![guerrillamamamedicine:
bookishboi:
[IMAGE: SCREENSHOT OF A TEXT POST: An anonymous person sent a question to bookishboi asking “If a white-passing Irish either one-eighth black or 1/16 not sure wears an African headdress is that cultural appropriation?” Bookishboi replies below, saying “If one of my fingers is a pacifist but the rest of my hand still smacks you, will you still feel pain?” ]
Made Rebloggable By Request
today is a good day.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/9e0e74bf51e5bf56688c3e8964e7cce8/tumblr_mn3nvfLZx41qghfhfo1_500.png)
[IMAGE: SCREENSHOT OF A TEXT POST: An anonymous person sent a question to bookishboi asking “If a white-passing Irish either one-eighth black or 1/16 not sure wears an African headdress is that cultural appropriation?” Bookishboi replies below, saying “If one of my fingers is a pacifist but the rest of my hand still smacks you, will you still feel pain?” ]
Made Rebloggable By Request
today is a good day.
Yesterday I posted a photograph of Beyoncé on Ms. Magazine with some probing questions that I have for the article, which included this text:
I will be interested in seeing if the article reveals the nuances of her perspectives (such as ones revealed in her documentary), whether they challenge or affirm patriarchy at times (as she, like many women do both) or will the article solely hold her to an unreachable standard where she has to be bell hooks to be feminist while Lena Dunham, not Gloria Steinem appears to be the bar of White feminism. Again, nonfamous womanists and feminists should not be overly THIRSTY for celebrities to validate feminism. At the same time, I am interested in reading more of Bey’s perspectives on self-esteem, empowerment, confidence, inclusion, sexuality, LGBTQ, friendships and romance/marriage, for example. (I am DEFINITELY not interested her (or anyone) being labeled “unfeminist,” as I wrote about before. That word, specifically, is problematic.)
Silly me; I originally thought the article was an interview. Apparently, it is not. Since yesterday, I learned that: 1) The article is behind a paywall and not accessible to poor women or anyone without a subscription. 2) The Facebook thread for the article is disgusting, as expected. Many of the comments have the typical misogynoir and respectability politics that people seem to have confused for feminism. 3) The thread itself ends with a question, which part of it reads “Has Beyoncé ‘earned’ her feminist credentials?” Credentials and feminism should NEVER be used in the same sentence. This reeks of the merge of White supremacy, “legitimacy” and education.
In my post on Storify today, Is Beyoncé Going To Be Critiqued By White Feminists Ad Perpetuum?, I shared some Twitter conversation on the topic and raised six points as to why this critique, in general, seems never-ending and is non-productive, three of which include:
1) White women want to control and police feminism, which is actually quite White supremacist and patriarchal. It seems that theist, cisgender, heterosexual, thin, middle class, White women in the West think that feminism is their plaything and country club. It isn’t. Even White women without some of these privileges still stand firm against Beyoncé in a way that they would not do to any White woman, feminist or not, celebrity or not. They still view Black women as “allies” to their feminism, not actual women or feminists.
2) Feminism tends to have an element of inaccessibility by class and education, which definitely connects to race. By class, of course, Beyoncé doesn’t have this issue. She can access whatever she wants in any space. She has a platform. However, many of those with literacy/formal education privilege do not want Beyoncé to be considered feminist because she is not an academic. Black women have to be bell hooks to be considered feminist, but the bar (which should not even exist for any women) for White feminists is Lena Dunham? Beyoncé has no college education and she was home-schooled for a lot of her education as well. She is not the picture of a “scholar.” But neither was Sojourner Truth. Neither were Black blues singers or Black women who worked as domestics. Many still were the faces of resistance for Black women.
