#community reproduction

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Though many respondents indicated that a couple could be shivareed only once, that rule does not always apply. When I asked for reasons why people would receive more than one shivaree, the responses were that different social groupings might organize events separately, or that they could be shivareed any number of times until their first child arrives. The latter explicitly links the shivaree with fertility, and makes it a negative incentive for reproduction. The connections to sex, gender, and sexuality are multiple. The noise that begins the shivaree is arguably male-associated; the best noisemakers are purpose-built by men or appropriated from tools used in male-dominated work. However, the tricks most obviously directed at women are planned and carried out by women. The shivaree is an example of women doing the work of maintaining mores and practices that are not necessarily in their own interests – or those of their female friends and relatives. There can be an element of collective delayed payback: if I had to put up with these pranks, I’ll make sure that you have to put up with them also.

But the consequences for women (and couples) who don’t fit in can be dire, especially in locations where they must depend on their neighbours and community for assistance. The seriousness of the test echoes the deep play of the Louisiana country Mardi Gras described by Ancelet, Sawin, and Ware. Failing the shivaree test means you are not part of the group. The anonymous Ontario woman above who ‘moved on,’ however happy she may be with the ultimate outcome of a professional career, may have had little choice. Those who can’t take the surveillance, gossip, and conservative mores of most rural communities generally leave them. But those communities – perhaps Avonlea, Saskatchewan, is an example – that appear to welcome outsiders, and whose shivarees are more friendly than they are edgy, survive and sometimes even flourish.

The fact that shivarees are now understood as intending to welcome newlyweds into the community, as I’ve stated already, does not mean that they never include dangerous and/or illegal actions, or insensitive and/or inappropriate ones. Like many other traditional practices, shivaree is good or bad, and its outcomes positive or negative, based on the specific congeries of individuals and community expectations with luck and good management. Just about any otherwise innocuous social event can turn ugly, and even the most serious political protests can remain decent and safe for all involved.

That being said, I doubt that I would appreciate being shivareed. I suspect I would not be considered a good sport in most rural communities. I value my privacy, I’m not particularly sociable, and I’m offended by the ritual debasement particularly of women in the sexualized pranks of some shivarees. I would find it overwhelming and frustrating that as a woman I would be expected to suffer in silence through an extensive series of pranks intended to test my ability to endure unreasonable provocation without protest. I’d like to think I would appreciate one or two jokes, and that I would understand them as part of tradition. I do think, however, that the women I’ve quoted above are justifiably upset about their shivarees. ... the debasement of the couple in shivaree pranks may relate to the idea that no individual or couple should be elevated over others, without some ritual action that pulls them down to the common level. But symbolic explanations don’t mitigate the individual effects of shivarees, nor do they comfort those who may be on the receiving end of specific practices.

Finally, because a practice helps to maintain a certain status quo doesn’t mean that the status quo is actually worth maintaining. The biological offspring of locals aren’t the sole route to community continuation. Groups can be reproduced by migration into them, for example. The division of insiders from outsiders that renders incomers a problem is not a reflection of their actual worth as human beings – or as potential community members. But there’s nothing fundamental to the symbolic means of shivarees that make them inherently problematic or otherwise."

- Pauline Greenhill, Make the Night Hideous: Four English-Canadian Charivaris, 1881–1940. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. p. 210-212.

[lilithism1848]

[liberate-women-now]

Not wanting to be pregnant is the only reason a woman should have to give to be able to have an abortion. That’s it. No more explaining to misogynists that abortion can actually save a woman’s life, or trying to pull at their heart by showing a pregnant child, rape victim, or incest pregnancy. Abortion should be an unapologetic human right every female should have access to.

[queerism1969]

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

This is far from surprising, Republicans love to talk a lot about how they care about life but they really don't. True care would be establishing a national childcare system, true care would be preventing school shootings, true care would be eradicating student lunch debt! But it was never about care but rather control, they seek to control women's bodies and use children as a cudgel like they do with other groups. Do not be deluded, Republicans will gladly strip women of their rights if we do not put up a united fight, they will strip us of all our rights if we do not vote them out of office. Vote blue and vote Democrat, it's the only feasible way short of violent tactics to prevent the loss of the rights we hold dear.

