#...it's like telling a sexist that half the population are women.... that's their problem! that's exactly their issue!!!

[uncanny-tranny]

The thing that gets me the most about intersexism is the fact that... it doesn't matter how many intersex people there are - no matter if they are as common as redheadheaded people or anybody else - when the intersexist sees human bodies and their states as a inherently a political battle, an agenda to be "won," the intersex body will always be an "anomaly," something crude and unnatural, regardless of how oxymoronic the "unnatural natural body" is.

[auroraluciferi]

if anyone in this time of deep concern of his health is interested about what a worthless piece of shit Prince Philip is, here is a very brief list of 90 racist, sexist, and incredibly ignorant things the man has said in the last century:

1. "Ghastly." Prince Philip's opinion of Beijing, during a 1986 tour of China.

2. "Ghastly." Prince Philip's opinion of Stoke-on-Trent, as offered to the city's Labour MP Joan Walley at Buckingham Palace in 1997.

3. "Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you are deaf." Said to a group of deaf children standing near a Caribbean steel drum band in 2000.

4. "If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes." To 21-year-old British student Simon Kerby during a visit to China in 1986.

5. "You managed not to get eaten then?" To a British student who had trekked in Papua New Guinea, during an official visit in 1998.

6. "You can't have been here that long – you haven't got a pot belly." To a British tourist during a tour of Budapest in Hungary. 1993.

7. "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" Asked of a Scottish driving instructor in 1995.

8. "Damn fool question!" To BBC journalist Caroline Wyatt at a banquet at the Elysée Palace after she asked Queen Elizabeth if she was enjoying her stay in Paris in 2006.

9. "It looks as though it was put in by an Indian." The Prince's verdict of a fuse box during a tour of a Scottish factory in August 1999. He later clarified his comment: "I meant to say cowboys. "I just got my cowboys and Indians mixed up."

10. "People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the worst. We are still drying out Windsor Castle." To survivors of the Lockerbie bombings in 1993.

11. "We don't come here for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves." During a trip to Canada in 1976.

12. "A few years ago, everybody was saying we must have more leisure, everyone's working too much. Now that everybody's got more leisure time they are complaining they are unemployed. People don't seem to make up their minds what they want." A man of the people shares insight into the recession that gripped Britain in 1981.

13. "British women can't cook." Winning the hearts of the Scottish Women's Institute in 1961.

14. "It was part of the fortunes of war. We didn't have counsellors rushing around every time somebody let off a gun, asking 'Are you all right - are you sure you don't have a ghastly problem?' You just got on with it!" On the issue of stress counselling for servicemen in a TV documentary marking the 50th Anniversary of V-J Day in 1995.

15. "What do you gargle with – pebbles?" To Tom Jones, after the Royal Variety Performance, 1969. He added the following day: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs."

16. "It's a vast waste of space." Philip entertained guests in 2000 at the reception of a new £18m British Embassy in Berlin, which the Queen had just opened.

17. "There's a lot of your family in tonight." After glancing at business chief Atul Patel's name badge during a 2009 Buckingham Palace reception for 400 influential British Indians to meet the Royal couple.

18. "If it has four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." Said to a World Wildlife Fund meeting in 1986.

19. "You ARE a woman, aren't you?" To a woman in Kenya in 1984, after accepting a gift.

20. "Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?" To a wheelchair-bound Susan Edwards, and her guide dog Natalie in 2002.

21. "Get me a beer. I don't care what kind it is, just get me a beer!" On being offered the finest Italian wines by PM Giuliano Amato at a dinner in Rome in 2000.

22. "I would like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family." In 1967, asked if he would like to visit the Soviet Union.

23. "If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" In a Radio 4 interview shortly after the Dunblane shootings in 1996. He said to the interviewer off-air afterwards: "That will really set the cat among the pigeons, won't it?"

24. "Oh, it's you that owns that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle." To neighbour Elton John after hearing he had sold his Watford FC-themed Aston Martin in 2001.

25. "The problem with London is the tourists. They cause the congestion. If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion." At the opening of City Hall in 2002.

26. "A pissometer?" The Prince sees the renames the piezometer water gauge demonstrated by Australian farmer Steve Filelti in 2000.

27. "Don't feed your rabbits pawpaw fruit – it acts as a contraceptive. Then again, it might not work on rabbits." Giving advice to a Caribbean rabbit breeder in Anguilla in 1994.

28. "You must be out of your minds." To Solomon Islanders, on being told that their population growth was 5 per cent a year, in 1982.

29. "Young people are the same as they always were. They are just as ignorant." At the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme.

30. "Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species." Accepting a conservation award in Thailand in 1991.

31. "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?" In the Cayman Islands, 1994.

32. "You bloody silly fool!" To an elderly car park attendant who made the mistake of not recognising him at Cambridge University in 1997.

33. "Oh! You are the people ruining the rivers and the environment." To three young employees of a Scottish fish farm at Holyrood Palace in 1999.

34. "If you travel as much as we do you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort – provided you don't travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly." To the Aircraft Research Association in 2002.

35. "The French don't know how to cook breakfast." After a breakfast of bacon, eggs, smoked salmon, kedgeree, croissants and pain au chocolat – from Gallic chef Regis Crépy – in 2002.

36. "And what exotic part of the world do you come from?" Asked in 1999 of Tory politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, whose parents are Jamaican. He replied: "Birmingham."

37. "Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease." On a visit to Australia in 1992, when asked if he wanted to stroke a koala bear.

38. "It doesn't look like much work goes on at this University." Overheard at Bristol University's engineering facility. It had been closed so that he and the Queen could officially open it in 2005.

39. "I wish he'd turn the microphone off!" The Prince expresses his opinion of Elton John's performance at the 73rd Royal Variety Show, 2001.

40. "Do you still throw spears at each other?" Prince Philip shocks Aboriginal leader William Brin at the Aboriginal Cultural Park in Queensland, 2002.

41. "Where's the Southern Comfort?" On being presented with a hamper of southern goods by the American ambassador in London in 1999.

42. "Were you here in the bad old days? ... That's why you can't read and write then!" To parents during a visit to Fir Vale Comprehensive School in Sheffield, which had suffered poor academic reputation.

43. "Ah you're the one who wrote the letter. So you can write then? Ha, ha! Well done." Meeting 14-year old George Barlow, whose invited to the Queen to visit Romford, Essex, in 2003.

44. "So who's on drugs here?... HE looks as if he's on drugs." To a 14-year-old member of a Bangladeshi youth club in 2002.

45. "You could do with losing a little bit of weight." To hopeful astronaut, 13-year-old Andrew Adams.

46. "You have mosquitoes. I have the Press." To the matron of a hospital in the Caribbean in 1966.

47. "The man who invented the red carpet needed his head examined." While hosts made effort to greet a state visit to Brazil, 1968.

48. "During the Blitz a lot of shops had their windows blown in and sometimes they put up notices saying, 'More open than usual.' I now declare this place more open than usual." Unveiling a plaque at the University of Hertfordshire's new Hatfield campus in November 2003.

49 . Philip: "Who are you?"

Simon Kelner: "I'm the editor-in-chief of The Independent, Sir."

Philip: "What are you doing here?"

Kelner: "You invited me."

Philip: "Well, you didn't have to come!"

An exchange at a press reception to mark the Golden Jubilee in 2002.

50. "No, I would probably end up spitting it out over everybody." Prince Philip declines the offer of some fish from Rick Stein's seafood deli in 2000.

51. "Any bloody fool can lay a wreath at the thingamy." Discussing his role in an interview with Jeremy Paxman.

52. "Holidays are curious things, aren't they? You send children to school to get them out of your hair. Then they come back and make life difficult for parents. That is why holidays are set so they are just about the limit of your endurance." At the opening of a school in 2000.

53. "People think there's a rigid class system here, but dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans." In 2000.

54. "Can you tell the difference between them?" On being told by President Obama that he'd had breakfast with the leaders of the UK, China and Russia.

55. "I don't know how they are going to integrate in places like Glasgow and Sheffield." After meeting students from Brunei coming to Britain to study in 1998.

56. "Do people trip over you?" Meeting a wheelchair-bound nursing-home resident in 2002.

57. "That's a nice tie... Do you have any knickers in that material?" Discussing the tartan designed for the Papal visit with then-Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie last year.

58. "I have never been noticeably reticent about talking on subjects about which I know nothing." Addressing a group of industrialists in 1961.

59. "It's not a very big one, but at least it's dead and it took an awful lot of killing!" Speaking about a crocodile he shot in Gambia in 1957.

60. "Well, you didn't design your beard too well, did you? You really must try better with your beard." To a young fashion designer at a Buckingham Palace in 2009.

61. "So you're responsible for the kind of crap Channel Four produces!" Speaking to then chairman of the channel, Michael Bishop, in 1962.

62. "Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practiced for a good many years." Address to the General Dental Council, quoted in Time in 1960.

63. "Tolerance is the one essential ingredient ... You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance." Advice for a successful marriage in 1997.

64. "I never see any home cooking – all I get is fancy stuff." Commiserating about the standard of Buckingham Palace cuisine in 1962.

65. "I suppose I would get in a lot of trouble if I were to melt them down." On being shown Nottingham Forest FC's trophy collection in 1999.

66. "It makes you all look like Dracula's daughters!" To pupils at Queen Anne's School in Reading, who wear blood-red uniforms, in 1998.

67. "I don't think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing." Dismissing claims that those who sell slaughtered meat have greater moral authority than those who participate in blood sports, in 1988.

68. "Ah, so this is feminist corner then." Joining a group of female Labour MPs, who were wearing name badges reading "Ms", at a Buckingham Palace drinks party in 2000.

69. "Cats kill far more birds than men. Why don't you have a slogan: 'Kill a cat and save a bird?'" On being told of a project to protect turtle doves in Anguilla in 1965.

70. "All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury." Bemoaning the rate of British tax in 1963.

71. "It is my invariable custom to say something flattering to begin with so that I shall be excused if by any chance I put my foot in it later on." Full marks for honesty, from a speech in 1956.

72. "Why don't you go and live in a hostel to save cash?" Asked of a penniless student.

73. "In education, if in nothing else, the Scotsman knows what is best for him. Indeed, only a Scotsman can really survive a Scottish education." Said when he was made Chancellor of Edinburgh University in November 1953.

74. "If it doesn't fart or eat hay, she isn't interested." Of his daughter, Princess Anne.

75. "They're not mating are they?" Spotting two robots bumping in to one another at the Science Museum in 2000.

76. "I must be in the only person in Britain glad to see the back of that plane." Philip did not approve of the noise Concorde made while flying over the Buckingham Palace.

77. "The only active sport, which I follow, is polo – and most of the work's done by the pony!" 1965

78. "It looks like a tart's bedroom." On seeing plans for the Duke and then Duchess of York's house at Sunninghill Park.

79. "Reichskanzler." Prince Philip used Hitler's title to address German chancellor Helmut Kohl during a speech in Hanover in 1997.

80. "We go into the red next year... I shall probably have to give up polo." Comment on US television in 1969 about the Royal Family's finances.

81. "Bugger the table plan, give me my dinner!" Showing his impatience to be fed at a dinner party in 2004.

82. "I thought it was against the law these days for a woman to solicit." Said to a woman solicitor.

83. "You're just a silly little Whitehall twit: you don't trust me and I don't trust you." Said to Sir Rennie Maudslay, Keeper of the Privy Purse, in the 1970s.

84. "What about Tom Jones? He's made a million and he's a bloody awful singer." Response to a comment at a small-business lunch about how difficult it is in Britain to get rich.

85. "This could only happen in a technical college." On getting stuck in a lift between two floors at the Heriot Watt University, 1958.

86. "I'd much rather have stayed in the Navy, frankly." When asked what he felt about his life in 1992.

