#Can The Government Prevent Divorce

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

I have no clue how this guy hasn't divorced his wife. If my partner looked at me with disgust about anything that wasn't literally disgusting, I'd be googling "divorce lawyer."

by Sam Williams

A week ago, my wife and I went to John Lewis to look at air fryers. As we entered the store, I put on an FFP3 mask because of Covid. My wife looked at me in disgust and said, “Oh, you’re wearing a mask?” I replied, “Yes. There’s a lot of Covid around, and I don’t want it. Do you?”

She responded, “Well, the trouble is, I’m not wearing a mask”.

I said, “Yes, I can see that. I wish you would. The trouble is, every time I’ve caught Covid, it’s been from you. I’m disabled with long COVID, and every time I get reinfected, it makes me really, really ill”.

So here’s my question: does my wife not care?

I want to use this piece to spark a debate about who we are as people. Are we kind and virtuous, or are we selfish and indifferent? Writing an article about what stops people from wearing masks, while I live with the pain caused by my wife not masking, feels like an oddly meta activity.

That’s right, folks: it was probably my wife who gave me Covid in the first place. Although, to be fair, neither of us knew about masking or long Covid back then.

The case for masks amid rising Covid I need people to wear masks or ensure clean air so it’s safe for me to go out—especially in healthcare settings. Yet, most people refuse. I asked my wife why she doesn’t wear a mask, and she said, “There’s no point, because nobody else does.”

I understand the futility in her statement. Many people don’t wear masks simply because they don’t care or because they think Covid is over.

If my wife were a cruel or unkind person, it would be easier to accept her refusal to wear a mask. But in my experience, even many kind people—even those on the political Left—can be cruel when it comes to disabled individuals.

Although my wife has struggled with my disability, she is generally a kind person. In my autistic brain, it seems perfectly logical that she should wear a mask to protect me from airborne viruses. Yet, logic loses when it comes to personal choices and disability.

Misconceptions about Covid and masks People think Covid is “just a cold.” Some even believe masks themselves make you ill. I think people don’t mask because of ableism and because they’ve been conditioned to associate masks with the pandemic itself.

It’s the same conditioning that leads them to blame lockdowns and vaccines for Covid, rather than recognising these measures were designed to mitigate its spread.

When people see me in a mask, they’re reminded of the acute phase of the pandemic. My presence confronts them with an uncomfortable truth: their refusal to mask contributes to the deaths and disabling of others. It reveals they may not be as caring as they like to think.

I wish more people would remember the Covid dead and choose to wear a mask to prevent further loss of life.

Why people don’t mask The biggest reason, I believe, is a failure of public health communication over wearing a mask. The government declared Covid “over,” and most people still trust what they’re told. Many would resume masking if asked, but the government is too afraid of the right-wing media and too indifferent to disability to make that request.

Then there’s the pervasive idea of “health supremacy”:

The belief that only people with pre-existing conditions get long Covid.

The notion that a “healthy” immune system can fight off the virus.

The argument that we don’t need vaccines or other preventative measures.

Some even suggest that “living your best life” and going out for brunch are more important than protecting loved ones. The low mortality rate of Covid is used as justification, with a dismissive attitude towards the elderly and those with long Covid.

Many fail to consider the quality of life endured by those with long Covid or the rising number of children affected. Parents, it seems, don’t care enough about their kids, or they’re unaware that long COVID in children has doubled in the past year.

There’s also peer pressure and groupthink. No one wants to stand out by wearing a mask. “If it were really unsafe, wouldn’t everyone else wear one? Wouldn’t the authorities tell us to mask up?”

When I do convince others to wear masks, it’s usually a flimsy surgical one—barely adequate protection.

The personal cost of not wearing a Covid mask If we continue as we are, everyone will eventually develop long Covid. Those who still mask are only delaying the inevitable because we’re so outnumbered.

I know people who’ve lost friendships and family connections over masking. Others restrict their contact with loved ones to stay safe. Some have even been lied to by family members about masking.

And all because people must have brunch.

It feels grossly unfair to be forced to choose between family and health. For me, it’s not just about Covid. With a weakened immune system, other airborne viruses are just as harmful. Every cold or similar illness sets me back by months.

The fatalist in me whispers: stop masking. If no one else is wearing a mask, why fight it – just let long Covid take me. Every reinfection only worsens my condition.

A systemic failure The government—New Labour or otherwise—has shown little interest in preventing the spread of Covid or developing treatments for long Covid. The societal denial of this reality is overwhelming.

Until we build a society and government centred on community and care instead of selfish individualism, we’re doomed. Is thinking of others really too much to ask?

If only long Covid weren’t an invisible disability. If it caused something visible—like the loss of a limb—perhaps people would be forced to act.

The point of wearing a mask: not just for Covid Here’s why masking matters:

It reduces your viral load if you get infected.

It sets a good example for others.

It shows courage and strength.

It protects vulnerable people, including the disabled, chronically ill, and immunosuppressed.

It proves you have empathy and intelligence.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

if I can be selfish for just one moment in all this. I have to say how relieved I am that I got divorced before this election hit.

see, a year and a half ago the leader of our governing party here in Scotland resigned, so there was a party leadership election. three things to note here:

there was a weird evangelical-adjacent queerphobe candidate

said candidate did not win, despite every media outlet in the UK coming out to whitewash her on a daily basis

I am not a member of said political party, so I couldn't vote in the leadership election

so, when I tell you that my ex-spouse got really angry and spent hours shouting at me for, in their view, not personally doing enough to prevent an outcome that didn't happen in an election I couldn't vote in - well, you can probably imagine why I would look around and think, jesus fucking fuck, how bad would it have been for me this week

[kyomint]

Theory: Stolas' trial

I'm going to put my theories about what will happen in Mastermind/Sinsmas in order.

At the beginning of each episode, we have a content warning. In it, we can hear a "ticking", very similar to the noise of the hands of a clock. This ticking starts in the episode "Truth Seekers" and recently some people have pointed out how the sound has decreased over the episodes. In the beginning it played during the entire warning, in "The Full Moon", it stops halfway through the warning.

Another interesting detail that we can notice in the warning is the symbol that appears in the background. This symbol is known as "Devil's Trap" and originally appears in "Solomon's Clavicle" (no, it's not from Supernatural), a grimoire with a vast collection of ancient spells, with the Devil's Trap being a spell used to immobilize and control demons.

In the LVL UP trailer, we see scenes of what appears to be a meeting between the 7 Deadly Sins and the Ars Goetia. We can assume from Vassago's lines, "Where is Stolas, anyway? We have to summon him at once" that the meeting's agenda is something that Stolas is responsible for and given Vassago's stress and Andrealphus' interference, things are ugly for him.

From the trailer it is also possible to deduce that Stolas will lose his powers at some point since in the scenes below, we see that he is completely defenseless against Andrealphus, who theoretically should be less powerful, since in the hierarchy of Ars Goetia Stolas occupies position 36, while Andrealphus occupies position 65.