3) Some women, both White and Black, view Black women’s sexuality as automatically deviant, even if that woman is heterosexual, with heterosexual privilege. White heterosexuality is deemed the “norm” of heterosexuality. Heterosexual Black women are still deemed sexually deviant, even if they have the privilege that lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans* Black women do not. Thus, Beyoncé being sexual with her art, despite being in a highly heteronormative, presumably monogamous, heterosexual marriage and being a mother is not “enough” to deem her “respectable.” The problem is respectability politics are constructs of patriarchy, NOT feminism. Then there is the concept of sexuality within art itself. When is it “too sexual?” The fact that Miley Cyrus in a White body is not deemed “dirty” for twerking, yet Black women and our bodies automatically make the dance “dirty” reveals this race-specific misogyny, or misogynoir.The fact that Jenna Jameson (a White woman deemed “mainstream” now) is a porn star in a patriarchal society and receives less criticism for her sexuality than Beyoncé speaks to the racism involved in the perception of sexuality. Beyoncé has been blamed for everything from teen sexuality and poor health to sex trafficking, and people think this criticism is normal and logical. This reveals how deep racism and sexism runs in our society, as it pertains to Black women, specifically.
A Black woman does not have to pass a certain “bar” of entry that White women hold before she is “acceptable” to feminism and this suggestion is most certainly racist, especially since White women are automatically assumed to be feminist. Even White women who openly hated feminism, such as Margaret Thatcher, has had the label “feminist” placed upon her post-mortem. White women can be considered feminist even when clearly operating in ways that reinforce imperialist White supremacist capitalist hetero-patriarchy, like Thatcher did (examine her damn record, one that is as patriarchal and imperialist as any White male leader), yet Beyoncé is consistently attacked for not meeting some arbitrary standard as White women stand GUARD over feminism?
I’ve also noticed that some Black women and other women of colour do not want Beyoncé associated with feminism in any way, and unfortunately, their reasoning seems to be tied into respectability politics. They think choosing the “positive” side of patriarchal binaries is what feminism is about, such as being a “good” role model and exemplifying “perfect” womanhood, as dictated by theism and patriarchy. This is also a mistake. Even so, it seems that the largest voices against Beyoncé amidst feminist spaces are White women’s voices—probably because there are so many of them and because their voices are amplified due to White privilege. When most of them dissent, it hits a major blog or newspaper. When most Black women dissent it’s via tweets or personal blogs. The access points differ in scope. Even when a Black woman or another woman of colour writes about Beyoncé for a major publication, ironically (or not so) her views seem to match White feminists’ views against Beyoncé. Perhaps this is what it takes to be published.
Critique is important. No one is above it. But this perpetual critique of Beyoncé is no longer productive critique. (I am not sure that it ever was.) This critique is creating arbitrary standards that Black feminists have to meet that White feminists do not. This is racist antagonism towards Black women if they are loved, are considered beautiful and are successful. This is respectability politics and misogynoir masquerading as feminism. This is intellectual elitism. This is double standards—ones where Beyoncé’s experience with capitalism is evil but Sheryl Sandberg’s is good, where Beyoncé’s sexuality is deviant and Lena Dunham’s is empowering, where Beyoncé being married and a mother is just her succumbing to patriarchy but for White women, it’s deemed a powerful choice, especially if coupled with a career.
If White women view Black women as inferior and White feminists view Black feminists as inferior at worst or as “allies,” “sidekicks” or just Black women to “save” not actual feminists, at best, the problem is theirs, not Beyoncé’s or Black women’s at all.
White women need to stop guarding the invisible gate to feminism. It’s not a country club. That was never the point. Leave the gates and hierarchies for patriarchy.
Sweet like sow sap: When do boys meet girls? -
I was talking to one my homies and she was talking about how she no longer finds Dave Chappelle funny because she believes misogyny permeates through far too many of the sketches that involve women. I can’t really offer any sort of rebuttal to that because I haven’t watched the series in years and the only ones that come to mind pretty much exclude women except for the one when he is in the car dancing to some music and the woman with him titty pops out.
Then she started listening the stereotypes women get like they’re difficult, angry, nuts, and so on and so forth. Essentially, men don’t understand women as people. So, I sat on that for a couple a seconds. What I came up with is that it is to be expected. Men’s lives don’t intersect with women until a nigga wants to fuck. And I say nigga because and not because I’m black or to be crass, but put out the crassness of the conversation and the desired relationship with women. As young boys we are never encouraged, and often shunned if we do, to delve into the world that has been constructed as girl/women. You are not supposed to watch shows for girls, listen to music for girls, play with girls’ toys, read books for girls and pretty much anything that is marketed/divisible into boy and girl. None of the material we’re given as boys really even includes girls except in the tomboy role.