87. "It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from her school art lessons" On being shown "primitive" Ethiopian art in 1965.

88. "You're not wearing mink knickers, are you?" Philip charms fashion writer Serena French at a World Wildlife Fund gathering in 1993.

89. "My son...er...owns them." On being asked on a Canadian tour whether he knew the Scilly Isles.

90. "Well, that's more than you know about anything else then." Speaking, a touch condescendingly, to Michael Buerk, after being told by the BBC newsreader that he did know about the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Awards in 2004.

[undeadorion-archive]

With all the ads for Y: The Last Man playing everywhere, I got to thinking about the concept. Then I did some digging on the premise. I went from simply not caring about it at all to outright hating it.

Based on the name alone, you can assume that it’s specifically the Y chromosome that’s targeted. The comic confirms this on the very first page. But then the other half of the title: The LAST man. He’s so rare he’s the only one. Well, not entirely. there’s a doctor out there, too. But that’s it. 

There’s also the matter of in a story where men have been wiped out to the point of counting their population in single digits, the main character is STILL a man. 

Since it’s chromosome based, there would still be thousands of men in the world. Trans men and genetic anomalies. And the opposite is also true: thousands of women would have died, for the same reasons. And I’m talking more than 15,000 on each side in the US alone. At least using rough estimates from Wikipedia. 

Then I brought this up on twitter and some guy tried to defend it saying the world building was “thoughtful.” And says it’s not trans erasure because there’s a group of women who say they’ll kill transmen. He did not clarify whether this was “well, IF we see one...” or if they’d actually done it. 

So I went poking for people who’ve discussed this stuff. And OH BOY it’s worse than I thought. Apparently, there are SOME trans people in the world, but they’re referred to as “tr*nnys” and other similar terms. And a lot of transmen were pushed to suicide apparently? 

Furthermore, it presents a world that just fell apart because there’s no men. Sure, if all men suddenly died very quickly it would be catastrophic. But this is apparently a world where everything just fell apart and stayed that way. No women stepped up to run the government. No women sought to solve reproductive problems. Instead they all fell to infighting and petty nonsense without men to tell them what to do. As if all that existed were TERFs and the male comedian’s stereotype of women.

Basically it’s a sexist pile of garbage with zero nuance.

I can’t believe I used to think Brian K Vaughan was a good writer. But that was in like 2006 and I was an idiot.

[newlyy]

can I ask you for advice? my sister started using terms like cis and people with uteruses recently, how do I like. explain why that’s BS, I get so heated so quickly I can’t form coherent arguments lol

god, same. how old is your sister? and how deep is she into gender shit? Big discussion below the cut.

I know a lot of people's argument with “cis” is that it means “comfort with your gender role,” but I’ve never thought that was a good argument to make because genderists don’t view it that way. They just view it as “not trans” and when you frame it like that, opposition to “cis” just seems like opposition to a really neutral concept that no one should have a problem with. but I think there are a few arguments that would be harder for them to dismiss:

- pointing out that splitting the category of women into two and then giving half to male people, is just an instance of oppressors appropriating the language of the oppressed. I know a lot of people don’t like to use the race analogy, but you could ask your sister if she would agree that white people have the right to call themselves black and force black people to call themselves “cis.” If she says it’s not the same thing, ask her why. Point out that in both cases, a class of people with privilege is claiming the identities of a class of people without. Don’t let her say that transwomen don’t have privilege. They are male. Whatever other axis they may be oppressed on (race, sexuality, even “trans” status), they retain privilege from being biologically male (if she denies this, or denies the existence of sex, point out centuries of female oppression. ask her the basis for it, if not sex). Should men have the right to claim and redefine womanhood or is this just another assertion of entitlement and power?

- When you refer to someone as cis, you’re imposing your own belief system or worldview on them. Whether genderists realize it or not, arguing the existence of a “gender identity” is equal to arguing the existence of a “soul.” Both are unprovable assertions based on belief. Not everyone believes in a soul. Not everyone believes in an internal gender essence. If she doesn’t believe religious people have the right to force everyone into a believer/heretic dynamic, and to identify themselves according to that dynamic, then she can’t argue the same for the cis/trans dynamic.

- I found THIS POST in my archive that makes a good practical point about “cis” and its implications. When “women” are oppressed and “woman” is a matter of identity, “cis women” could simply choose to opt out of their oppression. Another thing you might want to look at is Callie Burt’s paper on the Equality Act, the section titled “disappearing sexism: cissexism and the cis/trans hierarchy,” where she points out that the shift from a male/female dynamic to a cis/trans dynamic obscures the reality of sexism by conferring privilege onto female people, and therefore paints any female-centric (i.e. feminist) focus as bigoted, cissexist, or transphobic. 

As for “people with uteruses” arguments, I think you can just tell her it’s dehumanizing to refer to women by their body parts. Or maybe ask her what’s wrong with the words woman or man (why not “women and trans men” for female people or “men and transwomen” for male people, if we’re trying to be inclusive? if she says not all women have uteruses, tell her that some women do, so the language is accurate. if she goes further and says that the word “woman” shouldn’t be used when only female people are being referred to, ask her if the reverse applies, and if transwomen shouldn’t be able to use the word “woman” when they’re only referring to themselves. If she says no, she’s telling on herself. point out the inconsistency and ask if what she’s advocating is actually inclusivity or if it’s male dominance and female erasure). 

You could also ask if less than 1% of the population’s discomfort with the correct language for their bodies justifies an entire overhaul, imposed on the other 99% without their consent or input, at high risk of creating confusion. Or maybe point out the women who don’t speak English as a first language, or who are unaware of the names of their body parts, and the burden this language imposes on them. 

I can’t find any examples of this on hand, but I also know there are instances of organizations redefining “woman” but not “man” in their materials (planned parenthood I’ve seen do this, but I can’t find it on their site now). You could ask why she thinks that is, why the word “woman” offends, but not “man.” Or ask her how often she uses/sees others use the words “penis haver” or “sperm producer.” (it’d be really effective if she says the word “man” without thinking while you talk to her, but that’s just me being petty). You could ask why it’s only women being stripped of their words and what, in general, the effect is on an oppressed group of being denied a word to refer to themselves as a class. ”Pregnant people” and “menstruating people” are two distinct types of people with absolutely no overlap; if you’re pregnant, you necessarily aren’t menstruating and vice versa. But they are both female and oppressed for it. Losing the ability to refer to them together as part of a cohesive class (along with cervix havers and vagina havers, all these disconnected groups) erases our ability to name and address female oppression. 

But honestly, I think the best argument that really cuts to the heart of it, is just that it’s dehumanizing. Women aren’t a collection of body parts or biological functions. Animals have uteruses. Animals menstruate. Animals have vaginas. Women, while sharing those female characteristics, are human beings. They just happen to be female, as opposed to male. Referring to us as “uterus havers” or “vagina havers” or “menstruators” or “bleeders” or “people who get pregnant” is to put our bodies first and our personhood second. Its sexist.

As much as it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you might also consider using genderist language while talking to her, like calling tims transwomen and using she/her pronouns, or at least avoid calling them men. It’s good to remember that it’s a cult mentality and if she pins you as one of the Bad People, she won’t listen to anything you say. But I mean, that’s up to you and your relationship with your sister. I am curious to know your relationship with her, like if she’s younger than you and how close you are. But good luck either way, anon. the best thing you can do is anticipate her counterarguments and be prepared. 

[nottskyler]

Politics and the Church: Feminism

Equality for what is effectively half the population is a very large topic and thus there will be a lot of interpretations on what it means. This is one where we will be united in principle, women are equal to men, but the application is going to be different based on what other principles you value more.

It’s really hard to think of where to start with feminism encompassing so, so, so much. But I think I want to start with how we raise children and how we need to do better. One of the biggest issues I see in how we raise boys differently from girls comes to accountability. For boys, most things happen to them. For girls, everything is their fault. Boys will feel helpless because they don’t feel like they have control over their lives unless they are controlling other people or things. Women will feel helpless because they can’t control what they were taught they were supposed to be able to control. I’m pretty sure there is a middle ground that will make both AMAB’s and AFAB’s grow into adulthood without environmentally caused mental health issues.

This is one thing that EVERYONE needs to stop and take a moment and think about because these things happen because of subconscious sexism. Literally my mother thinks she is a feminist and she 100% raised my brother to feel entitled and free and my sisters and I to feel burdened and unable to do anything. Back before quarantine, I was walking through my neighborhood and saw a family out playing and talking with neighbors. The little boy was riding one of those tiny electric play cars, the sister was standing on the sidewalk talking to her friend. The little boy ran into his older sister and guess who got in trouble. The mother lectured the older sister for standing in her brother’s way while he was playing. Seeing as he had previously been playing on the driveway, it was completely incorrect. I bet if I were to ask the mother if she thought men and women were different but equal, she would agree. I bet she doesn’t realize that she is teaching her son that any wrong-doing of his is caused by others and her daughter that everything that happens to her is her fault. Honestly, men will be more responsible if they are held responsible for their actions and women will be able to contribute more if they stopped being raised to think that they had to behave a certain way to prevent people from treating them poorly.

I do really think it is important for any parent or adult who deals with children to stop and think about how they would handle a situation with a child if the child were the opposite gender. Boy playing with a doll doesn’t mean trouble or even that he might possibly be trans (playing with dolls didn’t stop me from being a man). Girls need to be encouraged for their talents and not just how they look. Boys need affirmation about their looks as well as what they do. Boys and girls need to learn to be responsible for their own actions and encouraged when they pursue their own interests. I’m pretty sure raising boys and girls to be so dramatically different is one of those evil things of our culture that we need to remove because it is keeping us from Christ.

Which moves on to my next thought, children are more likely to be able to pursue their own interests when both parents are allowed to do the same. Basically, women should not be told that they are only doing enough for their family when they are stay-at-home mothers. Prophets have changed their tune and it is time for the members of the Church to realize that and stop holding it up as an ideal. It is terrible for parents and children. Now there is nothing wrong with parents who want to be stay-at-home parents, moms or dads. If it is what you want, if you won’t feel like you are giving up on your own life and thus want to live vicariously through your children, please go for it and do it. I have seen too many women who have a lot of emotional problems because of the isolation and responsibility of being a stay-at-home parent. The woman being responsible for the home-making skills and the man working outside the home sounds like a lesbian and a gay man were forced to live with each other and built their own spheres so they would stop fighting all the time (or at least that’s how I think heteronormativity ruined family expectations). Both parents are responsible for taking care of kids and home and if one is being home for the kids, they will be busy enough without all the other home-making responsibilities.

And this is already so long and I haven’t touched child care, discrimination in the workplace (both obvious and less obvious), control over how to give birth, control over when to have kids or not, sexual harassment and assault, beauty industry and beauty standards, perfectionism, leadership and perception of female leaders, lack of female leaders everywhere and especially in the Church, and so many other issues and problems. Admittedly most of these will be ones where people will differ, beyond the terrible and blatant sexism that prophets have told us is wrong.

So I supposed I will finish with language, behavior, and culture that encourages control over women. This is wrong and we should be unified in standing up against it, holding people responsible for their actions (and punishing them accordingly), and we should most importantly stop holding up the reputation of the person responsible as proof that they didn’t do anything wrong. Language that diminishes women, be it sexist jokes, rape jokes, not believing women are competent, expecting a woman to be a prude or a slut, calling them mysteries that can’t be understood, “yes dear”-ing them, talking about them like animals that you can control, or any of the many other ways that people speak down about women (basically any form of catcalling). There should be absolutely no sexual contact without consent, acknowledging that what constitutes consent changes from person to person and you need to be aware of that before assuming one person’s yes will come the same way as someone else’s. Pornography is another thing the prophets have warned us about and I’m fairly certain this is one of the main reasons. Anytime I’ve personally known someone who think women are a reward for serving a mission or are objects you win by good behavior have all had a pornography addiction. It goes against logic and what the world says, but it seems to be true (that and the porn industry also doesn’t seem to know what constitutes consent too).