Okay, but what does the ticking have to do with the meeting and Stolas' powers? Simple, the ticking of the clock is marking the time until the trial of Stolas and the I.M.P.

I believe the meeting will aim to discuss Stolas' actions and whether or not he should be tried for allowing I.M.P. to use his grimoire to gain illegal access to the human world.

Thanks to the group's carelessness in episode 6, the D.H.O.R.K.S. were able to obtain irrefutable proof of the existence of demons, which led the human government to finance the activities of the organization, which in a short time was able to discover a way to access hell.

Even if the D.H.O.R.K.S. aren't a threat at the moment, it's only a matter of time before they figure out a way to actually open a portal and then, yes, hell will have something to worry about.

Andrealphus and Stella, knowing about the affair between Stolas and Blitz, will take advantage of the situation to formally accuse him, convincing the Ars Goetia that he and I.M.P. must be judged and held accountable for their actions.

As punishment for breaking the laws of Hell, Stolas loses his titles and has his powers temporarily sealed by the Devil's Trap while he awaits official trial. Meanwhile, Stella and Andrealphus take possession of Stolas' possessions, which now rightfully belong to Stella, as the divorce has not yet been made official.

In the midst of all this, Octavia's custody will also be officially passed on to Stella, who, knowing how much Stolas cares for his daughter, will prevent them from meeting, further damaging their relationship, as we see in the speech "You don't love your mother, and you don't love me, you love HIM".

Anyway, this is what I think will happen in the next episodes, I hope the text wasn't confusing, as English is not my first language. I'm looking forward to seeing how this plot unfolds, and whether or not I got anything right!

[hannahbarberra162]

Struck Twice By Lightning, Chapter 2

On Ao3 All Chapters

Sitting next to Shanks and listening to him talk was infuriating. He wouldn’t shut up long enough for you to say what you needed. It seemed like he wanted to tell you - in detail - everything that had happened since you last saw each other. You tried to cut him off. “A little after that, I was in Foosha Village for about a year -”

“Shanks.”

“And I met this kid, he was really annoying but funny -”

“Shanks.”

“Anyway, he ate this Devil Fruit I got. I actually gave him that old straw hat I had, do you remember-”

“SHANKS.” You had put your hands on either side of his face and squished his cheeks. “Stop. Talking.”

Shanks tried talking through his smooshed face.  “Whath up?”

“I need you to do something for me.” You let go of his face and turned so you were facing him and looking him in the eye.

“Name it, sugar bear.”

Your eye twitched but you didn’t take the bait. “We need to get divorced.”

Shanks laughed. Your eye twitched again.

“Is that all? No.”

“What do you mean no.”

“No.”

That was… not the answer you had been anticipating. You two hadn’t been together as a couple in over a decade. You hadn’t seen each other and had gone on to live separate lives. The fact that he was refusing was unexpected to say the least.

“Why on earth not?” you sputtered.

“I don’t want to divorce you.”

“Well, I want to divorce you” you hissed. This little song and dance was starting to anger you. 

“Too bad,” he said with a shrug as took another sip of his sake.

You were going to kill him. This is how he was going to die and then you wouldn’t need to divorce him. To prevent murder, you took a deep breath.

“Shanks, you need to agree to divorce me.”

“I don’t.”

He paused with his sake cup near his mouth. “Why do you want to divorce anyway? You’ve been fine being married all these years.” He inhaled a gasp and said “do you want to marry someone else?” 

He was acting in mock outrage, but you knew Shanks. He wasn’t really joking.

“It’s none of your business.”

“As your husband, it is absolutely my business.”

“You’re not really my husband, and no it’s not.”

“If I’m not really your husband, you don’t really need to divorce me.”

You were getting angry and this was going nowhere. You were arguing in circles with a man who did this for fun. The sooner this was over the sooner you could go back to your relaxing little house on your relaxing little island. You took a moment, counted to five and started again.

“I don’t want to get married again. I want to get a business license in my name. Since we are married and you’re a wanted pirate, all my revenue would get taken by the government. So, we need to divorce so I can run my business. ”

Shanks put down his cup and rubbed his chin in thought. “Why do you need a license? Can’t you just run it on your own?”

“Not all of us are Yonkos who do as they please. I was offered a contract to be a supplier to a bigger island. That kind of thing needs a license.”

“A supplier of what?”

“You’re drinking it.”

Shanks looked down at his ochoko. “You made this? It’s so complex, such an excellent floral flavor on the tongue. I should have known only someone as brilliant as you could make it.”

“Thanks,” you said with a wry smile. “It has a seal of approval from Red Haired Shanks. Now, can we please get divorced?”

“Hmmmm. I’m considering it, if it gets me more of this alcohol. How about this - spend six months with me on the Red Force, and I’ll divorce you.”

“No.”

“Guess you won’t be selling your alcohol anywhere else then.” Shanks took a big sip. He had you backed into a corner, and he knew it. 

“A week.” You thought that would be the maximum you could take.

“Three months.”

“A week and a day.”

“A year.”

“One month.”  That was your final offer - otherwise you’d just make do with your current sellers.

“Welcome back sweet pea,” he said, grinning his true smile. 

Fuck. Your. Life. 

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Maggie Fox at The Fuller Project, via The Guardian:

As they prepare to take control of the White House and Congress next month, conservatives are eyeing cutbacks to federal programs that help tens of millions of women pay for healthcare, food, housing and transportation. Slashing or overhauling social support programs, long a goal of Republican lawmakers, could be catastrophic for women experiencing poverty. Supporters contend the social safety-net programs are already grossly underfunded.

“With this new administration that is coming in … I really am concerned about the lives of women. We are seeing so many policies, so many budget cuts,” said Christian Nunes, president of the National Organization for Women. Republicans say they want to keep campaign promises to cut government spending, and three major programs make easy targets: Medicaid, the joint state/federal health insurance program for people with lower incomes; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a cash-allowance program that replaced welfare; and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), widely known as food stamps. While conservatives frame cuts as making government more efficient and even restoring freedom, advocates for and experts on families with little or no income say reducing these programs will throw more people – especially women and children – further into poverty. “It is going to fall heavily on women,” said Elaine Waxman, a senior fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, a non-profit research organization.

Predicting precisely what Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration will do is difficult. Congressional leaders are close-mouthed about negotiations, and the president-elect has not finished putting together his advisory team. None of the spokespeople contacted for this story returned calls or e-mails. But organizations known to advise top leaders in Congress and the previous Trump administration have laid out fairly detailed roadmaps. Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the incoming administration, denies its proposed changes will harm women, saying instead that marriage and “family values” will improve their economic situations. “Marriage, healthy family formation, and delaying sex to prevent pregnancy are virtually ignored in terms of priorities, yet these goals can reverse the cycle of poverty in meaningful ways,” reads the section on proposed changes to TANF and Snap.