And the tomboy role is an interesting function. That is when girls are allowed, there are still hurdles and restricts considering she is still a girl, to interact with boys among boy society. There is always some pushback among the boy fraternity, but she will have interaction with boys on boy level. Far more than the inverse at least. While there are mountains of positive things to be said about girls being tomboys, from a male perspective this is problematic to me on some level because the interaction is only taking place in his territory (for the majority of the time at least).
Now for girls it is interesting to me because straight (OUT OF THE DUNGEONS OF RAP) of the womb they are pretty much forced to interact with the boy world in every facet of their life. Firstly, all things that they consume will pretty much be in lesser quantity than the boys. And even within the little that they get exclusively targeted to them there will pretty much always be substantial male influence/characters permeating throughout the entirety to it. Shit, there are times with stories that take place in an entire female border school/university and with just a single male character he dominates the narrative. So, with parse amount they do receive they still get healthy (err…) doses of boyhood. In addition to that they’re encouraged to play with boys and consume our media alongside us. Women’s lives are intertwined with both masculinity and femininity since they are toddlers. It would seem contradictory to say that men’s lives aren’t, but we have to keep in mind that men only meet women in childhood and adolescence on their ground. No budges.
Now we get to a nigga wants to fuck stage. Fucking clueless as all hell. This may feel like a tangent, but I believe it bares mentioning. Lets sit back and think how many men actually know what a period is. Right? Right? This is one of the most basic things that can happen to women, but it is not understand by men beyond bad stand-up, terrible stereotypes on TV, and signifying that now that particular woman is able to get pregnant. I think that is one of our greatest examples of our profound ignorance of women. A simple biological necessity in order to make sure that the planet continues to have your species is barely understood beyond the most tenuous grasps of the basics. Where was I again? Okay yes, a nigga wants to fuck and we’re clueless. We’ve had zero training or preparation for this. Shit we haven’t even learned that you’re fellow fucking human beings yet! Jesus, we’re fucked. Sort of. Well not sort of, it’s a no. Women kind of just accept our ignorance because of one of our favorite phrases “boys will be boys.”
I know a positive example of a woman that are usually in boys lives in the mother. I would say it’s a good point. I would, but I won’t. Why? Well because mothers are not women to their sons. Mothers to sons barely exist on the same plain as human beings. They are God damn heavenly perfect figures. Which is why men who love their mothers (live, breathe, and die for them) can still give zero fucks about the treatment of other women in the world including how he treats women. I believe that regardless of how much a girl may love her daddy, there will almost certainly be a certain point and time in relationship when she starts seeing his as both a man and father (or even just a men who happens to be her father).
I feel like now I should answer my question prompted in the title. I honestly can’t say when because I think a significant percentage (I am neither optimistic or pessimistic right now so I would say majority or major minority) simply do not. That’s not to say these men secretly hate the women they are married to, have kids with, and stay married with their entire lives. Nope. Still love. That’s all possible. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he recognizes their humanity. It doesn’t mean he has any grasp on the totality of women as people. It’s just, I don’t know. Feels like an extremely basic thing you know?
Then again I’m still working on myself with deconstruction within my mind and my views on women aren’t always awash in completely picture perfect views of women as people. Doesn’t matter whether I fucking loved the Powerpuff Girls growing up or that I had more female friends than male friends in schooling or that most of the characters I emphasize with in film are women or that I love or 15 million other things, they are still there regardless. It’s a long process that shouldn’t be a long process. I’m still ashamed of myself for it.
Bolded for emphasis.