As King Benjamin said, “I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them” (Mosiah 4:29). This is true of sexism. Men and woman are equal. There are so many ways to be sexist that we have to watch constantly, including avoiding misandry. We are all human and while there is a difference between men and women that is eternal, we are first and foremost human and must be allowed to be human, have dignity, and be agents unto ourselves.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante: "Men have been taught by society that they are superior to us"

Named after a paranormal device used to contact ghosts, Canadian post-metalcore trio Spiritbox have been hailed by fans and critics alike as one of the best new bands to watch in 2021. Arriving on the scene back in 2017, Spiritbox found themselves spiralling into greater success following the release of their 2020 single Holy Roller – its Midsommar-style music video has over 2 million views and counting.

Now signed to Rise Records, Spiritbox are in the midst of recording their highly-anticipated debut album, and vocalist Courtney LaPlante has started a brand new podcast Good For A Girl. The podcast is an inside look at the realities and challenges of being a woman in the music industry, with a sharp focus on the male-dominated world that is the metal scene. LaPlante was in metal band Iwrestledabearonce before starting Spiritbox, and on the podcast she speaks to other women who are claiming their space within the business, like musicians, Radio DJs, record executives and more.

In conversation with the Spiritbox leader, we learn about her industry life lessons, her experience with ultra-sexist record labels, and the state of the band's upcoming new record.

When and why did you come up with the idea for the Good For A Girl podcast?

“I came up with it because I was trying to figure out something to offer our patrons on our Patreon page. It’s also an excuse for me to hang out with other women, as I live on an island in Canada so I haven’t really come across many women in the industry, and I haven’t on my travels either. It was a way for me to learn from them and I got such a great reaction from our patrons too. Plus, every musician in the industry during the pandemic has made a podcast. I didn’t even think of doing it as I didn’t wanna clog up the radio waves, but then I thought about it more, and realised that one like this was missing.

“It’s an escapism thing, too. I thought that it would be important for other people, not just women, to listen to us and humanise us. I think people forget that women are 50 percent of the population of the world, so there’s not really an excuse to be so out of touch with us being actual, real, multi-faceted people.”

Is this why Good For A Girl is important to you?

“Yes because that’s all of us. It’s a thing [as women] we all hear. Like, ‘Yeah you’re good...for a girl.’ The only people that we put in a different class are children. Like, ‘He’s a really good guitar player for a 5 year old’.”

Working in the music industry, what would you say has been the most important thing you’ve learnt and what has been the biggest surprise?

“I’ve biggest thing I’ve learnt is to really advocate for yourself and to not be so caught up in being worried about pleasing people. Because honestly when it comes down to it, if it’s not an authentic thing and you’re just trying to make sure everyone’s getting along, it always bites you in the ass in the end. I’d much rather someone think I’m a bitch and not want to work with me, rather than me work with them under a condition that I’m not really doing what I want to do.

“And a big surprise for me has been the amount of amazing women behind the scenes. That there’s all these women working out there that are there for me, that I didn’t even know existed.”

In metal especially, there usually seems to be a community of individuals who tend to react negatively to anything they define as “woke”, like women-led, political, etc. What has been the reaction to the podcast so far, and have you experienced any of this backlash?

“A little bit, but that’s what is so interesting about it. Sometimes you get so worked up about people being negative towards what you’re doing, or being frustrated because they’re clearly not understanding what you’re saying. Then you look at it and it’s the same people that are the loudest, so it’s really not that many people. I’ll go through and think, ‘Look at these mean comments’, and then I’ll be like, wait a second, this the same three guys, commenting the same stuff over and over.

“And then the day before International Women’s Day, I wrote a piece for Kerrang!, and it’s so ironic if you read it, because the article is basically me just explaining some of my negative experiences. The article is not really speaking to men, it's speaking to other women, specifically white women about how we need to actually hold ourselves accountable to have all women to be a part of feminism, and not just post infographics on our Instagram to make us feel woke and superior. We have to actually protect each other and have some intersectionality in our feminism. But the comments are literally just guys saying that I’m making up my experiences. They are there to invalidate my experiences, and it’s so ironic because there are no women in there going, ‘Wait a second, don’t paint all women the same way, we aren’t all a bunch of performative-wokeness ladies!'"

Would you say it's similar to being classed as a “female-fronted” band, as opposed to being known for your genre?

“Yeah, it’s so bizarre. And also, there’s the other side to it, the swing of the pendulum is that guys will think they are complimenting you by saying, ‘I hate all female metal vocalists they are all horrible and they suck, but you’re good. All the other ones are all slutty whores, but I like that you wear a turtleneck.’ I’m literally butt naked in three of our music videos. Just because you chose not to sexualise me in that capacity, doesn’t mean that I’m not a sexual being.

“And it’s so interesting because if I am doing what I want, and maybe another time I dress more revealing because I think that’s fucking awesome, then those people are gonna feel betrayed in some way because through seeing you like a flat one-dimensional being, they think you can’t be both.

“But I think we can all be both professional and sexy. Just like a guy can be very responsible and non-sexual and then when he chooses to be objectified he can take his shirt off and choose whether to be objectified or not, where he feels comfortable.”

What are you aiming to change through your work on your podcast, if anything?

“I want to change the music industry and hold all these people accountable that have been gatekeeping it. Every success that a metal band has helps the rest of us. The women, or those who identify as women, or even non-binary people who are moving forward and succeeding helps all of us because it makes our voice bigger. I just want to keep growing and dominating so I can start to make a change from the inside.

“Like when we were going around to labels, there were so many labels that were so sexist, and they didn't even realise they were being sexist because they don’t understand it. So it feels so great to prove all those record labels wrong, and then actually get to revisit working with them and tell them why I chose not to work with them. Because worse case scenario it’ll make me feel I got to be like ‘fuck you’, and then best case scenario it helps change their behaviour."

What happened at those record labels?

“One time when we were shopping the band around two years ago, this label felt completely comfortable in saying, ‘Oh you know what, this band is cool but we already signed a girl metal band and it didn’t do very well.’ And I was like, ‘You also signed a 100 shitty guy metal bands that didn’t do very well, are you gonna not sign any more bands with men in them?’

“My manager said to me, ‘You know this is great, these people are making themselves loud and clear to us, and we know that we never need to entertain working with them. I’m happy they are being vocally misogynistic and sexist because we don’t have to waste our time.’”

In your first episode of the podcast you said men usually look at women in bands as “gimmicks”. What needs to change to get men to stop viewing women in this way?

“I think one of the things that need to change is that we just need metal to become a more diverse group of listeners. I was watching an old Metallica concert, and I looked out, it was during the Black album phase, and half the crowd was women. And if you look at heavy music, if you look at Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin, half the crowd is women. And I feel like metal, if I’m just going off my own listenership, the 50 percent has really moved away from women and metal has become a very monolithic group of listeners. It’s straight white men. And there’s nothing wrong with those people listening to it, but I always feel that when a music genre has a very narrow scope of listeners, it usually has lasting problems on the genre for its staying power, because I don’t think you can really succeed in making lasting music if you’re not creating it for all different types of people.

“But I think it’s changing. I think metal is becoming more diverse and therefore the genre itself will become better and stronger, because I think that diversity creates better art. I really truly believe that, so I think that the pendulum is swinging back. Because that was the heyday of metal music; there were more people that listened to it. I feel now it's lost its way sometimes, but I think it's finding it again. I think metal really is becoming more powerful and good.

“That’s a long winded way of explaining why we’re looked at as a gimmick, but basically it’s because there's not a lot of us. And for some reason a lot of people only see the identity first when they see someone who looks different to them.”

You also mention that there’s a pattern of men or “haters” putting women down through belittling them or patronising them, etc. What do you think is the intention behind this?

“I think the reason why they do that is because men have been taught by society that they are superior to us, and they don’t really have a lot of evidence to dispute that because that's what most of us have been brought up thinking. And I think that as a musician, especially as a lead singer, you are like the ringleader, you are the commander in chief of the whole show, and that's generally a masculine trait, at least that’s what we’re taught.

“My experiences are just like everyone’s else's, and when people are like, ‘What's it like? [being a woman]’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, it’s the same as your job or any job, there’s a lot of stuff that's annoying and some stuff that's actually physically dangerous, and you’re actually in danger. And it frustrates me so much when people are surprised at that like, ‘Oh really? I didn’t know that you had been assaulted by a guy?’ and I’m like, ‘Have you ever met a human woman? Literally all of us have been.’ The math isn’t added up guys, all of us have had something bad happen to us but somehow none of you have done it.

“If I found that my whole demographic was doing some horrible thing, my first thought would not be, ‘Well, I don’t do it’, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, we gotta figure this shit out.’ I think it’s getting better though, I think not my generation but the next one, Gen Z, they are more humanist, I think they don’t see categories of people as much, they see you as human and then your sub category.”

So what can we expect in your later episodes of the podcast?

“Well in my first couple of episodes I’m talking to people that are more like myself,  frontwomen, such as Caity [Babbs from SiriusXM] who is an amazing radio host and like a leader. I talked to Booka [Nile] from Make Them Suffer, who’s very much in front of the scene. And soon I’ll be talking to my friend Chaney [Crabb] from the band Entheos.

“The last couple episodes of what I’ll be putting out from this season will feature the people behind the scenes who are actually running everything. Those are the people that I’m the most fascinated by because it’s not really my experience. I think of them as the faceless puppet masters controlling everything. I’m learning so much from these women who are so badass, they’re like who I want to be someday with the power that they have and the integrity. They trust their intuition so much because that's their job.”

And lastly, can you give any hints on what the new Spiritbox record sounds like, what state it’s in and what people should expect?

“We’ve done our album, we’re done physically tracking it. Now we’re about to get into the monotony of mixing it, but I can’t believe it. This is the first time I’ve said it out loud. I’ve only listened to it fully a couple times as of now, but at least till we have all the track placement, you can expect to get pummelled with full anger and sadness. Like over and over.

“I’ve got to figure out the tracklisting because it's too much, it's too intense, you need breathing room in an album. This is a product of something that we didn’t want to have two years to develop, but we got about a good year almost 2 years, so the songs feel very lived in. They feel very familiar because we’ve been working on them for so long. So Constance and Holy Roller are the two singles that we put out in 2020, which we consider the outliers of the album, and the rest is everything in between that. I told someone else it’ll be like you’re in the mosh pit but crying. Crying in the mosh pit.”

Spiritbox’s debut album is due for release this year via Rise Records. The first three episodes of the Good For A Girl podcast are available now.

[abbyfreemansmind]

Let’s talk about Hazbin Hotel

So, I finally sat down and watched Hazbin Hotel. I’d heard so much about it and felt the need to launch myself headfirst into having my own opinions about it instead of just listening to other people talking about it. This is gonna be a long post, so I’m gonna put it behind a neat little read more. Please note that this is coming from someone who genuinely enjoys adult humour and edgy humour and themes. I’ve got no problem with something that’s all swearing and raunchy jokes. It just needs to be done right.

Point 1 - The Plot The plot is describes as the Princess of Hell trying to open a new hotel to rehabilitate sinners so they don’t get exterminated during the yearly heavenly extermination to deal with Hell’s overpopulation problems. This plot is quickly undone through a few things that anyone can notice during the first viewing. 1 - Overpopulation? WHAT population? The scenery is most often noticeably devoid of any signs of life, outside of when background characters are called for. The scene where Charlie’s doing her news presentation is the most notable example of background characters. After this scene, we see almost nobody outside of the main cast and those weird little egg things. There are a few throwaway demons but outside of that, the streets are devoid of people. There aren’t even the corpses we had just seen during that opening scene. 2 - Charlie may as well be a total nobody what with all the power being the Princess of Hell holds. Just look at how the other characters treat her. You’d think the Princess of Hell would have some kind of benefit that would sway people towards agreeing with this whole idea. Instead, she gets mocked by just about everyone for reasons I can only guess involve winning her sympathy points from the audience. 3 - At no point does she give any proof that redemption would work. She basically says, “Hey guys! I hate seeing you all die, so I have this idea that has no backing evidence, that may or may not work, to try and get you guys into Heaven! Let me sing a song about it where I insult you all!”