Numerous other groups that have studied the problem say forcing or even encouraging marriage will not make poverty disappear. And a recent study by a team at the University of South Carolina found that when state laws make it harder for pregnant women to get divorced, they’re more likely to be killed by their partners. Trump has promised not to attack the two most expensive and popular government programs: social security and Medicare. But he and Congress are up against a deadline to extend his 2017 tax reforms, which raised the federal deficit. They’ll have to cut something, and social spending programs, especially the $805bn Medicaid program, are low-hanging fruit for conservatives. Trump repeatedly tried to slash Snap during his last tenure in office: his 2021 budget proposal would have cut the program by more than $180bn – nearly 30% – over 10 years. Conservatives in Congress have continued these efforts and, with majorities in the House and Senate, they may be able to get them through next year. The Republican Study Committee, whose members include about three-quarters of the House Republican caucus, recommends more work requirements for Snap and TANF.

[...] Snap currently helps 41 million people buy groceries and other necessities every month. Women accounted for more than 55% of people under 65 receiving Snap benefits in 2022, according to the National Women’s Law Center, a gender justice advocacy group. About one-third of them were women of color, the NWLC said. Among other things, cutting these programs will trap women in dangerous situations, the NWLC said: “SNAP helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault establish basic economic security.” TANF, which provides cash assistance, overwhelmingly benefits women. In 2022, 370,000 TANF adult recipients were female and 69,000 were male, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Perhaps Medicaid is the most tempting target for conservatives because they can use it to undermine the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The GOP has been gunning for the ACA since it was signed into law without a single Republican vote in 2010.

Republicans and their he-man woman-haters club agenda blooms with their inane proposals to cut subsidies such as SNAP and WIC that are primarily used by women.

[midnightstargazer]

I will likely never have children if MAGA wins this election.

I've always said I didn't particularly want children. But I can feel the decision becoming more firm, more decisive, as the election map solidifies. And it's a decision made, not based on my own desires or those of my hypothetical partner, but based on fear.

I do not want to get pregnant right now because I could be denied life-saving medical care. I do not want to get pregnant because I could be prevented from leaving my state. I do not want to get pregnant because I do not want to be valued more for my reproductive system than for who I am as a person.

In all honesty, I live in a red state. Women are dying from miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies now where I live. But that is something the federal government could change, given the chance.

I'm in my early 30s now. If there is another election in 4 years, and if we kick MAGA out then, I will be in my mid 30s. It would take some time after that to get laws changed to where I would even feel safe trying to get pregnant. At that point, how many years would I have left if I decided that was what I wanted?

I will likely never have children. And even though that's not new, I feel like the choice is being taken from me.

I will likely not get married, or even pursue romantic relationships, if MAGA wins this election.

With a man, I'd be afraid of getting pregnant, or getting trapped in an abusive marriage in a world where divorce is outlawed. With a woman? I'm not visibly queer in my day to day life. I'd very much like to keep it that way if they win.

I'm aspec and perfectly happy alone. But I feel like the choice is being taken from me.

Of course, they hate single childless women, too. So maybe we end up going full handmaid's tale and there is no choice about those things, in the opposite direction.

But even without that, I'm grieving for things I don't even want right now.

[tomorrowusa]

Here's a project for anybody who hates dictatorships.

Tell one person a day about Project 2025 – effectively the Trump equivalent of Mein Kampf. (I call Project 2025 Mein Trumpf.) Look through it and quote passages which may be of special interest to the person you're speaking with.

Nobody in Germany who read Mein Kampf can claim that they knew nothing of Hitler's plans. Don't think that Mein Trumpf is just some sort of theoretical exercise.

On Wednesday, Navigator released the third and final results from its latest survey about Project 2025. Conducted June 20-24, the survey found that the most salient and message about Project 2025 is that it “is an unprecedented, extreme Republican plan that will fundamentally alter the American government making Trump even more dangerous in a second term by granting him presidential powers like no president before him has ever had.”  According to Navigator, the most effective messages focused on the impact rather than on political consequences. The message that worked best for Democrats and independents was that Project 2025 would "roll back and eliminate Americans’ constitutionally protected rights and freedoms," while the message that worked best for non-MAGA Republicans—i.e., Republican voters who did not self-identify as supporting the MAGA movement—was that it would "hurt hard-working American families and seniors." “Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats (87%), 7 in 10 independents (70%), and about half of non-MAGA Republicans (48%) believed it would have a negative impact on them and their families after exposure to Project 2025’s policies and messaging,” Navigator found.  There’s plenty in the authoritarian plan to worry Americans. It seeks to end no-fault divorce and  restrict access to birth control—even condoms! It demands cuts to Social Security—raising the retirement age from 67 to 70—and wants to privatize Medicare. Then there are the proposals to curtail food assistance, eliminate Head Start, restrict help to disabled veterans, and roll back overtime pay requirements for hourly workers. Voters of all stripes know Trump, so all his efforts to distance himself from these policies won’t work. The majority of people surveyed by Navigator also believe that Project 2025 describes policy positions of the Republican Party and Donald Trump, and that Republicans would implement it if they win full control of the government in 2024.

Project 2025/Mein Trumpf seems hellbent on eliminating reproductive freedom in every form. They even wish to restrict condoms.

The authors, overwhelmingly Trumpist white males, want to return the US to a mythological 1950s which probably didn't really exist – except in their far right imaginations. Even Ward and June Cleaver might have difficulty recognizing the dystopia outlined in this proposal.

The big takeaway from Navigator’s three surveys on this is that the more people find out about it, the more unpopular it is. Navigator writes, “Project 2025 is underwater by 48 points at the end of this survey … with nearly 3 in 4 independents opposed to it … and Republicans split on the plan … [and] more than 9 in 10 Democrats are opposed to Project 2025 by the end of the survey.”

Learn all you can about Project 2025/Mein Trumpf and its most hideous proposals. Let everybody know what the MAGA GOP has in store for a second Trump term. If you post about it here or anywhere, use the tag #Project 2024

Being passive and quiet will only bring about a patriarchal dictatorship; dictators are still easier to prevent than get rid of.

Here is the text of Project 2025. (PDF) You might wish to download it before the far right Heritage Foundation removes it if it becomes too much of a political liability during the Republican National Convention.

