#articles

[animefeminist]

Resilience and Resistance: Reimagining marginality and agency in The Apothecary Diaries

Content warning: discussion of violence against sex workers, abuse, sexually transmitted disease, historical misogyny

Spoilers for The Apothecary Diaries Season 1

The Apothecary Diaries presents a richly detailed world inspired by dynastic China, where the social framework is deeply intertwined with notions of aestheticized masculinity and the romanticised construction of pleasure districts. Through the viewpoint of its protagonist, Maomao, who was raised in the red-light district and now works in the palace, the series delves into the complexities of these highly gendered settings, particularly through the lens of courtesanship and royal polygamy—two institutions that govern the lives of women in this society based on Confucian principles, and where various female characters nonetheless carve out their own agency within these structures. 

The series opens by portraying the red-light district (or hanamachi) not as a taboo, shadowy place but as a vibrant, bustling setting full of realized characters. This is clear even from the opening minutes of the anime: as Maomao navigates the narrow alleys of the hanamachi, she is greeted by the familiar rhythm of life. Traditional string instruments play lively music, autumn leaves fall, and red lanterns glow warmly from balconies, enhancing the district’s energy. The hanamachi pulses with life—from extravagantly dressed courtesans preparing for the night to customers haggling with the proprietress. The courtesans, draped in luxurious fabrics, exude elegance and allure, while young girls in training assist them in their intricate routines. This lively world, full of ritual and artistry, contrasts sharply with the rigid outside society, embodying survival and cultural expression.

While this place exists on the margins of so-called polite society due to its connection to the taboo world of sex work, Maomao’s matter-of-fact treatment of the district and the women who work there invites the audience to reject this notion that the hanamachi and its courtesans are somehow “other” or impure—they are, as Maomao’s interactions with them show, just people. This is a departure from the exoticized and dehumanized ways that other historical-inspired and/or fantasy series often treat sex workers. Though the energy of the setting is quite different, Maomao takes this same attitude to the concubines when she begins her indentured work at the Rear Palace. The Apothecary Diaries consistently treats its female characters with nuance and sympathy, and allows space in the narrative to explore how these different women react to and survive within the structures they have found themselves in.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

[mysticdragon3md3]

Ngl i prefer the 2016 version purple on the right.

[macleod]

LGBTQ+ workers who are misgendered by their employers or blocked from accessing restrooms consistent with their gender identity will now get additional workplace protections as a result of new guidance issued Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

It’s the first time in 25 years that the EEOC has issued new rules on workplace discrimination — a change precipitated in part by the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, the landmark decision that found that LGBTQ+ workers are protected from workplace discrimination.

For LGBTQ+ workers, the EEOC’s guidance strengthens the impact of the 2020 Bostock decision, affecting an estimated 3.6 million employees. It also clarifies the requirements for employers.

Emily Martin, the chief program officer for the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement that the guidance “makes clear that federal law does not allow workplaces to be in the business of using harassment to enforce sex stereotypes about how employees should live, present, or identify. This is illegal discrimination, plain and simple.”

The guidelines were approved by a 3-2 vote in the five-member commission, including by Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal.

Source: Chabeli Carrazana via The 19th, April 30th 2024.

[soracities]

absolutely enraptured rn

[skeith-platinumprincess]

Yuzu Pays $2.4 Million to End Nintendo Lawsuit

[wachinyeya]

https://ktla.com/news/california/goats-unleashed-by-san-manuel-tribe-as-part-of-fire-prevention-strategy/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaJJAE-Kl55wk4vm1cYc0zjGRUEv8w6ps0HX0z-rxwwa7YXnTDCsgIU2vs_aem_0djT-2NoD-E87Ic6UeeqGw

Firefighting goats have been deployed by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to protect tribal land and neighboring property from potentially devastating brush fires.

The goats are unleashed by the San Manuel Fire Department to eat up dry brush and grass that would normally be ideal fuel for fires — a recent fire was actually partially stopped once it reached an area cleared by the caprine crew earlier this year.

The herd, officials said, is about 400-strong and is made up of generations of goat families.

On Tuesday, the goats were treated to a feast of fruit before being sent on their brush-eating mission.

The goats will spend the next several months trimming and thinning out vegetation on the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Reservation and nearby properties in San Bernardino.

Tribal officials said the brush that covers the hillsides in and around San Manuel property is thriving and diverse, boosted by the recent history-making rainy season. The plant life is an ideal food source because goats prefer food that’s at their eye level.

The Tribe has used goats as a natural, environmentally friendly fire preventative tool since 2019; the plants get trimmed in a sustainable fashion, which allows them to survive and recover naturally overtime unlike most chemical sprays.

Tribal officials called the practice an extension of the Tribe’s “culture of lands stewardship.”

“Caring for the land is a sacred duty of the Tribe,” said Lynn Valbuena, chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. “Stewardship is a responsibility given to our people by the Creator. No matter who owns the land.”

San Bernardino County residents shouldn’t be surprised to see the goats in the mountains fulfilling this divine task from now through the end of fire season.