Point 2 - Presentation I applaud the animators. Must’ve been hard, especially for Charlie’s overly fast song that really didn’t need to be nightcored, or literally any time Angel Dust was on-screen. Frame by frame. No rigs. All those stripes. All those colours that blend if you stare at them too hard or squint even slightly while watching. All that unnecessarily constant movement. It’s no wonder the thing took four bloody years to animate. Outside of animation, there are too many unneeded details and not enough needed details. Seriously. 1 - The turf war. We didn’t need this. We didn’t need this at all. If you take out the entire opening to it and the entire actual fight scene here, the episode still flows smoothly and we get the same amount of information and worldbuilding. In a pilot/first episode, you should only give the audience necessary details. Leave them wanting more, yes, but make sure they actually know what they’re getting into from the first episode. Make every scene count. Make it mean something. Don’t just shove every detail you can think of together and call it a day, especially if you don’t actually give the audience much information from it. 2 - Why is Hell overpopulated? Why isn’t Heaven? Why can angels go from Heaven to Hell, but demons can’t go from Hell to Heaven? Why does nobody care about being redeemed if Hell is so overpopulated that Angels annually come down and kill people because of it? Why does everyone treat the Princess of Hell like she’s worthless? Why doesn’t Angel Dust know about Alastor if they got into hell within 10 years of each other? Where is this supposed overpopulation problem? Would redemption even work in the first place? Why should I care about most of these characters (who are mostly complete jerks with no redeeming qualities other than “PROTAGONIST”, especially when two of the fan favourites repeatedly sexually assault other characters and, in one case, is both sexist and racist at one point)? Why are there turf wars? I should not be having to ask these questions. Don’t hold the audience’s hand, but don’t leave every single question you present in the show unanswered. Some of the questions presented make absolute sense to leave unanswered. Why does Alastor want to help with the hotel? Why are characters like Vaggie and Niffty, who do nothing all that bad, in Hell? These are questions that make total sense to leave unanswered for now. 3 - What crime is too terrible to be redeemed for? Charlie seems to think that literally everyone can be redeemed. That means murderers, rapists, abusers, tormentors... Certainly her song holds some kind of key to figuring it out! “Inside of every creepy hatchet-wielding maniac” Hmm... Okay... “All of you cretins, sluts and losers, sexual deviants and boozers” Uh... “So, all your cartoon porn addictions, vegan rants, psychic predictions Ancient Roman crucifixions end right here All you monsters, thieves and crazies, cannibals and crying babies" Oh... Also, did she imply that mental illness, alcoholism, drug dependency, plant-based diets/lifestyles, rabies and enjoyment of sex were sins in that song?

Point 3 - Edgy for the sake of edgy Hazbin Hotel tries to be an adult cartoon, but comes off as something a mentally disturbed teenager wrote during their emo/scene phase. 1 - The swearing and sex jokes. Oh boy. I’ve worked with children under the age of 15 who swear and crack sex jokes better than the adults in this show. The swearing and sex jokes are the only reasons this show couldn’t be aired as a Cartoon Network show aimed at edgy teenagers. It’s so poorly done that it in and of itself takes away from the quality of the show itself. Also, we have a character who’s name is an actual sex joke itself. Vaggie, full name Vagatha - a lesbian sex worker, of course. Fun fact for those who don’t know, but all of her previous character drafts had her name as some form of joke on the word vagina. This isn’t an accident, this is blatant and intentional. Also, here’s a pro tip for you! You can make an adult-oriented show without having swearing, slurs and sex jokes taking up a solid third or more of your script. 2 - The... “Representation”. Yes, Hazbin Hotel has LGBT+ characters! Yes, it has biracial and Latina characters! Charlie is bi, Vaggie is a Latina lesbian, Angel Dust is a gay man, Alastor is ace and biracial, Husk is pan, Niffty is Japanese (YIKES). Except none of it actually matters. No, really. Vivziepop was all like, “btw you can ship w/e, idc! also, i rlly like the fanon version of human alastor (who is whiter than marshmallow fluff even though he’s supposed to be half black)! :)” and threw all that out the window because... Who knows at this point. Now, if you look at the connected series, Helluva Boss, you get Moxie and Millie - an extremely obvious and loving couple. In Hazbin Hotel, you get Charlie and Vaggie who you probably couldn’t tell were a couple without somebody telling you that in the first place, what with all the loveydovey-ness going on with them. In fact, the biggest hint we even get is literally one line. “Life ain’t a musical, hun.” But then again, I’d be more apt to believe Charlie and Vaggie are friends, or Vaggie is pining after Charlie. Also, Charlie is a really bad girlfriend! She lets Vaggie get abused by practically the entire cast without so much as a single word in her defense and ignores everything Vaggie says. It came as no surprise when I remembered hearing about how the only reason these two are a couple is because one of the people on the team thought they were during storyboarding and Vivziepop just went with it. Also, fun fact, Vaggie fits both the angry lesbian and fiery Latina stereotypes. Charlie fits the stereotype for the bisexual cheater, what with how she seems to actually like Alastor more than her own bloody girlfriend. Alastor is canonically ace because he’s too full of himself to be with anyone else. Speaking as somebody who’s ace... WHAT?! As much as I don’t like Charlastor, it’s partially more popular than Chaggie because Vivziepop actually made them act like a couple for an entire musical number. Also, he’s annoying. He not only kept telling Vaggie to smile (heck you dude), he also smacked her butt, which is a form of sexual assault, people. This was all played for laughs, along with Vaggie’s (actually very reasonable) anger. Niffty is Japanese. A yellow-skinned demon who’s boy crazy and obsessed with cleaning... Big yikes. Finally, Angel Dust. The kinky gay man porn star/drag queen/drug addict/prostitute who verbally sexually assaulted two guys. Where do I begin. When it came to this guy, Vivziepop must’ve been like, “Imma throw every stereotype for gay men on this guy and call it a character!” If you look a Helluva Boss again, you get Stolas, who verbally sexually assaults Blitzo over the phone and also cheated on his wife with him in the first place, so this isn’t a one-off. Also, he was originally AFAB, so that whole line about “Why are you all women?” is more than a little heinous and in extremely poor taste.

In conclusion, this show is terrible. Everything about it. It needs some serious reworking, because as it stands, it’s really truly not that great of a creation.

tl;dr: Needs a lot of work and “ThEy’Re In HeLl!!1!!one!!!eleven!!!11″ isn’t even remotely an excuse for the genuine problems in it. Remember, at least one actual human being on Earth, not in Hell, wrote this garbage fire. Also, the animators deserve a higher wage than whatever they’re getting to deal with these designs. I shudder just thinking about animating them, with or without a rig.

[jetpackexhaust]

That Stupid Sexist Scientist

Last week a CERN scientist revealed he’s only a particle physicist because quarks think his brain’s a subatomic particle too. Professor Allessandro Strumia went on stage and destroyed his career so fast the OPERA experiment swear they’ve really detected faster than light events this time. Strumia lied about his talk’s title to deliver 26 slides of Mens’ Reddit Assholery to CERN’s first workshop on High Energy Physics and Gender, a room filled with women scientists, and upload them to the internet. He couldn’t have fucked things worse if he’d snuck into the accelerator tunnels and stuck his cock in an antimatter beam, because at least then this dick’s annihilation would have generated usable data.

He spent hours carefully assembling a powerpoint shit accelerator and aimed it at those fans on the side of the SHIELD Helicarrier, except he targetd a real organization with much more impressive equipment. CERN slammed down on him so fast and hard it counted as a test of general relativity. The only reason it wasn’t detected by LIGO is all scientists were wincing in embarrassment before adding him to every mute list in existence.

His employers and funders at the University of Pisa and European Research Commission immediately launched ethics investigations, because when someone calls all women scheming liars from the stage of a gender conference God alone knows what he’s done to women students on their own. Because they’re both backwards concepts based on older men insisting their assholery is the natural order of things.

We don’t have to engage his points because a dude telling you there’s no sexism is like a dude telling you there’s no gravity: the fact he’s standing there doing so automatically proves him wrong. He’s not an academic mind to be convinced, he’s a problem to be solved. If someone says your name is “Lying Hysterical Scumbag” you don’t dig out your passport to prove him wrong, and that’s what these dicks do to at least half the population every time they open their mouths.

These assholes are computer viruses: you don’t argue with them, you delete them from anything important. Every cry of “debate me” or “prove my research wrong” is a mail from “Y0ur b@nk” telling you to click on “shithead.exe”. Their arguments are cheese slices melted by ball sweat: easy to poke holes in, but doing so at their command is only playing into their stinking scrotal desires.

The only reason to take them apart is demonstrating their idiocy to other people with working brains. Which is what the brilliant Particles for Justice have already done, hundreds of scientists burning him with more educational and scientific precision and throwing him into the National Ignition Facility.

Which is why I’ll look at the dumbest parts instead.

Has talk started so tediously it might have been an attempt to reboot viewers brains in safe mode.

Presenting personal opinions in fake scientific formatting works for maybe half a birthday card, and even then only if your target works in the exact same research group and already likes you. Neither of which is even possible for Professor Strumia from exactly this slide. His talk could only have self-defeated earlier if he’d traveled back in time and used it to send his horny parents to sleep.

Strumia started his sexist shit in supersymmetry jargon.He might as well have pulled his dick out and declared it the meter: everything afterwards is clearly wrong, obviously offensive, and that way he would have been tackled off the stage before doing more damage. It also lets everyone know his data is going to be pathetic. His is a mindset which can’t grapple with new viewpoints because it’s too busy clutching its own cock as the axis of all realities.

The slides went straight on into Women be nurses, but men be truckers. Because the almost total gender bias in those fields is proof there isn’t sexism now. It isn’t often an invited CERN speaker makes homeopaths look intelligent because they at least understand an atom of the relevant elements, but here we are. And someone, please, ask him to comment on that "legal professions (where real power is". I want to see if enough shitheadery can exceed the Chandrasekhar limit and collapse this asshole into a black hole where he can no longer affect the outside world.

Behold the most accurate scatter graph you’ll ever see:

The way he not only fit that line to those points, but then felt confident displaying it to the world, is the perfect summary of sticking his stupid dick into a global mess. And he considers this enough mathematical foundation to launch into an incel manifesto complaining about how the real discrimination is against men! In 2018! At CERN! To an audience of mostly young women scientists! Forget rechecking his papers, I’d check this asshole’s math as he writes all his own future birthday cards.

He presented this slide to CERN’s Gender conference:

He presented this 4chan shit to the most concentrated counter-example in the history of the world! This guy thinks cupping his balls counts as peer review. Though “thinks” might be a strong description for testosterone molecules wandering down the whistling axon alleys and deciding to see what these receptors do. He then completed the center square of every shithead bingo card with “Cultural Marxism”, for real, written down in a presentation to one of the most advanced scientific facilities on Earth.

On a lighter note he demonstrated his true scientific ability by devoting another whole slide to previous shitheads who got fired for doing exactly what he’s doing, but much less so. So when CERN immediately revoked his status we didn’t lose a major predictive mind.

He mentioned but misspelled James “Darmore”, which is perfect in more dimensions than his precious superstring theory. That’s you, Damore! Even fellow shitheads don’t care enough to spell your name right! Hope those entire dollars you got from a week of rightwing podcasts are making up for the loss of Google pay! Haha!