[sometimes-men-need-help-too]

Resources and Services for Men- Australia

MensLine Australia: Free phone and online counselling for men in Australia. Qualified counsellors provide 24/7 assistance on various topics for men, including relationships, addiction, family violence, mental health, stress, anger management and general health and well-being

Beyond Blue: The most well-known mental health organisation in Australia, operating for over 20 years. Services include a 24/7 helpline, chat, forums and information and education

Lifeline: Non-judgemental, supportive crisis helpline in Australia available 24/7. Chat and text services are also available

BlackDog Institute: Research and awareness for mental health issues. The community portal is available via web login '

Dad's In Distress helpline: Support for separated dads . 1300 853 437

Right Mate: Support, resources and connection for Men’s Mental Health

Regional Men's Health Initiative (WA): Community health education for men’s health – based in regional Western Australia

Mens Wellbeing: NGO for men supporting men through programs and places for self improvement

Mantle Health: Offers psychology services for men Australia-wide

Mr Perfect: Community group offering free social BBQ events for men across Australia (I also want to note that on their website it says they're more than a BBQ. And online they have 'quality resources for the good of men's mental health.' )

Australian Mens Shed Assoc: Community organisation that assists others to start men’s support and skill-based groups (men’s sheds) in their local area

Mates: Suicide prevention education across the construction industry

The Fathering Project: The first intervention program for fathering in Australia, promotion positive engagement for fathers with their children (of all ages). Men can join or start a Dad’s Group

Healthy Male: Funded by the Government, this platform offers up-to-date health information about men’s health issues

Menandfamilycounselling: counselling for men, offering support for life and relationship concerns such as divorce and co-parenting

You Got This Mate: Mental health support for men living in rural regions of NSW (New South Wales)

The Men's Table: support groups for men to share experiences and garner connection

Bristbane Men's Therapy: Mentoring, therapy, and counseling for men and young men

The Male Hug: platform that connects professional men who need assistance with mental health issues to a buddy for support

[darkrpfinders]

Hello! I’m 25+, she/her, looking to rp with people who are 22+, plotting and brainstorming heavy and getting to threads as we have the time/capacity for them. Prefer paragraph style writing. Usually play m/m, may be willing to do m/f.

I have soulmates on the mind and would love to do a plot involving that. Below are some concepts I have in mind, but I am open to suggestions or brainstorming something together instead if you’d prefer. Open to different kinds of plots in anything from fluff, angst, to dead dove 🕊️. If any of the ideas below sound good to you, like this post and I’ll reach out. 

Idea #1: Futuristic type world where the government keeps people's DNA on file and is able to trace matches of who peoples' soulmates are. It's not a perfect system and some bonds are much stronger than others, but the government does require that if someone is marrying someone that is not their soulmate they have to spend a designated amount of time (we can hash out the specifics of the time) with the soulmate first to try to prevent future divorces if they find their soulmate in life. I'd love to play a man engaged to a woman he is convinced is the love of his life, but is having to go through the government process of spending the mandated time with his soulmate so he can get married and finds out his soulmate is a man- which is something he never even considered. Super flexible on the tone of this one. Some possible avenues:

Slower burn or even platonic, with it being deeply introspective as the characters spend time together has them learning about who they are, their sexuality, etc. Maybe falling in love or just becoming close and supporting each other but deciding not to be together romantically

I'm also okay with it being much darker with a lot of anger and big feelings of being forced to spend time together and upset about the attraction that does seem to come up even when they don't want it. Okay with it going into toxic and controlling, even things like your character trying to break off my character's marriage or force them to stay in this relationship now that the soulmate bond has been activated

Maybe a very angsty cheating plot. They have their time together and my character is convinced he still wants to marry the other person but when things are difficult in his relationship he is constantly still thinking about his soulmate and can't help but drifting back to them.

Idea #2: Another futuristic type world where scientist are discovering soulmate bonds but it is not known about in common society and they actually work pretty hard to keep it on the down low because from the few cases they have been able to study it seems like sometimes things can go wrong and soulmate bonds may also trigger some more feral/aggressive behavior from humans that is not a great fit for our modern society. Scientist really have not been able to study in depth about this bonds, but an unethical science group has been able to gather DNA samples from some groups of people and believe they have some potential soulmate matches that they want to study. In order to bring these potential soulmates to an isolated place to study the group creates a ruse of some people winning a “destination vacation” to an island (very vaguely inspired by the movie Old by M. Night Shyamalan, but trapping people together to study soulmate bonds instead of their health conditions. Do not have to see the movie to understand what I'm wanting to do with this and we could very much do our own thing.)

Idea #3: This one could work with a more realistic or fantasy setting. Basically, different lands have different beliefs and laws related to soulmates. My character comes from a place that does not put a lot of value on soulmates and while people may encounter their soulmate at some point in their life there are no laws around it and people can choose to be with their soulmate or not. My character is traveling to the area where your character lives and they meet and pretty instantly discover they are soulmates. This land has a culture that places A TON of value on soulmates and mandates their bond and believes that separating soulmates is a disgrace and could cause future harm to either of the bonded partners so they've made it illegal. We could hash out the specifics from here and how dark we'd like it to be.

.

[mousemilf]

I get the sentiment, but I don’t think it’s ridiculous for cis women to be afraid for their lives right now when the impending Govt of their country is going to do their best to strip away as many rights as they can regarding reproductive healthcare and abortion (and maybe even divorce).

Like I very much get what you were feeling there, but just because it’s going to be super fucked up for trans people doesn’t mean that cis or even white people are magically excluded from The Impending Horrors, and it’s only more divisive to act like that is the case

im a cis woman and there are steps we can take to protect ourselves. im not saying it wont be difficult. but we have the option of switching to longer term birth control methods and stockpiling mail order pills. its going to be expensive and difficult and scary, but the government doesnt want me dead or in prison, they just want me pregnant, which is significantly easier for me to prevent. when i go out in public i dont have a target painted on my back. even in a bright red state i know that i do not have to fear for my life. there are very clear and achievable steps i can take to keep myself and my cis girl friends safe.

honestly if you are in a situation where its impossible to take these steps you were in just as dire of a situation before the election. its not about that.

trans people cant just untrans their gender. the administration wants to literally genocide them. to pretend like anything we will go through is literally in any way comparable is ridiculous. i dont think its divisive to point this out. we have a clear path through this. they do not.

admitting that a group of people are more oppressed than you is not divisive.

take the steps to protect yourself and then focus your worries on your trans friends.

[weebsinstash]

I saw your tags on that reblog about voting and, I keep seeing people bring up Project 2025 like it's some horrible thing but doesn't it already say a lot of stuff "those types" of people have already been saying anyways. I don't really understand what makes Project 2025 so different than what they're already doing ykwim

I highly highly recommend watching the LegalEagle video on Project 2025 because while they are discussing Project 2025 they even pull up screenshots of the exact pages with the exact wording that the document contains. I can mention a few things here but I really cannot emphasize enough that this document is over 900+ pages long and covers so many different topics where if I were to discuss everything i see wrong with it and what upsets me this post could easily reach several thousand words

Here is my biggest takeaway: many of the ideas and propositions Project 2025 suggests are either things that are based completely upon faith, morals, and/or opinions, OR, are things that are inherently proven to already be ineffective or even outright dangerous. Project 2025 is an explicitly Christofascist manifesto where they claim that the biggest problems in our country are having too many unmarried mothers, queer people, immigrants, and rejection of the Church (not rejection of religion as a whole, they explicitly use "the church" referring to either christianity or catholicism specifically multiple times throughout the manifesto) and seeks to rectify what it sees as problems with extremely damaging and dramatic actions that are, by definition, fascism, heavily restricting your human rights and even creating targeted government agencies to surveil the American public

>project 2025 explicitly says that fatherlessness is a "principal cause of poverty, crime, rejection of the Church, and high school dropouts" and they seek to rectify this through abolishing no fault divorce and completely getting rid of food stamps and other public welfare programs. How can you be an unmarried mother if you literally cannot access the programs intended to help you feed your child, after all?

