining to politics, business and sports to the Verbal portion. Since that time, males have outscored females on both the Math and Verbal sections. Dwyer notes that no similar effort has been made to “balance” the Math section, and concludes that, “It could be done, but it has not been, and I believe that probably an unconscious form of sexism underlies this pattern. When females show the superior performance, ‘balancing’ is required; when males show the superior performance, no adjustments are necessary.”
“Gender Bias in College Admissions Tests”, FairTest.org
And then people urge me everything is fine, of course it is, when you’re ignoring statistics that is.
(via cwnl)
Oh look. Men beating women in SATs is yet another thing they can’t take credit for. You boys are useless.
(via iphisquandary)
(Source: fairtest.org, via shulamithbond)
If you are queer, or trans, or have mental illness, or all of the above, you probably know something about the perils of presenting yourself as you really are. Dan-Savage-style coming-out narratives notwithstanding, many of us who are placed socially in these ways find that we cannot be completely authentic in all aspects of our lives. I definitely want to express myself, but I have to balance that against other needs, like being able to make a living in a capitalist society. If I dressed the way I’d prefer to, if I talked more openly about the times when my depression and anxiety prevent me from getting work done, I might find it harder to fit in, to stay attached to a professional group, to stay employed, than I already do. So instead, I wear T-shirts and cargo pants, and I let people think (at times) that I’m merely disorganized or not that committed to what I do.
In my opinion, it takes a lot of privilege to assume either that greater authenticity leads to greater happiness, or that the only reason you would leave who you are at the door when you step or roll into work is the formal, organizational structure of the place where you work.Structure and Justice | Geek Feminism Blog (via brute-reason)
GODDAMN WOULD YOU LOOK, SOMEONE DESCRIBED MY LIFE. (via theprophetlilith)I’m looking at a career in which I may have to try my hardest to pass as cis because my gender identity may “harm the therapeutic frame”.
(via hobbitdragon)
Damn, I keep trying to explain this to people and have never been able to do it this well. ‘Be yourself’ isn’t a reality for most people. If it was, I’d be able to hide under my desk and wail and sob when my brain can’t handle day to day life.
(via rainwen)
(via shulamithbond)
(Source: lmnpnch, via fuckyeahfirefly)
It’s astounding to think that… that’s everything – his laugh, his thoughts, his dreams, and his movements. That little dash, barely half an inch, crammed between two dates and etched forever into stone, is meant to represent his whole life.
Benjamin Evert, Dear Reader (via captainnaustralia)
Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
William Strunk Jr. (via writingquotes)(via referenceforwriters)
I don’t want to be a feminist anymore. Like a five-year-old, I want to close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears, stomp my feet on the floor and scream “No! No, you cannot make me, I won’t, leave me alone!” I am, simply put, too tired. So very, very tired.
I am tired of fighting with my friends. I am tired of arguing that someone groping and slapping my butt isn’t “what I have to expect”, just because I’m at a bar, and the one attacking my butt has a drink in the other hand. I am tired of hearing “boys will be boys” and “when you’re dressed like that …” and “that’s just what guys do”. I am tired of trying to drown those sentiments in loud, repetitive no’s, screamed over and over again, till my throat is sore and my voice weak – just to hear them repeated, as soon as exhaustion threatens to silence me.
I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of seeing someone writing something offensive, sexist, racist, ageist, ableist, somewhere online. I am tired of seeing those writings getting likes and lol’s, and SO TRUE’s. I am tired of being consumed by confusion and anger, typing, typing, typing and typing a seemingly endless response, including research, links and statistics, and then hesitate clicking “submit”. I am tired of knowing that I hesitate because I am afraid of the flood of responses that will come. I am tired of knowing that I will be bombarded with lighten up’s, stop whining’s and get a sense of humor’s for so long, that I will start to wonder if I am indeed wound up too tight, a nagger and humorless. I am tired of the fact that I’m afraid of being called a cunt, even though I don’t find genitalia insulting or demeaning.
I don’t want to be a feminist anymore. (via gingerrqueer)(via margaeryswolf)