This asshole event horizon thinks that insulting everyone on Earth is same as disagreeing with a particular variant of the theory of tiny superstrings. In his mind women are infinitesimal objects only really noticeable in a highly specific and deeply and unsupported theory.

He’ since doubled down on dickheading by telling Nature “I hope they will want to talk and tell me what it was about my talk that was illegal.”, then achieved the rare tripling down by describing the reaction as “lynching”.  If nothing else it’s depressingly unoriginal. You’d hope a theoretical physicist could at least achieve original new breakthroughs in being a prick.

More science fun at ZERO POINT COMEDY

Thanks to @shmeezee for the slides

[deadguildnstrn-blog]

Mrati Mudir Aam (1966)

How do you change somebody’s mind regarding an issue? You make them laugh at themselves. You make them see how ridiculous their disposition really is while being very careful not to offend their sensitive egos. So how can you apply that to a heavy problem like misogyny? Being misogynistic is the most illogical thing one could possibly be: it is irrational to think half the population is less deserving of pay when they’re doing the exact same amount of work and it is ludicrous to blame a victim of assault for the way they chose to dress. How do you then get it through the thick skulls of a traditional audience without calling them morons? You simply represent it as a light-hearted yet reprimanding joke placed in the mouths of adored actors at the height of their fame. I think that’s exactly what the creators of Mrati Mudir Aam (1966), starring Shadia and Salah Zulfakar, did. The movie starts in an unusual part of a love story, the lovers are already married and still extremely happy despite the fact that they’ve been married for years with the wife being newly promoted to general manager and soon enough we realize that she will now be her husband’s superior. After the initial comedic reactions from the other workers when they realize their new boss is a woman that range from religious fury to casual cynical sexism, they all meet her for the first time including her husband who wasn’t aware that she was positioned in the same facility that he works in. He is understandably shaken by this disruption to their lives and asks her if they could keep their marriage a secret from their colleagues and what follows are a series of situations the couple are put through where this complication tests their relationship. The movie meticulously deals with several issues all at once, it shows all the different reasons for which a person could be sexist, shows a woman excelling in a leadership role despite the ridiculous situations she’s put in for being female. It candidly displays the effects of the power imbalance produced by a similar situation on a relationship. It‘s also a guide for what a healthy modern relationship should look like, with no gendered stereotypes (where the woman happens to be far more ambitious than the man) and a mutual respect that never wavers. The relationship in this movie is built on equality, it shines through every aspect of their shared lives, the end scene is quite literally both of them pushing their broken-down car down the road and neither have to put in more effort than the other to sustain it. The dynamics are truthful to that of a real relationship with its ups and downs where both parties try their hardest to pursue their own dreams while keeping the other happy. The romance, always alive between them regardless of how many years have passed since they first met, is represented in how gently they treat one another more than through grand gestures of affection.

There are many reasons why this movie is fairly different than anything else that was made in the same period, but i think it was the first to deliver feminism to its audience without them knowing. The first time our protagonist enters her new office she is greeted with an eager secretary dismissing her as a helpless young woman in need of assistance, not giving her a beat to explain that she’s his new boss till she assertively informs him of her identity and as we laugh at his dumbfounded expression we also celebrate her first victory. These kinds of compound feelings play on the subconscious, you automatically root for the underdog and want her to prove every employee who underestimates her wrong so you feel warmth when at the end they react to her departure from her position with tears. When the iconic Abu Elkheir character shows his two faces, the sexist who thinks women “lack in mind and faith” and the brownnoser who tells her she’s the best employer he’s ever had, the hilarious exaggeration of the hypocrite makes you wary of those kinds of people.

A running gag is one of her younger employees reading a sociological book about how to treat women and decides to test the book’s theories on her aiming for a promotion, when he tries the ‘dominant’ technique he is met with fury and is sent to the disciplinary board, cowering away he curses the book’s author who we find out is also a man. The movie even points out the absurdity of jumping to conclusions in a scene where her husband is stuck on the bus and overhears a few men scoff at a woman in a car assuming it’s her husband’s and that he lent it to her to go get the groceries when in fact it was actually our heroine in the office car. In a comedic sense these scenes are a treasure, not only are they subtle nods and prods at our flawed society but most importantly, at their core, they ridicule these practices.

The climax of this trope comes in one of my favorite scenes of all time: A dinner party is held in our boss-lady’s honor and accordingly she takes her husband with her but while she sits with the governor and all the other managers who are mostly men, discussing the proper conduct of a true patriotic communist, he is stuck with their wives chatting away about fashion and food. The wives are keen on his opinions and try to include him as much as possible in their discussions, but when he’s asked about his take on breastfeeding alternatives and he replies: “.. the mother that doesn’t breastfeed doesn’t deserve to give birth”, they immediately ask him if he’s ever given birth before. This joke is the original No Uterus, No Opinion.

These kinds of movies are as important as drama pieces that portray women struggling against patriarchal societies in a tragic light. While the latter sometimes have the power to change judicial laws, the former play on the general public’s subconscious, normalizing the kind of extreme progressive practices shown on screen. This particular movie was made at the height of the Shadia craze, she was starring in as many as 5 movies a year, and it came out following another iconic movie with her costar Zulfakar: Aghla Min Hayaty (1965) that was an intense romantic drama that captured Cairo’s heart so Mirati Mudir Aam was a phenomenal hit. Shadia was the symbol of romance in Egypt for well over two decades so having this movie under her belt is a win in my books. You can rarely find movies made in the last few decades that take such a blasé attitude towards feminism. One example that comes to mind is the now barely-recognized Bebo W Beshir(2011). And what a waste? Our culture is saturated with icons and our society filled with diverse stories to fill libraries. Every once in a while though, great young minds come together to create something that’s never been done before like the extraordinary Ext. Night that was released earlier this year. When I saw this movie in the theatre (it was left in cinemas for all of 3 seconds), I felt hope.

[berniesrevolution]

I've never been one for attending religious services, but Monday evening, I journeyed up to Riverside Church in Morningside Heights to see Bernie Sanders kick off his tour promoting his new book for young adults, Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution. Sitting in the pews among a sold-out crowd of ecstatic Bernie supporters while the Vermont senator delivered a rousing speech, I thought, If church was like this, I'd go every day.

Bernie Sanders is the most popular politician in America, and watching the way he commanded the church, you can quickly understand why. "The political revolution is not Bernie, it is you," he began. Like the no-nonsense Brooklyn Jewish grandpa he is, Sanders laid out his clear vision for a more equal America, in accessible terms. He spoke of "the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in this country," framing it as not only an economic issue, but a "profoundly moral" one. What makes Bernie so compelling is that he presents his ideology through the lens of needless human suffering.

"The six—the six—wealthiest people on this planet own more wealth than the bottom half of the world's population, 3.7 billion people," he said. "There are billionaires out there who compete with each other to see how big their yachts are... While these billionaires boast of their wealth and their greed, hundreds of millions of people... suffer from malnutrition and die of easily treated diseases, while tens of millions more live in incredible squalor."

If you can't tell, I'm a fan of Bernie Sanders. I voted for him in the 2016 Democratic primary, even though I wasn't sold on his electability—after all, he's a septuagenarian who sounds distinctly Jewish and identifies as a democratic socialist. But after Hillary Clinton's uninspiring campaign, her surprise loss, and the feeling of all-consuming hopelessness that the Trump administration has spawned, I have found myself becoming an increasingly avid Bernie bro. The popularity of his leftist ideology has sparked a tiny flame of optimism within me, and as Trump continues to dismantle the government and divide us all, I really need that.

Bernie is sometimes criticized for focusing on economic populism at the expense of "identity politics"—a.k.a. the unique problems facing people of color and LGBTQ Americans. But on Monday he didn't only talk about the pain of the working class, the millions of Americans who are up to their eyeballs in student and medical debt, and the uninsured, but also condemned the trans military ban, the cruelty undocumented immigrants face and the need for DACA, the wage gap, and the perils of fossil fuels. Perhaps as a response to the "Bernie bro" narrative Hillary diehards continue to advance—that his support base is composed of sexist white men who only care about breaking up the big banks—Sanders's speech on Monday night was thoroughly intersectional.

The crowd was largely full of hardcore Berners—many adorned in Bernie paraphernalia. The gender split looked about 50/50. Half the attendees looked like they were 12, while the rest looked like they were about 126. There were lots of families there as well. Ava Dawn Heydt, an ardent supporter, passed out Bernie 2020 signs with her infant son strapped to her chest, along with her husband and four young children.

Juliana Perez and Sophia Singer—14-year-olds who were "almost 15," they both made sure to note—were there with their moms. They were all keen on Clinton throughout 2016—"Sorry!" Perez exclaimed—but since the rise of Trump, the women were increasingly feeling the Bern. "I like how he's trying to influence young people, and trying to get more us involved in politics because it's gonna be our choice when we get older," Perez explained.

Sisters Dahlia Hamza Constantine and Sarah Hamza, both Columbia graduate students and Bernie supporters, brought along their parents, neither of whom voted for Sanders but were nevertheless "interested" in the politics he espouses. "I'm a registered Republican," their father, Ahmed, who immigrated to the US from Egypt in the 1960s, told me. "If I knew Trump would become president, I would not come to this country... I'm distancing myself from all [political] parties now. I wish Sanders would start the independent movement."

(Continue Reading)

[cheekina]

POV: We are d*mned ! (Post-New Gov & Pre-Covid 19)

I.give.up on everything. Seriously.

Especially during this virus pandemic. You might say that I’m such an ungrateful Malay bastard.

You might say “COME ON SABRINA, AT LEAST YOU HAVE A ROOF OVER YOUR TOP OF YOUR HEAD. AT LEAST YOU’RE LIVING”. Well, I can hear you murmur..

Tears after tears. Sadness combined with disappointment. It is hard to breathe in or breathe out sometimes.

Most of my friends were fired and lost their jobs because their companies could not keep up with cash flow. Some of my friends whom doing their pupillage in chamber at law firms will receive zero or half amount of their monthly allowance especially during this MOC. Trust me, the workloads equal to 0 payment or half payment are seriously non-acceptable. I shall assume there should be a quid pro quo? Takkan nak buat kerja free-free seolah-olah buat kes pro bono? Especially the stress of handling the paperwork. 

After all these while, I see the incompetence in our society to decide especially during this pandemic:

1) What to do?

2) Where is our economy direction will go? 

3) How our society will be? 

I always thought that democracy gives a chance to all people to decide and makes everyone to happy.

But, hell no! How about if you're living with bunch of stupid and ignorant people? Malas lah nak explain lebih, sendiri boleh nampak.  I give up. I am sad in and out. I stop to support democracy. The fallacies of democracy are when some people decide and most people ignore it. Don't give a flying fuck. We had an election last two years and PH led by Tun M & Dato Sri Anwar Ibrahim won big on May 9th 2018. But then, something happened, for the better or worse. Good things happened and vice versa. But still, we had enough voting yet still finds out that we didn't find what fits us in this fucked up world. 

I think we need a scientist dictator that will eliminate all bullshit in this world. We need them so quickly to fix our world’s madness. There are famines in UK right now. There are many unemployment across our COUNTRY. On last night news of TV3 Buletin Utama, about new 3 million cases of unemployment happened in Malaysia. 3 JUTA PENGANGGURAN on record! 3 FUCKING MILLIONS! And Malaysia’s population is about 26 millions. What about the off record of unemployment? Imagine the surprise. It is not a small number. What will happen to the unemployed or in other worst case scenario, to the undergraduates? They would find troubles to find a job after this. Takuk survival to the fittest para graduan masa hadapan akan terkacau.