>it blatantly preaches that keeping the (exclusively heterosexual) family unit together will solve most of America's problems and they take this to delusional degrees.

>they want to get rid of plan b, birth control, and even CONDOMS and instead insist that women use the rhythm method and track their ovulation cycles which is already known to be extremely ineffective and has been for most of human history

>they want to get rid of Planned Parenthood despite the fact they provide many many health services outside of abortion and even go far as to claim that we wouldn't need STI treatment and prevention once everyone is in monogamous faithful marriages.

> This also pretty explicitly means that if you're not married and want to have sex that they want to leave you without any way to prevent yourself from becoming pregnant and if you do become pregnant, you won't be allowed to seek an abortion and you won't be allowed to raise your own child unless you have a good income. They either want you to straight up fucking die or put your baby up for adoption (but don't worry it's not like Republicans are well known for defunding foster care and there are red states where teachers have explicit legal permission to use corporal punishment on children or anything...)

>they want to completely remove specific words and verbiage from government laws, regulations, and documents, in an extremely blatant attempt to censor the truth and scientific fact to intentionally keep the average American ignorant and uninformed. They want to completely remove language about gender, race, climate change, abortion, and other extremely basic words and topics. They quite literally do not even want you or in this case the government to even MENTION these issues as being real and important because if you don't know about it, you cannot educate yourself and possibly rise up

>did you know Fox News basically never even talks about Project 2025 because they don't want their viewers to even know what it is. The GOP model is to literally keep everyone as stupid as possible to trick them into submission

>speaking of, they want to completely abolish the department of education and this is explicitly because they want to control the flow of information and basically create a massive propaganda infrastructure where only their specific ideology and opinions are taught.

>it explicitly mentions a plan to mass deport immigrants, at least 20 million. I don't think any of us can even properly understand how extremely damaging that is to our country. Every single country on earth relies on immigrants to help keep their economies and job markets afloat and this is a policy explicitly rooted in hatred over fact. It is explicitly racist and is not based in any logic or reasoning besides "we don't want brown people in our country"

>Jesus Christ they hate queer people so much. So so so much. They literally refer to the modern movement or giving queer people and POC more rights and recognition "as the totalitarian cult movement known as The Great Awokening". THESE PEOPLE HAVE HELD POSITIONS IN GOVERMENT AND THIS IS HOW THEY'RE SPEAKING IN THEIR OWN OFFICIAL MANIFESTO. They are childish, delusional, and INSANE

>they want to completely remove uh, laws and regulations preventing you from being discriminated against and fired and being the victim of hate crimes, by the way. They want to be able to fire you if they find out you're queer. They want to physically harm you without repercussions if you are queer. They want you to not even be visible in public if you are queer. If you are a queer child they want your teachers to out you to your parents. If you are queer, they want you dead.

>not related to project 2025 but also related to this topic: did you know the man Trump elected as his Secretary of the Department of Labor, Acosta, was once a forner Epstein defense attorney. Trump was literally directly tied to Epstein and put a fucking Epstein lawyer in high level government. Members who have worked in Trump's administration have worked on this document. These people have already served and have had careers in government and they're THIS fucking nuts and ideologically poisoned

I just. I could literally keep going but it's quite literally just openly fascist behavior. "We don't like when people do this so we're going to make this illegal. We don't like Those People using welfare so we will completely get rid of welfare so no one can use it. We don't like people who don't go to our church so we will force our religious beliefs upon them and make them live by our rules regardless. We KNOW immigrants harvest most of our food and do significant portions of our less desirable manual labor jobs but, they're brown and they vote Democrat and we don't like people who arent straight white religious heterosexual conservatives so we will get rid of them despite the fact it would negatively impact our economy"

I just really cannot emphasize enough how much is riding on this election for not just our country but GLOBAL consequences. America has already been damaged so heavily by this conservative Suprene Court and the more we let these actual cultists take power, the harder they right to make themselves seem reasonable and the right choice and brainwash their already extremely easy to fool supporters, who then are now doing things like, setting ballot boxes on fire and attacking poll workers, all because their God king is still saying his election was stolen despite every single government agency and even governments who align with him saying it didn't happen

I know who I'm voting for in November. Do you? And before anyone wants to say "both sides are the same" you're clearly missing that neutrality explicitly benefits the side that is the most aggressive. Abstaining to vote or voting third party is a vote for Trump and Project 2025. If you are not attempting to stop them, you are assisting them. Buckle in everyone, because it's gonna get real messy over the next few months

[agustdiv1ne]

HIHI!! CONGRATS ON 3K!! 🥳 well deserved <3

i'd love to request hyuka fluff with disney's enchanted for ur event! :D

NOW SHOWING...

pairing: huening kai x fem!reader

genre: fantasy, fluff <3

wc: 2.1k

details + warnings: hyuka and mc are giselle and robert adjacent, prince!kai, divorce lawyer!mc, there's really no warnings i'm just in love with kai :')

note: BERRYYY TYSM <33 i love enchanted — how did you know?? and with our lovely kai...just *chef's kiss*

you like to think that your career hasn't soured the taste of love for you, but that's a boldfaced lie.

divorce attorneys bear witness to the worst sides of people, the greedy and the unforgiving and the resentful parts that don't often see the light of day. you try not to be too disheartened by this fact — most of your clients are quite pleasant when they're not in the same room as their ex-lover! a vast majority of them bring you flowers or donuts after their legal woes have been resolved, in fact. however, after watching how your clients' love often degrades into resentment and greed, you've grown somewhat apprehensive of dating in general. the last thing you want is to end up like your clients, so what's the best way to prevent that? well, you think that the answer is to stay single forever; it's easier that way, anyway. you do ache for companionship, but you refuse to set your heart out on the line to achieve it.

while you have established yourself as one of the sharpest and brightest minds in your firm — at a relatively young age, at that — the concept of love is not something that you can pick up a book and learn about with great certainty. in that way, love also intimidates you. there are no cut and dried laws that govern it, no logical reason to its machinations, and that does not agree with you no matter which way you try to twist the idea.

after another long day at work, your hours filled with paperwork and back-to-back meetings with clients, you find yourself trudging along the bustling streets of midtown manhattan towards the nearest subway station. your feet ache inside your heels, and your makeup feels heavy on top of your skin after over ten hours in your workplace. all you want to do is get home, climb into bed, and sleep. you push through another thicket of people, and the sign of the station finally comes into sight. your feet move a bit quicker now, your only goal being to get to the station and head back to your apartment in queens. your focus falters, however, when a loud, masculine scream sounds from the street. sure, the number one rule of new york is to ignore the weird shit and keep it moving, but you're no native to the city; you swivel your head towards the source of the sound—

and watch a man crawling out a manhole nearly get hit by a passing car.

luckily, he ducked back down before the car could actually do any damage. your steps slow down as you watch him skitter across the street, ignoring the jostles that you receive from the rest of the disgruntled crowd. the man finally makes it across the street near where you now stand, after dodging cars and receiving profanities from oh so lovely drivers. frozen in place, you realize how oddly he is dressed. his clothes are straight out of a movie, his princelike attire of bright white trousers and a green, gold-gilded jacket sorely out of place in the sea of gloomy, muted clothing.