[dhddmods]

Intersex Guide!

Hello and happy pride! We wished to share a passion project we have been working on for months - a guide to intersex traits and variations! Please reblog to spread awareness.

Now, a question that many ask - what is intersex? Well, we will be answering that question for you here! Anything on this post that is written in red is NOT intersex, so if you wish to skip over any of it, you can. And if you wish to get straight into the intersex types, scroll down to the read-more and start from there.

Intersex, also known as the intersex spectrum, is a term used to describe when someone's biological sex - as in the sex they are born with/what they naturally develop during puberty - is not clearly defined as the typical male or female sex traits.

(This does not include someone that was born male or female, and later chose to have their sex traits changed due to being transgender, transsex, or altersex. It also does not include males that experienced circumcision/dorsal slits or penis splitting, females that experienced genital mutilation, or males & females that indulged in modifications such as piercings and beading.)

This only applies to primary sex traits - chromosomes, genitals, reproductive organs, and hormones. Atypical secondary sex traits (breasts, muscle tone, body/facial hair, deepness of voice) do not make someone intersex unless it is paired with "abnormalities" in primary sex traits.

Before you can understand what it means to be intersex, first we must clarify what it means to not be intersex.

A typical male has XY chromosomes, a penis, two testicles within the scrotum, and more androgens (mostly testosterone) than females. Upon puberty, they usually (but not always) develop more facial hair & muscle tone than females, and a deeper voice than females.

(Note: A penis has a phallus, a scrotum beneath the phallus, foreskin protecting the head of the phallus, and a urethra on the head of the penis. It is is straight or slightly curved when erect.)

A typical female has XX chromosomes, a vulva, two ovaries, a single uterus, and more estrogen than males. Upon puberty, they usually (but not always) develop larger breasts and wider hips than males.

(Note: A vulva has two labia, a single pea-sized clitoris, a single vaginal entry, and a urethra above the vaginal entry and under the clitoris.)

Here is a list of non-typical sex traits that, by themselves, are not intersex.

Accessory Breasts (Polymastia): Having more than two breasts. Accessory Nipples (Polythelia): Having more than two nipples. Athelia: Having only one nipple, or no nipples at all. Amastia: Having only one breast & nipple, or no breasts & nipples at all. Breast Hypertrophy/Macromastia/Gigantomastia: Having extremely large breasts Gynecomostia: Breasts on a male. The reason this is not considered intersex is because all sexes (except for people with amastia) have breast tissue, which can vary in size regardless of sex. Females can have small breasts, and males can have larger breasts than is expected. Hypotonia: Low muscle tone. Bicornuate Uterus: A heart-shaped uterus. Septate Uterus: A uterus that internally has a partition down the middle. Macropenis: A penis that is 7 inches/17.78 centimeters or larger. Macroorchidism: Testicles that are 4 milliliters or above pre-puberty, and above 30 milliliters as an adult. Macrovagina: A vagina that is deeper than 5 inches/13 centimeters. Labial Hypertrophy: Labia that is longer than average (above 2 inches/5 centimeters)

Now, onto the intersex spectrum! First, some notes.

-An intersex trait is a singular atypical trait. For example, someone with ambiguous genitals, but no other "abnormality" has an intersex trait. -An intersex variation is when multiple atypical traits are present, with at least one of them being an intersex trait. For example, someone with ambiguous genitals and fused kidneys has an intersex variation. Equally, someone with ambiguous genitals and cryptorchidism also has an intersex variation. -CTF stands for "close to female." CTF traits are when the traits are predominantly "feminine" (vulvas, uteruses, ovaries, estrogen as the main sex hormone, breasts, widened hips, XX chromosomes, etc.) -CTM stands for "close to male." CTM traits are when the traits are predominantly "masculine" (a penis, testicles, androgens as the main sex hormones, increased hair growth, higher muscle mass, a deepened voice, XY chromosomes, etc.)