I wanted this back on my dashboard/tumblr. I thought of a name to describe what I’m talking about “From cooties ‘til coochie.” It is our long period when both culturally and interpersonally boys are taught to not socialize with women until they are trying to date them. It starts with not wanting to be around girls because of cooties and it ends when the aim is to get some coochie. There’s this extremely large void where boys aren’t socialized with women. They’re supposed to avoid shows, movies, music, books, and just general activities that cater to and are aimed at girls/women. Even in school with who history focuses on and how the stereotypes about girls are in science and math it is very gendered in terms of content and expectations. It is also very gendered in a great many religious institutions in the US. Additionally with the divide of boy scouts and girl scouts, sports, and childhood groups like that. The only interactions with women that boys generally may receive from women are through a caretaker relationship. It may be moms, aunts, grannies, cousins, teachers, or just family member friends at church or what not. With the exception of caretakers, if you’re only interactions with women are predicated on the idea that they are dumb, icky, and that you should do everything in your power to not want to be anything like a woman it is not surprising there are so many levels of hatred directed towards women and singular expectations towards the few women that are liked.
I wonder if anyone has studied this in relation to boys with significantly older sisters. Because that’s a different dynamic…family, but not a mother and not quite a caretaker. My brother is seven years younger than me, so he grew up around me and my friends and playing with us as friends in all our adolescent glory. He has zero qualms about all the pictures of him in dresses and make up having tea parties with me. He used to beg me and my friends to play Barbies with us because he wanted to be included in what the “cool big kids” were doing. Of his guy friends now, he’s the only one capable of having friendships, actual non-sex expecting friendships, with girls or even of carrying on casual conversations with them. All of his guy friends are older brothers. Of course he’s still internalized a bunch of shit because yay society and media, but there’s a noticeable enough difference in the way he interacts with women that random strangers comment on it.
(via jhameia)
more to the point. i don’t want to cut of my breasts to make sure i don’t get cancer. i will if i have to, but i don’t want to.
i want to clean up the bajillion pounds of heavy toxins all over the industrial corridor and flying off of the freeways up and down the I75…
“This one time I was Milan and I’m literally around multi-millionaires and billionaires at this dinner and Dita Von Teese gets on stage and she gets buck naked and she spins around in a big martini glass and everyone clapped for her. And it’s bullshit. It’s not fair that it’s OK for her to do it because she doing it for rich white people but you know I was in like, the hood, and I did what I had to do to survive… and I constantly get ridiculed.” —
- Amber Rose
Curve Magazine Interview “The Real Amber Rose” (2011)
YES THIS HELLO
(via so-treu)
It’s why I don’t buy into these white girl pin-up/burlesque revival fantasies.
(via thegoddamazon)
forever reblog coz pinup and burlesque were stolen from woc to begin with.
(via bad-dominicana)
Relevant to the double standard imposed on Beyoncé, currently being discussed yet again, too.
(Source: femmedreamboat, via crunkfeministcollective)
Meet Dominic. (I know his mom Shannon.) Dominic has autism and Down Syndrome and isn’t very verbal. But despite not talking much, he knows the words to One Direction’s songs and sings along every time. He connects to One Direction.
Shannon has entered a contest to win tickets to a 1D concert and a chance to meet the band, for Dominic. Winning this would be a dream come true for him.
You don’t have to sign up or do anything but click the link, that counts as a vote. Please take the 2 seconds to click and help Dominic?
Exercise doesn't help depression, study concludes -
A study into whether physical activity alleviates the symptoms of depression has found there is no benefit.
Research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that adding a physical activity intervention to usual care did not reduce symptoms of depression more than usual care alone.
This contrasts with current clinical guidance which recommends exercise to help those suffering from the mental illness, which affects one in six adults in Britain at any one time.I thought this was true and all - fuck yeah, randomised controlled trials!
study looks legit - conducted by reputable people, published in a good journal, with good analysis.
Do note that the original study results are as compared to “usual care.” Patients in both groups had regular access to the medical system and potentially to counseling and medication, and were referred into the study by their doctors. Exercise on top of their medical care provided no additional benefit. Now, whether exercise could help people who don’t have access to what this study defined as “usual care” is not discussed. It could be that exercise is at least better than nothing.