“excuse me!” he cries, attempting to stop someone, but the crowd continues to push him along with them. he nearly trips over his own feet as he is shoved backwards. “i was wondering if any of you kind people would be able to help me— ahh!”

as he falls to the concrete, you feel a tug inside your chest. you can't just let him flounder around, distressed and confused. if you don't help him, it's likely no one else will.

shoving your way through the throng of people, you grab his arm, pull him up to his feet, and drag him towards the side of the sidewalk, ignoring his rapid questioning. when you do stop, you finally get a chance to actually look at him up close. tall nose, rich, brown eyes, dark hair that's perfectly styled...beautiful would be a gross understatement when describing him. you shake the thought away. you need to focus and figure out what the hell is going on here.

“are you okay? do you need help getting home?” you ask, albeit a bit tentatively. he perks up at the sound of your voice like a puppy. he doesn’t seem drunk, nor high, his eyes clear as he wears a pleasant yet frazzled smile. that soothes your nerves a bit. 

“yes, that would be wonderful! though i’m not quite sure how to return home,” he says, his smile dropping into a deep frown. 

you mirror his expression, confusion coloring your tone as you pull out your phone and open your maps app. “you...don’t? is there an address or anything you can give me?” 

you quickly learn that he does not, in fact, have an address to give you. he claims that he comes from a land called andalasia, that he's the crown prince, and describes in great detail how he fell down a well and subsequently found himself here. personally, you think that he's insane, but at the the same time, it's hard to picture how he even got beneath the street in the first place.

maybe the multiverse actually is real.

“oh wow, okay. um,” you start, “that’s— okay.”

you internally ponder your next moves. should you just take him to a police station and wipe your hands of him? should you offer to take him with you? he seems relatively harmless despite his tall stature, his eyes glowing as he looks up at the skyscrapers and bright lights that surround you with childlike wonder. his cadence is similar to that of a disney prince, but it doesn't sound like a practiced accent. it's natural, oddly natural.

“okay,” you sigh. “let’s just go to my place, alright? it’s late, and both of us don’t know to get you back to...andalasia? our best bet is to figure it out tomorrow after some sleep.”

“oh, thank you!” he exclaims, bowing deeply. you scramble to urge him to straighten up again, telling him that that’s not something you do here. “it’s not? do you not subscribe to proper decorum?”

“no, most people don’t here. they’re, uh, not usually very kind in the first place.”

“well, then what of you? you have only shown me kindness.” 

“i’m...” you trail off. “i’m just me.”

he doesn’t seem to have a response to that, so you grab his forearm and begin your trek towards the subway station once more. “c’mon, let’s go.”

after much difficulty in getting him onto the subway and ensuring that he doesn't start talking up random strangers, you finally make it home. it nears midnight by the time you step through the threshold into your apartment, the so-called prince trailing innocently behind you.

“welcome to my humble abode,” you joke, slipping your shoes off. “sorry for the mess. i’m not home often.” 

you turn towards him and his owl-eyed expression, and realize something very important.

“i never got your name,” you say, your voice trailing off at the end. he stiffens at this, his hand finding yours while he bows.

“how improper of me! i am prince kai kamal huening the third of adalasia,” he declares. you stare at his bowed over form for a moment. 

“can i just call you kai?”

days pass, and you find that kai has fit into your life much easier than you first expected — once you got past the summoning of animals to clean your apartment, at least.

it's odd, how the two of you just work. his bright, cheery disposition has breathed new life into your daily routine. he sings, his voice clear and soothing, as he cleans your apartment and helps you cook; he tags along to go shopping and not once leaves your side; and, worst of all for your poor, shielded heart, he doesn't shy away from physical affection. to add fuel to the fire, you actually enjoy it.

you find that you spend less time in the office now that he lives with you. he refuses to allow you to indulge in the unhealthy habits that you have picked up from living alone for so long. no more skipping meals, no more working over the weekends, and absolutely no more averaging on four hours of sleep each night. he, unknowingly, acts so much like a boyfriend that you've begun to feel guilty. he doesn't deserve to be stuck with you and your lackluster lifestyle — he needs someone that can match his shine, that can amplify it. he needs someone that can give him the happy ending that he deserves. he needs a princess, and you are far from one.

what confuses you more is that he has stopped trying to find a way home despite your efforts to help him. deep down, you are a little pleased at this development, but you refuse to allow your selfish desires to win. andalasia is his home, not here.

exactly two weeks after he had popped up in your universe, you're sitting next to him on your couch, trying to unwind after a particularly difficult day of work. kai's head lays in your lap, your fingers carding through his soft hair while you watch a show on the tv — or "magical box," as he likes to call it. instead of the show, however, he is what holds your attention. his eyes sparkle with the light of the tv as another scene flashes across the screen in front of you. though he often opts for a button-up and slacks when out and about with you, he now wears a pair of comfortable sweats and an oversized t-shirt. the whole situation is a perfect picture of domesticity.

with a quiet sigh, you slip your hand out of his hair. he doesn't notice, too engrossed in the show.

“kai,” you call, tapping his nose to urge his concentration away from the screen. his gaze immediately finds yours. gently, you ask, “why don’t you want to go home?” 

his body visibly stiffens, and he looks a bit sheepish at the question. wordlessly, he sits up from your lap. he no longer looks at you, but rather at his lap.

“do you wish for me to go?” he murmurs, dejection coloring his tone. frowning, you reach forward and place your hand on top of his.

“of course not. i just,” you sigh, hesitating for a moment. “i’m curious to know why you’ve stopped trying. this world...it’s not the kindest, and living with me can’t be that fun. so what’s keeping you here? don’t you have a princess waiting for you back home?”

“it’s you,” he whispers, but his words are loud for you to hear. 