[omgellendean]

So, Sacha Baron Cohen recently endorsed Kamala Harris in a fittingly racist islamophobic manner, by bringing back his character Borat. Yes, it's 2024.

Anyway, here's a 2022 investigation of SBC's vile Zionism and connections to the USA and Israeli intelligence, as well as an insight into the role of the US-American cinema as a propaganda tool.

Article: https://www.mintpressnews.com/closer-scrutiny-reveals-close-state-power-sacha-baron-cohen-really/279355/

Archived link: https://archive.is/7dSTL

Some quotes:

When asked about the national security state’s role in shaping pop culture, the former intelligence officer [John Kiriakou] said that it is “far more cynical” than most people realize, explaining:

” There is a branch inside the CIA’s Office Of Public Affairs whose job is solely to work with Hollywood Studios. This is something that the FBI has been doing since the 1940s. They’ll cooperate and give the red carpet treatment to any Hollywood studio that’s willing to make the CIA look good. “ [...]

In the end, “Brüno’s” production company did interview someone they claimed was a terrorist (in the Letterman interview, Baron Cohen described the man as such eight times in the space of three minutes). However, the person in question – Palestinian grocer and NGO worker Ayman Abu Aita – vigorously denied he was a terrorist at all. He claimed that Baron Cohen had told him the interview would be about his peace activism and that his life and business had been destroyed as a result. Abu Aita sued for nearly $100 million. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2012. [...]

Even from an early age, Sacha was reportedly obsessed with the Jewish state. “He was very Zionist, very involved in Habo,” recalled one friend, referring to Habonim Dror, a left-wing Zionist group of which he was a member. Others remembered him as “a very nerdy, very funny, Israel-oriented guy” who went to live on a kibbutz in his youth. He appears to idolize Shimon Peres, traveling to meet him in 2012 and sharing quotes from the former Israeli president on his social media accounts. Peres, of course, oversaw the genocide of Palestinians in 1948, attempted to sell nuclear weapons to Apartheid South Africa, and carried out the ethnic cleansing of the Galilee region. [...]

Unsurprisingly, Baron Cohen has also campaigned fiercely against the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, presenting it as viciously antisemitic. “Boycotting? Yeah, fantastic. As long as they are Jews, it is alright. I’m not a racist, but keep the Jews out,” he said, in an attempt to satirize their position. [...]

Much of the movie is actually spent “on location” in “Kazakhstan,” where Borat takes the viewer around an unimaginably poor-looking village, making fun of how backward “his people” are. There are no Western egos or ignorance being punctured here. In fact, it was shot in a gypsy encampment in Romania, where locals were paid around $3 each to be humiliated by a man who spoke to them in a language they did not understand. The villagers were told they were appearing in a sympathetic documentary highlighting their lives. “Borat” made over $262 million at the box office. [...]

The racism was further amplified with the 2020 release of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” Within the first two minutes of the sequel, Borat informs us that Kazakhstan has canceled their traditional event, “the running of the Jew,” but fortunately his country still has Holocaust Remembrance Day, “when we commemorate our heroic soldiers who ran the camps.” Borat also received an award, which he stated will be “put in our national museum along with other treasure we have confiscated from Jews.” [...]

In actual fact, as many have pointed out, Kazakhstan was a haven for Jewish people during the Holocaust, not a perpetrator of it, saving thousands of Jewish lives by taking in people from Eastern Europe and other states of the U.S.S.R. Today, the country is commended by Jewish groups as a model of tolerance. It is also, notably, not a helplessly sexist nation; Save The Children ranked it higher than the United States in its list of best countries to grow up female.

This is a rather inconvenient truth for the Israeli state-building project Baron Cohen supports. Ironically, perhaps the most shocking and newsworthy case of exposing bigotry Baron Cohen has documented has never been revealed. While in character as Brüno in Jerusalem, Baron Cohen was beaten nearly to death by an enraged crowd of homophobic Israelis, who, angered by his camp and sacrilegious attire, started stoning him, on camera. Baron Cohen was reportedly “nearly killed.” Kiriakou told MintPress that Baron Cohen told him that a rabbi even spat on him. It was the only time in his career that he broke character and desperately yelled that he was an Israeli Jew, not a homosexual foreigner. The comedian fled for his life and found refuge in a nearby store bathroom. This footage has never seen the light of day. Perhaps it sends the “wrong” message.

[homocidalpotat]

I made a petition to ban/minimise perfume use in schools

You can find the petition on change.org here

Reblog for a greater audience!

(Under the cut is promotion/reasoning and relevant articles)

WHY IT'S BAD

This petition is mostly for people to show to headteachers or similar. Its not exclusively for me and its not exclusively for schools but I made it for schools originally.

Just to clarify, I still think perfume is an okay thing to use. If you put a normal or subtle amount of perfume on, there isn't really a problem. If it's not an overwhelming or obnoxious amount, it's not okay. That's why I made this for schools- students don't tend to be rational with their perfume use. Additionally, it's about where you spray it. If it's outside or not in a public place, it's okay, but if you spray it indoors in a classroom, it's a lot more dangerous. I'm not completely anti-perfume, I'm just fed up with the constant, dangerous, upsetting misuse of the stuff.