IMO, all politicians, theologist, people who never involved in scientific method need to get off from the seat and give it to the people who knows how to fix the problems. Just like what Canada, NZ or any countries that help the citizens to fix the economy especially during this pandemic season. We need some scientist dictators to govern these people. And even if they're become a dictator, so what? After all, in democracy, we are surrounded by dictators- yes, stupid and ignorant people that vote some politicians because he always do charity in front of TV, public etc and some theologist fuckers who love to say “HARAM” to everything just to show his big dick. "I got big dick and suck whatever I told you".

Some politicians are okay. they’re doing the job well done but SOME.....

Menteri Kesihatan yang suruh kita minum air suam untuk cegah Covid 19???

Menteri Kementerian Wanita pulak suruh perempuan yang kerja kat rumah masa PKP ni untuk  “menjaga penampilan dengan berhias meskipun berada di rumah dan  mengesyorkan  wanita supaya mencontohi suara watak kartun Doraemon untuk menggalakkan pasangan mereka membantu dan tidak bertengkar”. 

In simple layman words, the minister asked the favor of married women like ‘BITCH, JUST DRESS UP, PAKAILAH SEXY LINGERIE DAN TEMPEK MAKEUP KE APA & PLS JADI DORAEMON OK? IMITATE SUARA DORAEMON KAT LAKI KAU. IT IS FOR YOUR HUSBAND TO HELP YOU WITH HOUSE CHORES, CAN HELP YOU BUY IKAN BILIS AT KEDAI BAWAH SO THAT Y’ALL MARRIED PEOPLE CAN CREATE HARMONIES AND DON’T FIGHT. SO THAT MARITAL ABUSE CASES WOULD NOT EXIST SO THAT I AND MY CREW OF MINISTRY DO NOT HAVE TO ENTERTAIN YOUR PROBLEMS. In other words, our sexist minister asked the married women to be a DORAEMON? Bayangkan kau dilahirkan di dunia untuk jadi macam Doraemon? Dafuq?

And the list of stupid technocrats goes on and on..

I start to give up on everything. For the time being, technocrats will dictate you all and teaches you about science and when the right time comes, topple the technocrats with scientific method that they teaches you and start your anarchist camp.

Ballot box? It's queuing for a long line just to elect someone who will tell you "back off, scum!".

[recalculatingthegenderwar]

Feminists use Manchester bombing to push their ideology before bodies even cold

On May 22, 2017 at approximately 22:30 local time a suicide bomber set off an explosive at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England after an Ariana Grande concert had finished. Current count has 23 killed and at least 120 injured.

More information is still coming out as the investigation continues. However, this didn't stop writers from Slate and Salon, no more than 24-hours after the attack, from using the bombing as a springboard to claim that not only were women and girls specifically target, but they are victims of massive societal oppression.

The Bombing at a Manchester Ariana Grande Show Was an Attack on Girls and Women" by Slate's Christina Cauterucci was (assuming U.S. Eastern Standard Time on the byline) published less than 6 hours after the bombing. Even now the true motives of the bomber are still being investigated, but 6 hours after the fact Cauterucci seemed perfectly comfortable suggesting the attack was in retaliation for pop-singer supposedly challenging the big, bad Patrichary.

"Like her pop-superstar predecessor Britney Spears, Grande has advanced a renegade, self-reflexive sexuality that’s threatening to the established heteropatriarchal order. If the Manchester bombing was an act of terrorism, its venue indicates that the attack was designed to terrorize young girls who idolize Grande’s image." [emphasis added]

Cauterucci even tries to subtlety weave in undertones of rape and slut-shaming:

Grande has long been the target of sexist rhetoric that has deemed her culpable for any sexual objectification or animosity that’s come her way. Her songs and wardrobe are sexy, yet she’s maintained a coy, youthful persona; the combination has led some haters to argue that she’s made her fortune by making people want to have sex with her, so whatever related harm befalls her is entirely her fault. [emphasis added]

It's confusing what Cauterucci is even suggesting here. Is she suggesting the bomber was some kind of misogynist Grande-hater? It doesn't help Cauterucci's point that attackers didn't appear to make any concentrated effort to harm Grande. The bomb went off after the concert ended, which makes sense if your goal is take out as many people as possible (people crowd together up as they rush for exists), but not if you are trying to assassinate Grande. Cauterucci even acknowledges that the attack didn't explicitly target women and girls, just a venue where there were likely to be a many women and girls:

"The victims of Monday’s bombing will almost certainly be mostly girls and women. The Grande fan demographic also includes a number of older millennial women, gay men, and general lovers of pop music, of course, but her live concerts are largely populated by tween and teenage girls and their moms."

Of course, Cauterucci doesn't have a break down of the gender ratio of the victims, because it hadn't (and still hasn't) been released. At the time Cauterucci published her article, the causality toll hadn't even been settled (Cauterucci's article still lists the death toll at 19 and the injury count at 50). Cauterucci doesn't even try to give us hard data about the gender/age makeup of the concert or Grande's fan base in general.

Salon article is worse

A Salon article entitled "Manchester was an attack on girls" by Mary Elizabeth Williams, is basically the same as the Slate article, but dialed up a few notches. It's more emotional, more bombastic and says even less. This is impressive, since (unlike Slate) Salon waited a full 19 and a half hours after the attack to publish this gem. Almost a full day!

Williams unconvincingly tries to show that young girls are constantly crushed by societal oppression and find brief precious moments of freedom in Ariana Grande's music.

"If you just happen to not be a girl or don’t live with girls, I want to tell you how truly spectacular they are and what they’re up against every goddamn day. I want to remind you what a refuge pop music is — music that speaks to you, without judgment. That makes you feel safe and joyful in a culture that seems to purposefully and ceaselessly try to tear you down. One that seeks to punish you for how you dress, that trivializes your interests and your icons, that obsesses over guarding your purity."

Williams mentions how some people wrote some not nice things on social media (with little evidence to back it up). Perhaps a high crime in the feminist world, but less concerning to most of us, especially when the subject is a deadly bombing. Williams article mostly boils down to 8-paragraphs of emotional venting about how wonderful and oppressed girls are:

"They are so, so strong, these girls — yes, these girls with their goofy Snapchat streaks and their mermaid hair and their willingness to love things unironically. Their courage and their grace would knock you out. And if you want to know what ferocious resilience looks like, take a look sometime at a young girl and her bestie, sharing a set of earbuds and dancing, in spite of it all."

Remember all of those terrorists attacks that targeted men

In all fairness, the attacker may have targeted the concert because it seemed like they would be many women and girls there (or maybe just because it was an event with lots of people). Unlike Slate and Salon, I'm waiting for the police investigation to be complete. I don't know the attacker's motivation. My point is that neither do Cauterucci and Williams, but that didn't stop them from writing their articles less than 24 hours after the bombing.

If the bomber was trying to kill a high number of women and girls, I imagine it was increase the perceived tragedy of the attack (because under "patriarchy" the deaths of women are seen as uniquely tragic for some reason).

Of course, Cauterucci and Williams really start going off rails by trying to spin the bombing into evidence of widespread oppression of women and/or girls. Here is a riddle for you. If bombing a concert where the fan base is likely mostly female is sexist, what is a shooting at club primarily catering to gay men? You would think Cauterucci and Williams might have asked themselves this question, since they both brought up the 2016 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting in their articles as an example of terrorist/societal oppression.

Was that attack not specifically targeting men? 45 out of 49 of those killed were men (I can't find stats on the other 53 wounded). Now you might argue, that was because they were gay, not because they were men. I guess there just weren't any good lesbian clubs to shoot up. Maybe the bomber didn't mind women, just those pop-music fan women. But rather then splitting hairs over idiotic identity politics, let's have another example. How about the Charlie Hebo Massacre where attackers deliberately and systematically targeted men:

"After culling the women from the men, the victims were mercilessly shot at point-blank range, said Gerald Kierzek, a doctor who spoke to CNN after treating the stunned survivors."

""Sigolene Vinson, a freelance journalist attending the paper’s weekly editorial meeting, hit the floor and hid behind a partition but was grabbed by a gunman who pointed his AK-47 at her head. "You, we will not kill, because we don’t kill women. But read the Quran,” the gunman warned her, before repeatedly shouting “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great.”"

The Mirror seems to provide a slightly different quote from the attacker:

"She said the man told her: “I’m not killing you because you are a woman and we don’t kill women but you have to convert to Islam, read the Qu'ran and wear a veil.” She added that as the man left, he shouted “Allahu akbar, allahu akbar.""

Another Mirror article adds even more detail:

"She said Saïd Kouachi [one of the gunmen] turned towards the editorial room where his brother Chérif had shot Elsa Cayat[a woman], another Charlie writer, and shouted: “We don’t kill women,” three times. The men then left.""

Out of the 12 fatalities, Cayat was the only women. Furthermore, it seems one of the gunmen chewed the other out for killing her. It is unknown why she was the only female victim. There is suspicion that it may be because she was Jewish.

Feminists may counter these attacks don't count because they were committed by men. It doesn't matter. This is the problem with engaging feminist gender warriors. They treat the sexes like two sides in a war and one side (always the male side) has to be fault. You can't just blame ideologies or (God forbid) individuals. The point I'm making is that these terrorists attacks that largely targeted men were not considered sexist (and sexism was definitely not considered the main motivating factor), so there is no grounds to call the Manchester bombing sexist (especially when you don't know the motivation of the attacker).

The smart money is the attacker's motivate was Islamic terrorism. If so, then trying to cram the attack into a simplistic feminist gender war paradigm hinders seriously needed discussion about Islamic radicalization in the U.K.

More To Say

There is a lot more I could write about this because it touches so many nerves: how men are considered the socially acceptable recipients of violence, how tragedy is portrayed as uniquely tragic when it befalls a women("Earth destroyed - women most affected"), how men are genderless "victims" in a tragedy unless they are the villains, how feminists falls over themselves to defend an Islam that would destroy most of the basic freedoms Western women enjoy. Don't even get me started about the state of gender politics in the U.K. It's a country where vaguely defined "misogyny" has been made punishable by law and the courts punish men for rape after they have been found innocent.

There are also reports of a possible female accomplice in the bombings. What could this do the feminist narrative if it pans out?

However, I'll just stop here after pointing out that after the explosion, a nearby homeless man decided to take a break from enjoying his male privilege to help the wounded. But, you know, fuck patriarchy.

More Links

Sargon of Akhad: Never Waste A Tragedy

[equalityforher]

Mental Health: A Feminist Issue

by Rachel Sloan

Trigger Warning: The following piece discusses potentially triggering topics including mental illness and suicide.

Ableism has long been a problem within social justice movements, and feminist discourse has a history of excluding or actively ignoring the experiences and input of people with disabilities. There is a particularly troubling lack of feminist research and ongoing dialogue on the way mental health intersects with other social categories and informs our understanding of identity, oppression, and privilege.

If the overarching goal of feminism as a movement is, as famously defined by bell hooks, “to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression,” it’s essential to continually re-examine our approach to issues that target those most vulnerable. There is a tendency to dismiss mental health as a privileged issue, but, realistically, mental disorders affect people of all backgrounds, lifestyles, and identities, and can be particularly damaging to people of marginalized groups.

An estimated one in five adults lives with a mental disorder, and nearly 10 million US adults struggle with what’s considered a serious mental illness – a disorder that interferes severely with one’s daily life and limits their ability to work, cope, or function without impairment. Today, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people age 10-34, and the rate continues to increase. Although mental disorders are often influenced by genetics, socialization and environmental factors play a substantial role in the development of mental health problems.

People living with mental illness and intellectual disabilities need better, more attentive allies. Advocacy for mental health – particularly with regard to relatively common disorders like depression and anxiety – appears to be on the rise, though discussion surrounding mental health and self-care still seems primarily self-serving. Even within feminist circles, the stigma associated with mental illness is still very much in place – especially for those living with personality disorders, psychotic disorders, and other severe, invisible illnesses that remain largely misunderstood. In a neoliberal, capitalist society that prioritizes productivity in the form of profit over its populace's well being, working class families of color tend to suffer the most.

