feministdragon

[feministdragon]

«I was managing a rape centre back in 2013 when it became apparent to me that almost every woman on our caseload and waiting list had been told that she had borderline personality disorder, within months of disclosing or reporting sexual violence. Many of them were put on a cocktail of different medications and were then subjected to all sorts of maltreatment and discrimination as a ‘borderline’ patient.

Unfortunately, borderline personality disorder is one of the most harmful diagnoses a woman can be given, as she will be reframed as a manipulative, deceitful and emotionally unstable person.

This is why women with borderline personality disorders are often ‘flagged’ to health and emergency services without their knowledge. Many GP surgeries flag a female patient with borderline personality disorder as a high-risk person; as do ambulance services, fire services, police services and social services. What this means in reality is that women and girls with this diagnosis can be treated as if they are unstable, unreliable or exaggerating when they call emergency services for help.

It appears then, that instead of addressing the enormous and complex traumas of women and girls subjected to male violence, there is a strong culture of diagnosing them with mental disorders and encouraging them to take daily medication. One of the most damaging impacts of this practice is the subsequent internalisation of self-blame and self-doubt for women and girls who are told that their trauma responses and coping mechanisms are not valid or relevant, instead, they are mentally ill due to some form of ‘disorder’, or ‘imbalance’, or ‘faulty genes’.

Borderline personality disorder in women has earned its place as the modern-day ‘hysteria’. Women and teen girls are the majority of people diagnosed with it, the criteria are as loose as the professional needs or wants them to be, and it results in years of medication, discrimination and treatment.

Once diagnosed with a personality disorder, you can only ever be in ‘remission’ but never ‘cured’. When and if you struggle again, it is seen as evidence that you have ‘relapsed’. How does a woman or girl ever escape this diagnosis when the language and theory is so circular?»

- Sexy But Psycho: How the Patriarchy Uses Women’s Trauma Against Them by Jessica Taylor

[feministdragon]

you actually don't have to go on dating apps to find girlfriends. many beautiful women are waiting for you on rocks out at sea

[feministdragon]

Fell down yet another historical butch rabbit hole after learning Billie Burke once had a butch partner and now I’m obsessed with Dorthy Arzner ??

SHE INVENTED THE BOOM MIC because Clara Bow hated her mic setup so Arzner attached a mic to a FISHING ROD and had it dangled over her head ? I also would have made technological breakthroughs if Clara Bow was annoyed at me I can’t blame her

Shes also linked romantically to Alla Nazimova , Joan Crawford and Katharine Hepburn (Hepburn is also linked to Billie Burke so ope messy) ?? She then had a long term public romantic relarelationship with vaudeville choreographer Marion Morgan and they lived together until Morgan died?

[feministdragon]

[feministdragon]

adults disciplining children: i think i will communicate with this brand new human in the loudest, rudest, most obnoxious and socially off-putting way possible

[feministdragon]

birds flying over the jurassic canyon of Iceland

[feministdragon]

great blue heron bell

cone 04 terracotta, underglaze, glaze, wire, cotton thread

[feministdragon]

[feministdragon]

do people have no shame anymore?

[feministdragon]

Please remember that almost everyone around you is traumatized. I didn’t understand this when I was younger. I wondered why people acted so strangely and irrationally. Maybe all children wonder this. The author Robert Anton Wilson said (paraphrasing), “We have never seen a completely sane adult human.” No one makes it out of this life alive. It’s not their fault. Mercy, kindness, forgiving — these are what makes one human. They are other names for love. People break in the strangest of ways.

[feministdragon]

the fact that there’s thousands of easily accessible sites filled with videos of women being hurt and abused on camera for men to get off to and it’s considered normal is insane to me.

[feministdragon]

I'm so fascinated by languages with different levels of formality built in because it immediately introduces such complex social dynamics. The social distance between people is palpable when it's built right into the language, in a way it's not really palpable in English.

So for example. I speak Spanish, and i was taught to address everyone formally unless specifically invited otherwise. People explained to me that "usted" was formal, for use with strangers, bosses, and other people you respect or are distant from, while "tú" is used most often between family and good friends.

That's pretty straightforward, but it gets interesting when you see people using "tú" as a form of address for flirting with strangers, or for picking a fight or intimidating someone. In other languages I've sometimes heard people switch to formal address with partners, friends or family to show when they are upset. That's just so interesting! You're indicating social and emotional space and hierarchy just in the words you choose to address the other person as "you"!!

Not to mention the "what form of address should I use for you...?" conversation which, idk how other people feel about it, but to me it always felt awkward as heck, like a DTR but with someone you're only just becoming comfortable with. "You can use tú with me" always felt... Weirdly intimate? Like, i am comfortable around you, i consider you a friend. Like what a vulnerable thing to say to a person. (That's probably also just a function of how i was strictly told to use formal address when i was learning. Maybe others don't feel so weird about it?)

And if you aren't going to have a conversation about it and you're just going to switch, how do you know when? If you switch too soon it might feel overly familiar and pushy but if you don't switch soon enough you might seem cold??? It's so interesting.

Anyway. As an English-speaking American (even if i can speak a bit of Spanish), i feel like i just don't have a sense for social distance and hierarchy, really, simply because there isn't really language for it in my mother tongue. The fact that others can be keenly aware of that all the time just because they have words to describe it blows my mind!

[feministdragon]

i think what bothers me about a lot of "girl power" narratives is that they function on the implicit idea on the idea that women can become worthy of respect. and i happen to think that really caring about women means believing they already are worthy of respect. that historical seamstresses and soccer moms and forgotten sisters and sweet polite little girls and someone's weird grandma matter just as much as the warriors and politicians, even if they, personally, never accomplish anything "cool."

[feministdragon]

hi hello now's a great time to read umberto eco's essay on ur-fascism if you haven't already

[feministdragon]

my FAVORITE joke goes like this: a roman walks up to a hotdog stand, holds up 2 fingers and says 5 please