Also, when we state that an intersex trait/variation is "fairly common", we mean that it is fairly common amongst the intersex population, not that it is fairly common in the general population. Being intersex is still classified as "rare" statistically speaking (as statistics define "rare" as 1 in 1,000 people.)

So for the sake of this post, here is how we are classifying the following:

"Fairly common" = 1 in every 5,000 (or less)

"Rare" = above 1 in every 5,000, up to 1 in every 100,000

"Extremely rare" = above 1 in every 100,000

Similarly, when we say "higher risk of _", it does not necessarily mean that risk is very high, just that its a higher chance than a person without that trait/variation. It could be as low as 1% higher of a risk. Every sex has its risks, whether its male, female, or on the intersex spectrum. To put it into perspective, females are at a higher risk of breast cancer than males.

Also, keep in mind that "may include" means that not all of the features will be present on every single person with that variation; in fact, none of the extra features could be present. However, for chromosomal variations specifically, it is highly likely that at least 1-5 (or more) of the listed extra features will be present.

And finally, when we say that "fertility is average", what we mean is that the gonads are fully capable of producing healthy average numbers of sperm/eggs, and/or the uterus is capable of carrying healthy babies. Struggles with the sperm reaching the eggs still might occur, but if direct insemination is done (as in the sperm is directly injected), then pregnancy should occur perfectly fine.

---

Penile Traits/Variations (not including those on the agenital spectrum)

Urethral Traits/Variations (not including those on the agenital spectrum)

Ambiguous Genitals

The Agenital Spectrum/Agenital/Agenitalia

An umbrella term, describing those born with no genitals, closed-off genitals, small genitals, or genitals that are missing typical penile or vulval traits.

(Anorchia & Monoorchidism fall under this as well.)

Gonadal Agenesis

An umbrella term, describing an individual that is born with an absence of one or both gonads (ovaries, testicles, or ovotestes).

Other reproductive traits/variations

Hypergonadism

An umbrella term, describing an individual that is born with gonads that produce high levels of hormones compared to males and females.

Hypogonadism

Primary Hypogonadism/Hypergonadotropic Hypogonadism: when its the gonads themselves that have low production levels. The brain is still communicating to produce the average male/female levels of hormones, but the gonads are failing to keep up with the brains-signals.

Secondary Hypogonadism/Hypogonadtropic Hypogonadism/ Central Hypogonadism: when the brain has low levels of communication with the gonads. The brain is failing to send out typical levels of signals to the gonads, and the gonads only produce hormones when a signal is received.

Other Hormonal Variations

Chromosomal Variations

And thats all!

Again, please reblog to spread awareness. Intersex people are highly discriminated against. Their bodies are still regularly mutilated at birth, in order to make them "look right."

This mutilation can cause complete infertility, a loss of sensation in genital areas (making sex unsatisfactory), gender dysphoria, body dysmorphia, and even chronic pain.

Additionally, intersex children are often bullied at school for looking or sounding "abnormal" for their age/gender. And as they grow up, they face the same difficulties transgender individuals do - judgement for not being a "real man" or "real woman" (or for being non-binary), difficulty dating, struggles finding jobs, complications in receiving proper healthcare, and they are at an increased risk of being abused and assaulted. Many are also left out of sports or kicked out of public bathrooms as well.

This is all due to the lack of education. Tolerance and acceptance needs to be taught to children. Many doctors have no idea how to treat intersex patients, as they didn't learn about their bodies, even in advanced schooling. We need to put a stop to this.