Feminists cannot adequately or inclusively address a number of issues including trans rights, domestic violence, poverty, homelessness, mass incarceration, reproductive justice, and more without an intersectional lens, and the role of mental health requires further analysis. The strength of the stigma, access to affordable and effective healthcare, the perception of one’s mental health status, and the factors that influence mental illness all influence and are influenced by social categories including race, gender, socioeconomic class, sexuality, and physical ability.

The National Eating Disorder Association estimates that 10 million American women suffer from eating disorders, constituting a staggering 85% of anorexia and bulimia cases. Women are two times as likely as men to be diagnosed with panic or anxiety disorders, and are three times more likely to engage in suicidal behavior – men, however, constitute the vast majority of completed suicides. Additionally, transgender people struggle with mental illness and suicidality at a much higher rate than cisgender people, indicating a connection between gender oppression, cis privilege, and mental health. A deeply troubling 19% of trans people have been refused care entirely, and half of all trans people report having to educate their own medical provider about transgender care.

Mental illness exists on a vast spectrum, and no one experience is representative of the rest. I suffer from BPD, and although it brings daily, unpredictable, often debilitating challenges, my identity as a white cis woman from a middle-class family provides me with opportunities and respect not necessarily afforded to people lacking the same privileges.  In her telling piece for The Fader, Christine Pungong depicts the obstacles she faces as a black woman with BPD, identifying the heightened stigma that stems largely from the fact that “we live in a world that doesn’t grant black women vulnerability.” She details how black women are expected to appear strong and unemotional, and the notion of mental illness as a sign of weakness within black families and communities. Sociocultural expectations, perceptions, and stereotypes continue to prevent people from feeling comfortable or entitled to seek treatment.

There is an alarming lack of adequate, accessible, affordable, mental healthcare for already marginalized populations. Furthermore, it’s important to recognize that experiences within healthcare, as with any institution, are gendered, racialized, and otherwise shaped by perceptions of identity. For these and other reasons, black women are less likely to receive effective treatment for their mental health, though they actually exhibit higher rates of mental illness – unsurprising considering the stress and obstacles caused by systemic racism and sexism.

Allyship is not about comfort, but about action and social change. The phrase “If It’s Not Intersectional, It’s Not Feminism” can be found plastered on protest signs, t-shirts, and across social media platforms since the Women’s March. However accurate, this type of performative solidarity is, in the case of many mainstream feminist movements, where recognition of intersectionality begins and end. Feminists that continually prioritize self-fulfillment and individual empowerment over the liberation of marginalized people fail those most in need of active, supportive allies.

Moving forward, those who identify with the feminist movement must make concerted efforts to include people battling mental illness in their work, elevate their voices, account for the diverse experiences and needs of people with mental disorders, and study the connections between mental health and other, overlapping systems of oppression and privilege. In order to affect real change for the most vulnerable populations, it’s necessary for feminist politics, advocacy, and scholarship to apply an intersectional framework to further examine the role of mental health in upholding systems of oppression.

People with mental disorders and intellectual disabilities are at a much higher risk of harm than the rest of the population, thus signaling the need for feminist action. Not only are prisons disproportionately filled with poor people of color, but the majority of people in prisons are mentally ill. Additionally, it’s no secret to anyone paying attention that US police present a specific threat to black people, and a frightening 2015 study revealed that people with severe untreated mental illnesses are 16 times more likely than other civilians to be killed by US law enforcement. A disproportionate number of the homeless population is mentally ill people of color and, contrary to popular belief, most people with mental disorders are not violent, and are actually over ten times more likely to be victims of violent crime than those without mental illness. The majority of people living in poverty, thus lacking the resources to prioritize mental health care, are people of color. The overlap between oppressed identities and untreated mental health problems can lead to a number of additional obstacles preventing upward mobility and the possibility of liberation.

Rachel Sloan is a 24-year-old Kentuckian with dreams of a feminist utopia. She's a proud queer woman with a passion for radical intersectional feminism and mental health advocacy. As a survivor of mental illness, she speaks out about her experiences in hopes of raising awareness and chipping away at the stigma.

[adulteryfeels]

A man came to the Hostel I was volunteering at. We spoke for a bit sitting on opposite ends of the room. He did most of the chatting and at one point said,

“You just don’t know how foolish it is to be doing what you’re doing. You can run around and act like a child now because you’re young, but soon reality will hit you and you will realise it would have been better to have started your career and made money to take care of yourself.”

After talking some more, it was revealed that this man was unsatisfied with his personal life, feeling unhappy and empty with his own career choices, relationships, and quality of life. Of course, I said nothing of this, only simply thought to myself, “How strange, that someone who is so unhappy is telling me how to be happy.” Obviously this is a form of false logic, but I read once that we should take advice from those we aspire to be. So far, all the people I’ve admired have all given up the “normal” life and the things that are “common sense” to pursue what they really wanted. None of them had regrets.

A wonderful couchsurfing host in Kiev told me,

“I can find you tons of managers who wish they could quit their job to go traveling, but I can’t find you a single traveler who wants to quit traveling and become a manager.”

And while I don’t necessarily propagate that everyone has this innate sense of wanderlust, there are endless single-row lines of men and women who are dying to themselves everyday for the sake of normality and unoriginality all awhile trying to convince themselves that it’s what they want, or what they ought to want. This guy was just one of millions.

As for myself, I spent most of my winter in Albania volunteering in a cold Hostel with little to no heating, and where temperatures drop to -9 at night. Ha, at one point the water was frozen in the faucet. No water, no HOT water. Believe it or not, this is actually a tame beast compared to Kosovo, which was -24 a week ago, or Ukraine which can sometimes hit -30.

(Yes, those are orange and lemon trees. Nothing like fresh fruit picked in the morning sun). I worked at reception mostly, and I met some of the most beautiful people there. So many of them have come through to this little Narnia despite the frozen roads- cyclists from Scotland, France, Austria, and Switzerland, Motorcyclists from Germany, gap year students from the US and UK, world travellers from Singapore, the Latvian-Irish woman who taught me about bluntness, and a lot of vacationers from Italy and Macedonia, and more. All of them have been incredibly interesting, with all sorts of stories from their personal journeys. I have made several friends here, and as always find it difficult to say goodbye. HSP problems, heh heh.

I realised, after spending time with specific guests here, that travel is an eyeglass which we use to gaze into the great open spaces of ourselves. It is sobering how clearly you begin to see yourself- the good and bad, the pride and the shame, the complications and simplicities- you cannot hide from you. This is terrifying, but oddly relieving as well.

Photo Credit: Adeline

Photo Credit: Adeline

I went paragliding over the edge of a mountain. We were picked up in Tirana and drove south to Berat, and up, up, up a mountain, the road shaving down to a sliver, and I do believe I was more afraid of falling off the edge than the actual gliding. Not to mention that the jeep broke down half way up! Oil was boiling and gurgling out the engine like a bubbling geyser.

The face you make when your car breaks down in Albania- just accept it.

I volunteered to be the first to go, though my legs were shaking and my lungs were unsteady with fear. When explaining the coming events, I was told to just run, to book it towards the edge of the cliff. I was geared up and clipped onto the front of the host; my whole body was shouting, “Hell no!” but we pushed on anyway until the wind, like invisible hands stretched from above descended and plucked me off of my feet. Where my feet once had met the earth, they now met nothing, and they kicked in the air- I was flying. I wish I could say my landing was graceful, but in reality I tumbled like a weed. Face first, mud on my clothes, but I jumped up and gave a shout into the frigid air, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” because I flew. And through this experience and others, I learned something important about possibilities: They are endless.

Only through traveling have I come to this conclusion; the vast expanse, the stars shine bright, and they come out to play, to brag and revel in their prideful glow. On quiet nights, I can look into their eyes and I feel them, I  can hear their breathing, and in unison we sigh together- a sort of choreographic dance, basking in all the glory we share between us. Every second, a new opportunity presents itself to be, requesting that we take it gently. And we do.

If I had to give one serious complaint about Albania, it would be the sexist attitude that remains questioned. Unlike America where sexism is at least acknowledged as wrong (“I’m not sexist but…..”) here it isn’t an issue. One guy, when discussing acceptable age gaps in relationships, remarked that a woman should never be older than the man because the man must lead the woman, and how she should never have any authority over her husband. It seems that Christian, Catholic, Islam, and Orthodox fundamentalism still have a firm grip on perspectives on gender in many of the Balken countries.

Winter depression has kicked in, a few weeks ago, as it does every year. The only difference between this year and the previous ones is that I will have to live on without inviting old friends over to me during its occupancy; no cup of tea at the table, or no monopoly fight or community cooking. This is a new experience for me, but I have survived thus far by going to Ballet performances (4.00 Euro tickets?), reading some wonderful books, and watching TV series huddled under blankets, hiding from the cold winds outside. And with a big mug of hot chocolate in my hands, I sit cozy until the spring comes around when I can absorb the sunlight and use the new energy to move up North come this March.

Peace out people, stay warm. I hear it’s also quite cold back in New Jersey, but the Knight Riders are probably still running around “scaring horses and old people.” Till next time, here are some bonus photos:

This is the Bektashi World Center- a Mosque hidden behind old roads. While there, we were given a private tour underneath (Even though we didn’t understand any Albanian). The Bektashi are a branch of Islam that are quite liberal: the consumption of Pork and Alcohol for example are permitted. 

  The Pyramid here causes great controversy. Built for the last Albanian Dictator, half of the population calls for its destruction while the other half want to use it for public activities.

I don’t care about controversy, so we just climb up and take naps. Going down was a bit frightening, though. 

  The Vast Expanse, Acknowledged A man came to the Hostel I was volunteering at. We spoke for a bit sitting on opposite ends of the room.

[eeeengineering]

Answered: 101 Characteristics of Americans/American Culture

101 Characteristics of Americans/American Culture 

To help you compare and contrast what you observe of American culture and your own, mark the similarities and differences between your culture and what you have read about in this book. 

1. America is enormous: the third largest country in the world with a population of more than 300 million people. 

2. Americans come in all colors, have all types of religions, and speak many languages from all over the world. 

3. Americans are extremely independent, individualistic, and like to be different from each other. 

4. 66% of Americans are overweight; 37% of those are obese. 

5. Americans believe in freedom of choice. 

6. Americans need a lot of “elbow room”; they like personal space around them. 

7. Approximately 1% of Americans are homeless (3.5 million people). 

8. Americans talk easily to the homeless but use good judgment and are careful with whom they talk. 

9. Sadly, the streets of major cities are often dirty. 

10. Many people, especially teenagers, wear strange clothes, and many have tattoos and body piercings. 

11. Americans follow the rule of law

12. Littering (throwing garbage on the street), graffiti and tagging (writing on the walls), and loitering (standing around and doing nothing) are against the law and are punishable by a fine or jail. 

13. Discriminating against or making any insulting statement about someone else’s religion or ethnicity is against the law and could be punishable as a hate crime. 

14. You must be over the age of 21 and you must have an identification card with a photo to buy or drink alcohol. 

15. In most states, it is illegal to buy cigarettes if you are under the age of 18 and often you can only smoke in certain places. 

16. Americans are extremely informal and call most people by their first name or nickname. 

17. Americans smile a lot and talk easily to strangers, sharing personal stories. 

18. Asking “How are you?” is simply a greeting and is not a question about your health. 

19. When Americans put their hands on their hips, they are usually relaxed; when they fold their arms tightly across their chests, they are angry or very serious (or cold). 

20. Americans don’t push or stand too close to anyone in line. They always wait their turn. 

21. In a restaurant, the server is usually very friendly and helpful and often will tell you his or her name. 

22. When the service is good, tipping is expected to be 15–20% of the bill.

23. Polite Americans eat with one hand while the other one is under the table on their laps. 

24. Usually, when friends meet at a restaurant they each pay their share of the bill or split the bill in half. It’s called going Dutch. 

