kariflack:

Hey what if basically anyone who isn’t a privileged cis white woman involved in feminist movement decided that hey, privileged white women have had their go with feminism. We’re not really sure they can justly represent its changing dynamics and the needs they don’t understand…

I don’t understand cis as a thing. Maybe the same way I never understood what a briefcase was for, as if it were a sacred thing that people who went to business school accrued by entering a secret pact. I was disappointed when I found out they were just glorified backpacks, containing bananas and poorly wrapped sandwiches and the odd assortment of paper.

Anyhoo, what is cis? I’ve looked it up, and it, I guess, is pretty straightforward in its meaning. I’ve been anything but normal, maybe this is why I can’t understand what normal is supposed to be. If you’ve succeeded to be normal in a sick society, pretty sure you have NO CLUE how you are supporting the structural problem. Face it, your briefcase is full of bananas, just like everyone else.

kariflack:

It makes me really sad when I see feminists online defend their male friends who act in oppressive ways against other feminists. I’m speaking to something I saw on Twitter recently, but it’s really nothing new.

And every time this has happened, that I have witnessed at least, it’s been a white cis woman feminist defending a male (not always so sure of their racial identity — in any case, their male privilege still stands AND they more than flex their entitlement when they are in need of nearly everyone’s sympathy involved). 

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that many white women’s feminism goes as far as their male allies are willing to extend their entitlement in understanding. (Which, suffice to say, isn’t much.) It’s very easy to fall into the ideological trap that since the wave that won so many white women so much comfort that transfers into this belief of “equality” (when it’s really that this is the budge white male capitalist patriarchy is willing to make in order for production purposes) even if one is skeptical of all the things that went down during that time.

They want that security that extends the privileges their class has been used to, even if it means putting down and ignoring their sisters to gain acceptance from patriarchy-loving dudes. White women have been objectified as the Desired throughout class stratification — media spells this out in the various ways white women are chic accessories for men. White women can be depicted as the lower class working everywoman, the high class debutante, the middle class princess, whatever. Whiteness makes this possible in its intersection with patriarchal rule.

But there should be no doubt that the man who puts down your sister because of her anger at being marginalized and who you go on to stand up for is going to do the same to you if you aren’t going to challenge that shit (and it could still happen because men acting in the construct of male supremacydon’t fucking care about you). This is not victim-blaming; the patterns work at these levels of communication up to the macro problems white women love to highlight in the news (eg Palestinian rights) while stepping on a sister right here at home. You’re not going to solve shit abroad if you can’t figure that out, and acting like you got some authority on what we can do for women who are oppressed in other countries is a whole other can of worms fraught with imperialist nonsense. 

White cis women who want to call themselves feminists yet side with abusive men is nothing new. They need to figure that shit out because the rest of us are tired of propping them up and making excuses when there are none.

Targeting women in foreign cultures for support is easier than confronting your own privilege. It’s easy to tell women in burka’s you are with them one hundred percent, while you are in your own burka of make-up, perfect hair, and carefully put together outfit that makes you attractive, but not too attractive, because, sluts.

I am so flipping glad you are on tumblr, finally. 

radiofreerichmond:

raqub:

dirtyrichmond:

Meanwhile in Richmond: Yesterday’s protest of nearly 500 at the Virginia State Capital. [Photograph by Scott Elmquist, Style Weekly]

Mara’s a bamf

Go, girl …

sandrafluke:

I thank the thousands of women and men, including members of Congress, Georgetown University students and faculty, and total strangers of all political stripes across the country who have offered kind words and support following recent egregious personal attacks.

 
We are fortunate to live in a democracy where everyone is entitled to their own opinions regarding legitimate policy differences.  Unfortunately, numerous commentators have gone far beyond the acceptable bounds of civil discourse. 

No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices.
 
 The millions of American women who have and will continue to speak out in support of women’s health care and access to contraception prove that we will not be silenced.”

beatonna:

Last night I was emailed some porn that someone drew of me because I said a thing on the internet that they disagreed with.  Because, there you go, ‘justice.’  When stuff like that comes your way you don’t usually say anything because who gives a fuck, but oh well, let’s do it anyway.  So, I’ve seen that shit before because I’ve been on the internet for 100 years, but it always looks like this:

Give me a break!  It should look like this

bookmarking because KariFlack said it was a must read.

If you don’t want the state mandating unnecessary medical procedures to shame you into keeping an unwanted pregnancy, the time to inform your legislature is now …

The Amazing Atheist

I have vague memories of thumbing up something the guy posted on YouTube, but didn’t associate the name with the Mens Rights scuffle on Reddit. As I recognized him, the thing that came to mind was, “Slavoj Žižek,” the Slovenian philosophy critic, who at first seems great because he doesn’t pull punches. Then you start realizing he’s an asshole who would rather get attention than be coherent. 

Arizona: Two Visions in Red

5 Thoughts on Why Jan Brewer Should Keep Her Fingers to Herself

I enjoy following @unhaunting and @KariFlack on twitter, though it takes digging to know what they are on about.  Hugo Schwyzer is a feminist in the sort of way a priest takes special interest in children.