“m-me?” you stutter. your heart pounds inside your chest, your eyes wide due to his admission. “what do you mean—”

“what i mean,” he interrupts, and suddenly his eyes are boring into yours, sincerity and a catious sort of hope swirling in his umber irises. “is that i feel as if i am able to be myself around you. with you, i am not prince kai of andalasia, but simply kai. no princess can rival what you have made me feel in these past two weeks, and i have—” he inhales deeply, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment as he leans closer. his sheepish expression returns. “i have found myself falling for you.”

falling? for you? your mouth gapes and closes in a clunky rhythm, thoughts jumbled inside your head, and all you can think to is ask is—

“kiss me, please?”

with a gentle smile, his large hands move to cup your face before he leans in and presses his lips to yours. they're soft, tasting of buttery popcorn. your eyes flutter shut as you grip his wrists, deepening the kiss, only pulling away once you are breathless.

a few silent seconds pass between you. internally, you panic, your hands falling to your lap as you fiddle with them. the thoughts tumble out before you can stop them.

“are you sure that you want me?” you whisper. “i can’t give you a castle, or riches. and i’m terribly difficult to love. i’m not used to being loved.”

kai's gaze is unwavering as he reaches down to weave his fingers with yours.

“then allow me to show you how easy it is for me to do so.”

as he leans in to kiss you once more, you feel the walls that shield your heart begin to crumble.

3k event masterlist | masterlist

© to agustdiv1ne. do not copy, repost, steal, and/or translate.

[dandelionh3art]

Sharia law, often misunderstood, is a moral and legal framework derived from Islamic teachings found in the Quran and the Hadith (sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad). It encompasses a wide range of topics, including personal ethics, family matters, finance, and, in some cases, criminal justice. Here's a breakdown to clarify misconceptions:

1. Sharia is not a single book of laws.

Sharia literally means "path" or "way" in Arabic and is more of a guiding principle than a codified law. Different Islamic scholars and schools of thought interpret Sharia differently, leading to variations in its application across Muslim-majority countries.

2. Sharia is primarily about personal conduct.

Most of Sharia focuses on guiding individual Muslims on how to live a moral and ethical life. This includes:

Prayer: Guidelines for worship.

Charity: Obligations to help the needy (Zakat).

Dietary rules: Prohibitions like avoiding alcohol or eating certain foods.

Marriage and family: Guidelines on marriage contracts, divorce, and inheritance.

3. Criminal justice is a small and often misunderstood part of Sharia.

Criminal punishments under Sharia (known as Hudood laws) are the most controversial aspect but apply only in specific circumstances with very strict evidence requirements. For example:

Theft requires eyewitnesses and specific conditions to be met before severe punishments can be imposed.

Many of these punishments are rarely carried out and, in practice, are often replaced by other legal systems in modern states.

4. Sharia applies only to Muslims.

Sharia governs the lives of Muslims who choose to adhere to its teachings. It is not imposed on non-Muslims, even in Islamic countries. Non-Muslims often have their own legal frameworks, especially in matters of marriage, inheritance, and religious practice.

5. Sharia promotes justice, compassion, and community welfare.

The principles of Sharia aim to ensure fairness, protect human dignity, and prevent harm. For example:

The prohibition of usury (interest) is intended to prevent exploitation in financial transactions.

Charity is a fundamental obligation to reduce poverty and inequality.

6. Sharia differs from country to country.

Sharia is interpreted differently depending on culture, history, and local laws. For instance, many Muslim-majority countries combine Sharia principles with modern, secular legal systems. The strict implementation often highlighted in media represents only a minority of cases.

7. Misconceptions stem from cultural practices, not Sharia.

Some practices attributed to Sharia, such as forced marriages or honor killings, are cultural traditions and not supported by Islamic teachings. Islam explicitly prohibits coercion in matters of faith and personal choice.

8. Non-Muslims living in Muslim-majority countries:

In most Muslim-majority countries, non-Muslims are free to practice their own faith and are not governed by Sharia in personal matters. For example, they may follow their own religious laws regarding marriage and inheritance.

In Summary:

Sharia is a holistic moral framework meant to guide Muslims in living an ethical life, not a universal legal system imposed on everyone. The misconception that Sharia seeks to govern non-Muslims or enforce harsh punishments universally is largely a result of misinformation and cultural misunderstandings.

By understanding the spiritual, ethical, and personal aspects of Sharia, people can see it as a system rooted in principles of justice, compassion, and mutual respect.

[retourpresdetoi]

white yaoi website I know but. white progressives on here tend to treat BIPOC experiences and oppression as hypothetical, or as divorced talking points. and i don't know how to explain to y'all that this is real shit real people go through every day, not "what if" scenarios you can use to bolster your smug internet thesis.

government action oppressing black and brown people isn't new. it isn't some distant evil that we need to prevent, it is here NOW! BIPOC in the states suffered under the first trump term, suffer currently under biden, and will continue to suffer no matter which fascist is elected. the global south will continue to be pillaged. congolese are dying in mines right now. sudanese are being killed right now. people are cooking alive in India and Mexico alike, right now. palestinians are being bombed. right. now. now now now.

i am asking you to consider this deeply when you tell people to vote for a party that continues to not care if BIPOC live or die. a party that kills people who look like us, our families, across the world. i am asking you to consider this deeply when you, yourself, vote. do you vote with BIPOC in mind, or are you only voting to preserve your white comforts? what do our lived experiences mean to you? what do our lives mean to you? and i want you to ask yourself what you, personally, are doing to continue to fight against the american fascist machine. voting cannot be enough. politicians will not save us. they will not save you.

yes, vote. vote in your local elections. vote for your school board and your council members and your representatives. research nearby mutual aid networks. offer support and understanding and fucking acknowledgement to the black and brown people in your communities. care about BIPOC experiences- our pain, our joy, our art and our love and our lives. care about what we have to say. care about us. please.

[mariacallous]

After her husband moved to Saudi Arabia for work, 27-year-old Fadya Salman started sending nude pictures of herself from their home in the Yemeni capital Sana’a. It wasn’t the same as being together, but it helped keep their bond alive.

Then her phone got stolen. The thief threatened to publish the photos online unless Salman—whose name has been changed here to protect the safety of this story’s sources—went out with him. She had become a victim of what authorities in many countries call “sextortion”—the act of threatening to share nude or explicit images unless demands for money or sexual acts are met.

Salman refused. Eventually, her family learned what had happened, and in 2022, she was murdered. A childhood friend who asked not to be named said her younger brother had killed her under pressure from their father in a so-called honor killing. A criminal investigation officer in Yemen confirmed that she had been killed, though no charges have been brought, as is often the case with such killings.

“It was a nightmare,” the friend said while describing Salman’s ordeal. “When a woman is put in a situation like that, she’s on her own. She can’t trust anyone to help her. She can’t go to a male relative because they’ll assume she’s to blame, and another woman won’t be able to help.”