25. If you have guests over to your house, turn off the television, make sure your music isn’t too loud. 

26. Americans have parties for many reasons. Sometimes they are held for friends to get together and to meet new people. There is rarely music or dancing at a typical American party. 

27. When you meet Americans, be sure to look them in the eye, smile, and shake hands. 

28. Make small talk at the beginning of a conversation. After a few questions, you will be asked, “What do you do?” (This means what is your job?) 

29. For weddings and showers, people register for gifts at a specific place. 

30. Americans open presents and cards in front of people. 

31. Be sure you include a card with your gift. The person given the gift will send you a thank you card. 

32. At an American funeral, it is not normal to make loud sad sounds. Americans try to keep strong emotions inside. 

33. There is no traditional color or flower that symbolizes death. Any and all flowers can be used at funerals. 

34. We do not give money at a funeral. Sometimes, we send flowers or plants to the ceremony. 

35. After the funeral, there is usually a reception at the home of the family. There is usually a lot of food and sometimes alcohol. 

36. Never ask Americans a direct question about their religion, age, money, salary, weight, or dress/suit size. 

37. Do not make any racist or negative remarks about someone’s religion, family background, or sexual preferences. 

38. Men should not make any “sexist” remarks to or about women—anything that would make women unequal to men. 

39. Americans say that they don’t want to talk about politics, but sometimes they do. It’s best to just listen first to see the other person’s point of view before you let them know your thoughts. 

40. Never go to someone’s house without calling first to see if it is convenient. 

41. If you are invited to an American party, do not bring your children, friends, or family members without first asking the permission of the host. 

42. Time is money. Never be late to classes, employment interviews, appointments, parties (especially your wedding!), etc. 

43. Some Americans hug a lot. It is okay for women and men to hug even if they are not close friends. 

44. It is normal for American women to have male friends who are just friends (and vice versa). 

45. It is not uncommon for American men and women to share an apartment as roommates and not have a sexual relationship with each other. 

46. Most American women do not like possessive or jealous men. 

47. Most American women do not feel comfortable having the man pay for everything all of the time.

48. Be careful: Meet new friends in a public place many times before you get into a car or give out your address. 

49. American parents speak to their children as adults and teach them how to be responsible for their actions. 

50. American parents encourage their children to question and always ask “Why?” 

51. It is normal for American children to have very messy rooms. 

52. It is common for young Americans to carry security blankets or a stuffed toy. 

53. Americans do not hit their children but discipline them by taking things away. 

54. American men try to share equally with their wives in parenting and housework. 

55. Americans hire “babysitters” to take care of their children when they go out or are at work. 

56. Americans love their pets, sometimes more than they love people. 

57. Homosexuality is protected by law in the United States. 

58. The majority of older Americans prefer to live in retirement homes for independent living rather than to live with their grown children. 

59. Americans admire youth and often work past age 65 and/or go back to school. 

60. Domestic violence is against the law. It is illegal to hit anyone: a spouse, a parent, a child, and even a pet. 

61. There are special seats in the front of buses reserved for disabled people or senior citizens. 

62. Be careful when you offer your seat on the bus to an older or a disabled person. Most older people do not want to be thought of as someone needing help. 

63. Most buses require the exact amount of money and cannot make change. 

64. Because of pick-pockets, Americans carry credit cards and checks, instead of a lot of cash. 

65. Pedestrians always have the right of way. 

66. Pedestrians must cross at a cross walk or unmarked intersection. Crossing in the middle of the road is against the law. 

67. If it is not a life or death emergency, do not call 911. 

68. Rent must be paid on time or there is usually a late fee. 

69. If you pay your rent by cash, be sure to get a receipt. 

70. Americans love to hunt for bargains and often buy used things. 

71. If the police put the lights on to tell you to stop your car, move to the side of the road right away. Stay in your car. 

72. Look directly at the officer. Smile and say, “What seems to be the problem, Officer?” 

73. When you drive, be sure to always have your license, registration, and proof of insurance with you. 

74. Never, for any reason, argue with or give money to a police officer. 

75. Always be on time to the job interview and to your job. 

76. Dress appropriately for the job interview.

77. Smile, look the interviewer in the eye, and shake hands firmly when you meet. 

78. At the interview, be positive and describe your good qualities. 

79. Sexual harassment is against the law. 

80. Students are expected to ask questions. 

81. Never use a cell phone in class. 

82. It is normal for an American teacher to sit on the desk. 

83. Always call your teacher by his or her name. 

84. It is never too late to go back to school and you can almost always find free adult education classes. 

85. It is permitted to visit most college and university campuses to see what they are like. 

86. Children from the ages of 6 to 16 must attend school in the United States. 

87. Do your own work. Copying from a book, a friend, or the Internet is called plagiarism. 

88. Cheating is serious, and the punishment is strong. 

89. Americans try to take care of a medical problem early. 

90. When you have a serious medical problem, it’s a good idea to get a second opinion. 

91. You can always ask the receptionist how much a doctor’s appointment will cost. 

92. When you need to make an appointment with a doctor, list all of your symptoms in English before you call. 

93. Most states have free or low-cost clinics

94. Never go to a hospital emergency room unless it is a matter of life or death. 

95. Americans are really careful about not bothering anyone else with their body odor or bad breath. 

96. Most Americans take at least one bath or shower each day. 

97. Most Americans put on a good underarm deodorant after bathing. 

98. Throw all toilet paper and seat covers in the toilet to be flushed away. 

99. If you can’t understand the sign on the restroom door, ask someone or check to see who goes in or comes out. 

100. Americans often talk to each other or on the cell phone while using the bathroom. 

101. There are very few “public” bathrooms available in U.S. cities and towns.

Source : https://www.press.umich.edu/

source https://askoranswerme.com/24895/101-characteristics-of-americans-american-culture?show=24896#a24896

[gamerxnovax]

Introduction

If you are a gamer you will known exactly what I am about to describe because it is one of the best feelings in the world. You just got home from a long day of work or school you walk into your room go straight to you Xbox, PS, PC, or whatever your taste is and turn it on. Now by this you have probably grabbed your controller and is sitting on your bed, and then finally the start up screen pops up. That feeling of being relax and being able to have fun comes to all of us not matter what type of gamer you are. Now this next part does not apply to everyone because it only applies to a certain type of gamer. Imagine just trying to have a good time playing Rainbow Six Siege for example and when you speak up to help your teammate the first thing you here is “Wait hold up is that a girl ahhh damn it boys we are going to loose.” The mood goes from happy to annoyed. Then next thing you know “We lost because of you, I am going to come to your house and kill you while you sleep.” The mood goes from annoyed too sad, angry, and maybe even scared. That scenario was made out too female gamers, and that wasn’t even the worse that can happen. Female gamers have to endear a lot in the gaming industry just because they are a female. While there are a lot of obstacles when it comes to being a female gamer there are advantages and fun times. I am arguing that Female Gamers should not be verbally harassed, disrespected, and discredited on any platform of gaming; male gamers should celebrate that women are playing video games and be united with us so we can all play together freely.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Let us start off with the basic advantages and the disadvantages of female gaming. While there are a good amount of disadvantages I will off with the positive. For instance, when a female gamer usually needs help with something in the game guys or other female gamers are more inclined to help. This means that when we ask for help generally we do get help, while there is not definitive reason why we see it as an advantage because sometimes we need help. Another advantage is less getting less crapped on when we play games with other people. Now that advantage can only apply for certain female gamers. It can only apply if you are a good female gamer and can hold your own against the other people in the game. For the female gamers the are on average or just play for fun and don’t really care about winning or loosing the get crapped on the most…which is unfair. Although this advantage can seem bias against the guys it is effective; whenever female gamers have a problem 99% of the time we are always listened too. Whether it's social media, customer service, or even the friends you play games with if you ever have a problem I need to be heard just be a girl. For some reason girls always get listen to when it comes to problems involving gaming. I will say most of the time it is because we are girls there are other reasons too but that is the main one. Now that may seem biased towards the men but the bad outweighs the good when it comes to female gaming. Now for the disadvantages…. Like I said before in the advantages if you are not a good female gamer even if you were on average you will get crapped on for no reason. Even the female gamers that just play for fun and don't care if they win or lose get crapped on by male gamers. Just because certain female gamers are not the best, on average, or even just playing for fun and don't care if they lose or win does not mean that they should be verbally abused because of it. That is one of the harsh realities that female gamers face and because of this it's such a stereotype that women aren't serious about gaming. Another disadvantage is, when you're playing a game with a group of people men usually assume you are also a guy because gaming is such a male populated industry. The minute you open your mouth and make yourself known as a girl things can change. Most of the time men get surprised and don't know how to act, they get annoyed with you, or they get really flirty; and immediately discredit everything about said female gamer. This disadvantage isn't just for prejudiced it it can also personally affect the female gamer I can make them feel like they're not enough and depending on what is said can harshly affect their emotional state.

What Gamers Endear

“My worst online experience was being verbally harassed. I was accused of being the reason that my team lost. I couldn’t do anything right, despite trying my best and having good stats.” ……“Being told I was gonna be raped in my sleep.” …..“Gladly games have the option to mute, block or report players. But after all those attempts a certain player kept creating new accounts to stalk me after I refused to meet him offline, he even claimed to know my real life friends and mentioned some of their names, later I discovered he somehow tracked me on Facebook and that was how he got that information. After half a year I ended up changing servers and started playing as a male to avoid similar situations.” This quotes seem like something made up but they are not. This is just the surface of verbal abuse that the female gamers go through. Disclaimer not all men will say this to female gamers there are nice meal gamers out there but this verbal abuse needs to be talked about. In 2019 46% of gamers were women, 57% of the percentage were harassed after revealing the gender in a game. Over half of the women who play video games experience some form of verbal abuse and some form threats. Statistics show that the number one insult used against female gamers is sexist comments, the second being insults about their gaming skills, and lastly profanities being yelled at towards them. Not only are they verbally abused but they are also discredited just because of their gender. Even shown in some YouTube videos that you can be a very popular female gamer and one can be instantly discrediting because of ones gender. Most male gamers feel the need to discredit female gamers because they either lost, feels though they need to boost themselves up, or just don't like girls playing games. That level of disrespect and abuse overall needs to change and female gamers don't deserve this type of treatment.

Facing the Problem

At least once every female gamer has experience some type of prejudiced towards them. While action is slowly but surely being taken to fight this, there are things women can do to stand up against this. Sometimes when this happens a person can get stunned and not know what to say but sadly this happens a lot. When faced with some sort of verbal assaults say something. When verbal abuse happens it can cause you to freeze but instead of freezing say something and stand up for your self. Normally the guys hate when you stand up and defend yourself which can either make it worse or it can shut them up pretty quickly. Another thing a female gamer can do when faced with this problem is to simply tell them to shut up and ignore their taunts which half of the time is the best option. The other half you just have to say something because certain disrespect can not be tolerated.

Women in the industry

In the recent years there have been a large steady increase with women being  involved in video games. Since 2010 the rate of female games has got from 40% to 46% and that number has being show to multiple in the comes year. As more women step up and play video games it creates a balanced in a male dominated industry. Seeing more Female Gamers along side or even at the forefront of video games, competitive gaming, or even YouTube works out for equality in the long run. With popular female games like SSSniper Wolf, iHasCupquake, LDShadowLady, and many more inspire other women to become gamers. In a world where gamer men can verbally assault, threat, discredited, etc female gamers and get away with it we need more women in the gaming industry so those problem won’t be tolerated anymore. Despite what anyone may think not all guys are the problem. So of them even stick up for us, advocate for us, and even fight for equality in the gaming industry. Female do not deserve this type of treatment and should be treated fairly.