You can let me know if you can think of any other points to add to this list. I've already added a lot to it!

Dangerous for asthmatics

Sensory overload

Distracting/annoying

Overused

Smells bad to many people

Trigger meltdowns/arguements/overwhelm

Nausea

Severe allergic reactions (burns, sneezing, hives, swelling, and even anaphylaxis)

‎Skin irritation/triggering excema flares

Dizziness

Fainting

Migraines/headaches/light-headedness

Runny noses/sneezing fits

Air pollution

Dangerous to some animals

Seizures

Lupus flares

Minor allergies

Trigger traumatic episodes (for those who have trauma with someone who uses lots of perfume or a specific smell that reminds you of a traumatic event

Cancer

RELEVANT ARTICLES

Why smelling good could come with a cost to health - The Guardian

Evaluation of pollutants in perfumes, colognes and health effects on the consumer: a systematic review - National Institutes of Health

8 Things to Know About Toxic Fragrances - Force of Nature

Can fragrances be harmful to our health? - Quora

Fragrance Disclosure - Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Ubiquity, Hazardous Effects, and Risk Assessment of Fragrances in Consumer Products - National Institutes of Health

How to Know If Your Perfume Is Poisoning You - Healthline

What is fragrance? - Environmental Working Group

Is Your Perfume Poisoning Your Family? - Meghan Telpner

How fragrances affect health, and ways to reduce exposure - Ohio State Health & Discovery

Fragrance - Breast Cancer Prevention Partners

Side Effects of Chemical Perfumes - Natural Niche Perfume

Perfume stinks: how fragrances can affect your health - Healthdirect

[ahappyphjl]

“i feel part of that community” phil i will cry

[cold-black-and-infinite]

He's just like me for real

Nine Inch Nails | Promo from The Guardian (1999)

[soracities]

absolutely iconic (”the ‘perpetual broths’ that simmer for decades”, atlas obscura)

[anyataylorjoys]

Now her management agencies WME and Sugar23 are looking to pull the plug on her for starting a fundraiser for the UNRWA which is providing aid to Gaza after funding was pulled when Israel claimed they are in cahoots with Hamas. God forbid she raise money so people don't starve to death and can have access to sanitation products. This world is evil.

Fundraiser link in her bio:

[omgellendean]

“It was the first time I had seen an Israeli soldier in real life,” Ahmad told Mondoweiss.

The army separated the women from the men and forced the women to flee south to Rafah. The men were kept zip-tied and would remain in the army’s custody. [...]

The next morning on January 23, the Israeli soldiers ordered Ahmad, his father, his brother, and the rest of his cousins to move outdoors and instructed them to move horizontally in front of the armored military cars.

“As they ordered us to stop and stand still, I found myself again a few meters away from the resistance military base,” Ahmad said. “ That was the moment I realized that we were being used as human shields.”

Soldiers forced them to kneel in the middle of the street as they took cover behind Ahmad and his male relatives.

They were forced to wear thin clothes in the winter cold, and their hands were zip-tied so tightly that they couldn’t feel their fingers. The soldiers at several points fired bullets next to their feet in an effort to terrorize them, perhaps to make them amenable to following orders.

“Every time they shot at us, I instantly poked my back to check if I was still alive,” said Ahmad, recalling the soldiers’ giggles at how scared he and his family were.

At other times, a tank would rapidly move towards them, then drift back, less than a meter away from them. Ahmad realized the soldiers were toying with them.  

At one point, soldiers picked Ahmad’s brother, Saeed, and tortured him, breaking his jaw. They kicked him in his genitals like they were “hitting a football,” according to Saeed. They beat him so severely that he blacked out at one point. [...]

Before sunset, the exchange of gunfire broke out again. Three Israeli soldiers rushed towards Ahmad and the rest of the men and pulled them toward a large sand dune, which they forced them to stand upon so that they were visible and exposed to the line of fire. As they stood atop the dune, they looked down and on the other side of it was a large ditch in the sand underfoot. 

The soldiers forced them to stand there on the dune, exposed to the line of fire and with the ditch looming below. [...]

After the exchange of fire was over, the Israeli soldiers forced Ahmad and the rest of the men inside a building. The building was all dark except for the room Ahmad and his family were forced into. The southern and eastern walls of the room were destroyed, which made those inside visible to anyone in sight from the resistance base.

Every once in a while, a soldier would come and point a red laser towards them for a few minutes, and then go away.

“I think he was trying to make it clear to the resistance fighters that we were also inside that building, as they were using us, once again, as human shields,” Ahmad explained.

Moments later, soldiers took them one by one to another room. It was the first time in more than 18 hours of being held as hostages that they began to interrogate them.[...]

After about two hours, the soldiers set Ahmad and his family free and ordered them to move south by making them follow a laser beam in the dead of night.

Fumbling through the roads, Ahmad and his family were finally able to reach a UN school about a mile away sheltering a number of displaced people.