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and its international law enforcement agency warned this year that sextortion is becoming a global crisis. Deep-rooted patriarchal traditions have made women in the Middle East and North Africa particularly vulnerable to this blackmail, activists say. While the bulk of cases are never reported to authorities, a 2019 survey by Transparency International found that one in five people polled in Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine had experienced sextortion or knew someone who had—among the worst rates in the world.

Widespread societal attitudes that place the burden of preserving familial honor on women often prevent victims from seeking justice. Instead, as in Salman’s case, the blackmail can have tragic consequences.

Such strict societal codes are particularly pronounced in Yemen, which ranked last in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index for 15 consecutive years (from 2006 to 2020) and has a troubled history of so-called honor killings.

Amaal Aldobai, a Yemeni women’s rights activist and head of the Centre for Combating Violence Against Women, said that women are easy prey for perpetrators of sextortion.

“If a woman falls victim to sextortion, she cannot tell her family because they will sentence her to death instead of getting justice,” Aldobai said.

While some women are lured into sending private images by promises of marriage, Yemeni activist Mokhtar Abdel Moez said that the majority fall victim to gangs that hack into women’s phones and coerce them into prostitution or paying a large sum of money.

“This results in hundreds of cases of divorce, murder, and suicide every year,” he said. “What is incredible is that, in some incidents, women gave in to coercion and were forced into prostitution to avoid the publishing of images that are not even scandalous yet are enough to lead to their murder merely for being in a strange man’s possession.”

Abdel Moez is the founder of Sanad, a nonprofit organization in Yemen that supports cybercrime victims through a network of around 400 volunteer digital experts. When he began the group in March 2020, he didn’t expect to find so many cases of sextortion.

Sanad has received about 17,000 reports of cybercrimes since its launch, 6,000 of which were reported in 2023. Abdel Moez estimates that about one in four are cases of sextortion.

Official figures are far lower. An official at the Ministry of Interior in the Houthi-led government in Sana’a, who asked not to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said that 114 electronic crimes—including sextortion—were reported in 2022.

Yemen’s Saudi-backed administration in Aden keeps no tally of reported sextortion cases, but multiple officials said they had received dozens of such reports, mostly targeting women.

Fearing their families’ wrath and distrusting the two rival administrations fighting over power, vulnerable victims instead seek out activists such as Moez and his team. When they receive a report of a crime, the team at Sanad works to identify and contact the extortionist to try to persuade them to hand over and delete the blackmail content.

Egyptian activist Mohamed El-Yamani started a network called Qawem (or “Resist” in English) in 2020, after a young woman took her own life out of fear that her ex-boyfriend would expose private images of her.

Egypt ranked 134th out of 146 countries in the 2023 Gender Gap Index, and El-Yamani says his group has received reports of more than 100,000 cases of sextortion since it started. But he believes that this is only a small fraction of the crimes committed.

El-Yamani said that Qawem has successfully intervened in 4,000 cases, using a network of volunteers to dissuade each perpetrator by tracing his location and threatening to expose his actions to his family, friends, and colleagues. Realizing that the victim has support is often enough to deter blackmailers, but if it doesn’t, Qawem encourages victims to report the perpetrators to the authorities.

In one case, El-Yamani said, images of a girl from a prominent family in Egypt were published online, showing her without a headscarf. The girl had refused to accede to the demands of her blackmailer, who wanted money and video calls with her. When the content was published, she was accused of recklessness and made to stay home from school.

El-Yamani said Qawem managed to defuse the situation by tracking down the blackmailer and getting him to apologize and remove the content from the internet, while also convincing the girl’s father to allow his daughter to return to school.

Egypt, El-Yamani added, is a regional leader in tackling the problem. Authorities have created digital investigation units throughout the country to handle such crimes, and they have passed laws to ensure that the identities of victims who come forward remain hidden. Qawem-style interventions would be much harder in countries such as Yemen and Syria, he said.

“Many women in these countries would rather deal with their sextortionists secretly, regardless of the consequences, as their families would hold them responsible for not protecting their family’s honor,” El-Yamani said.

Experts say that the patriarchal nature of family relations in some Middle Eastern countries has contributed to the problem.

“One common factor in all 3,657 cases that approached us is the victims’ blind trust in the perpetrator, due to them lacking the feeling of being loved and embraced in their own surroundings,” said Zainab al-Aasi, a Syrian psychiatrist and the founder of a nonprofit called Gardenia that offers legal and mental support to female victims of sextortion.

In Yemen, there are no laws addressing sextortion, said Fawzia el-Meressi, a board member at the Yemeni Women’s Union, a nonprofit. Even if there were, she argued, such crimes against women would not stop; they are the result of a patriarchal system that “creates a huge void between her and her male family members, which is exploited by criminals.”

Omaima, 21, whose name has also been changed for her safety, connected online with a man introduced to her by a friend as a researcher for a women’s health organization. The man offered payment for information about her life—a persuasive offer in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, where 80 percent of the population depends on humanitarian aid.

At first, Omaima responded to the questions he sent via WhatsApp, sharing details about her relationship with her husband and pictures of her without a headscarf—a major taboo in the strict Muslim society that she is part of.

Then the questions began to take on a sexual nature, making her feel uncomfortable, she said. But after she began to ignore him, the man threatened to send the photos to her husband, carrying out the threat when she refused to engage.

Her husband divorced her. “He didn’t even hear me out,” Omaima said.

This piece is published in collaboration with Egab, a group that works with journalists across the Middle East and Africa.

[darkmaga-returns]

28 December 2024, by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)

Germany was a great manufacturing nation, and Russia is the world’s giant in natural resources; so, the result of these two marrying would be enormous benefit to both. However, America’s billionaires — who control the U.S. empire (of which Germany is a colony) — benefit hugely from preventing that alliance, and so the U.S. Government (which U.S. billionaires control) blew up the Nord Stream pipelines and imposed sanctions punishing any nation that trades with Russia, via not only these anti-Russia sanctions etc., but via these individuals’ control over the U.S. Government and media (to fool voters not only in the U.S. but in its colonies, so that Germans and the subjects in America’s other colonies would view Russia, instead of view America’s billionaires, as being their enemies); so, there hasn’t been any such marriage between Germany and Russia; and, ever since 2022, there has instead been a U.S.-forced divorce (by sanctions etc.) termination of the economic ties that did exist between Germany and Russia.

Here are excerpts from a comprehensive (though, as is obvious, biased against Russia) article documenting Germany’s, and the EU’s, high dependency upon Russia for its fuel-needs prior to the post-24-February-2022 U.S.-and-colonial sanctions to replace these inexpensive Russian supplies to Europe, by far costlier supplies mainly from the U.S.:

“Gazprom and Europe: Attached At The Hip?”

28 June 2022, By Advait Lath, Contributor to The London Financial

… [Though] it may be a futile exercise to be able to pinpoint the origins of an impending global crisis, chances are, a clandestine Russian gas behemoth, Gazprom, may have something to do with it.