But it certainly indicates that exercise is not the cure-all that it has been touted to be.
(via clatterbane)
[video]
If you can’t concentrate in school because the mere sight of a girl’s bare leg is too much of a distraction, you are probably a danger to society tbh
(via becomingkeltik)
we gon talk about how Tim Wise has raised more than $13,000 in just a couple days on his kickstarter for his new documentary called “White Like Me”…
People of Color are more than capable of doing that same work.. And many are doing that same work… And they don’t garner that…
[video]
Many trans* women were excitedly anticipating the launch of Chrysalis Lingerie, a line of bras and panties made by and for trans* women. Chrysalis put out a very stylized promo featuring softly lit black and white footage of women in their lingerie, looking amazing. After a few delays, the line was finally recently launched. But, alas, it wasn’t what everyone had hoped for. Teagan Widmer explains at Interrupt Mag.
Today my Game Design class was playtesting, and the game my group got assigned to was based around getting laid. That was how you “won” the game. Furthermore, there was a mechanic that allowed you to get a girl drunk so that you could have sex with her. When I called said (all male) group out on this, they insisted it wasn’t rape. I naturally called them out on that as well, but people were willing to overlook it. That game was their finished product. I need to tell this story. This is not okay.
Emergency abortion funding needed - Women's Medical Fund - Acceptiva -
I got this email from the Women’s Medical Fund today:Today we learned of a vulnerable woman who needs financial assistance that far exceeds the support that WMF routinely provides.Deena* is a 28-year-old mother of two who suffers from a major chronic illness. During prenatal care, an ultrasound found that she is carrying a fetus with a rare and dangerous anomaly.In the midst of dealing with the news of this pregnancy, Deena faced yet another traumatic setback — the tragic death of a sibling.It has taken several weeks, but with the help of staff from three different agencies involved in her care, Deena has an appointment for her abortion. Due to health concerns, she must have her procedure in a hospital. The cost is $3,110.Deena supports her young family with her monthly Social Security benefit of $800. They live in a rented room for which she pays $500 per month. Deena uses Medicare for her health care coverage, but is prohibited by law from using it to pay for her abortion. She can contribute $10 toward the cost of her procedure.Can you help us provide Deena with $3,100 so that she can have her procedure? If WMF supports her with existing funds, we would have to turn away dozens of other women or girls with more routine needs. Instead, we are turning to you today to request an emergency contribution to restore Deena’s right to choose.I kicked in $25. Please, please signal boost and consider making a donation.
(via rabbleprochoice)
“HERO” is a very sacred word. Ben Shapiro, right wing “journalist” for Breitbart, has a VERY HIGH BAR for heroism, as we discussed in this post earlier.
Apparently, sports commentator Tim Brando shares those sentiments with Shapiro.
Tim Brando would like to make it very clear…Jason Collins, the NBA athlete who just came out as a gay man in the world of professional sports, IS NO HERO:
Um, ok. I don’t even understand what I’m supposed to get out of that, except for that fact that a Tim Brando is absolutely correct…a Tim Brando sex tape would absolutely not make history, because no one would give a shit.
He continues…
Tim Brando is very good at pointing out the fact that he is horrible at analogies.
But, let’s give him another chance…
Uh, “it’s a choice?” I’ve heard enough…
But, Tim Brando went on and on about the word “hero” blah blah blah blah…
OK! We get the point. Tim Brando DOES NOT use the word “HERO” LOOSELY. It is the most serious word in the dictionary and should not be taken lightly! Only firefighters, police officers, military, etc. are HEROES to Tim Brando. DEFINITELY NO ONE ELSE…
Except sportscaster Curt Gowdy:
…and sportscaster Frank Glieber…
…and when you score one-under-par in a game of golf…
I repeat, TIM BRANDO DOES NOT FUCK AROUND WITH THE TERM “HERO.”
It is reserved for only the most heroic of people…
Jason Collins, first major sports athlete to come out as a gay man? NOT A HERO.
Darius Rucker, lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish? A MOTHERFUCKING HERO.