[brzaski]

on March 14th 2023, a Polish abortion activist Justyna Wydrzyńska was sentenced to eight months of community service for helping a woman in an abusive relationship access abortion pills

Poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.

if you can, please consider donating to ADT, the organisation that helps people in Poland access abortion!

edit: i see this post got reblogged into the terf teritory. ADT is trans friendly. please just donate and be quiet <3

[writing-with-olive]

hey all

so in a more practical application of the "larp a republican if you're gonna call them" post that got huge, North Carolina is about to have abortion access slashed if nothing's done about it.

SB20 got passed and went up to Gov. Cooper who vetoed it, but there's very very slight veto-proof supermajority in the legislature. Unless at least one Republican breaks ranks the veto will be overridden.

I made a google doc to organize, and you don't have to be a North Carolinian to participate:

Even if you can't participate, please share. A lot of people might lose yet more of their rights very soon.

[my-midlife-crisis]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"What purposes could the charivari have served for its participants? Why would a wedding be the community’s business? The practice clearly speaks to extensive scrutiny and judgment of community members’ lives in socially close if geographically far-flung communities like those around rural Manitoba at the turn of the twentieth century and later.

Indeed, it was not only young rowdies who took licence to charivari, but men as old as forty-one-year-old Joe Wiggins and thirty-three-year-old Charles Bugg. Though the married Wiggins had intended to go but did not, all those identifiable men who actually charivaried McLaughlin were bachelors. We don’t know O’Hayes’s age and marital status, but by the 1911 census, apparently only Peter Griffith can be clearly identified as married. Among those arguably old enough to wed, both Joe Bosnell and Charles Bugg were still living with their parents. Bob Whelpton was apparently living elsewhere, but William Ernest may have been working as a hired hand in Dauphin Township. Marriage, as Cecilia Danysk argued, was fundamental to the economic and social base of early-twentieth-century Manitoba communities – the family farm – and had sweeping cultural implications (1995, 70). The proportion of men to women was skewed; women were in a minority, and thus there was no social stigma on bachelorhood, but marriage was a matter of considerable and broad community attention, as it is today.

Some might suggest that the payment in cases like McLaughlin’s would be in recompense for his taking a young woman out of the system of exchange involving young men. Women were a scarce commodity. Taking a second wife, especially so soon after the death of his first, showed insufficient attention to the concerns and needs of others. But that doesn’t explain the Snowflake/Purves charivari, involving a widow and widower. ....at issue is fertility. Even the current charivari could be argued as an encouragement to appropriate fertility; some folks in Ontario told me that a couple could be charivaried any number of times until their first child was manifestly on the way.

In this world, then, McLaughlin could be charivaried not only for taking a young woman out of the pool of eligibles, but also because the couple’s fertility could be in question, given McLaughlin’s previous marriage, and because any further offspring could cause succession problems. The reason charivari died out first in more heavily settled areas has less to do with the ostensible reason usually given – that the noise and drunkenness disturbed the public peace (though indeed, several ordinances were passed in towns and cities explicitly outlawing the practice) – than it did with the lower level of scrutiny of community continuation through family fertility. As larger, more urbanized communities became less closely knit, the ties among all individual members attenuated, with less responsibility placed on any particular group of individuals to maintain the status quo; charivari was no longer rhetorically useful. Charivari survives in rural areas in large part because it not only addresses community notions of appropriate behaviour (unquestioning hospitality, willingness to deal with the unexpected with aplomb, being a good sport, and taking a joke); it also addresses very real needs. By its ‘welcome’ – the term participants used most to describe the charivari’s purpose – it reminds young marrieds that their responsibility is to stay on the farm, continue to do the work their foremothers and forefathers did, and keep the community going by having children. It confirms their community membership and the responsibilities that go along with it (see Greenhill 1989b).

A final mystery, though, is the survival of the tradition of charivari in the Brookdale area of Manitoba in the face of such a tragedy. Surely, as the newspapers suggested, the death of a community member, especially a young one, might end the practice. And yet charivari continued there, at least to the early 1970s, though its form and intention altered considerably (as it has done across most of English Canada) from a statement of disapproval to one of commendation. The main point of the charivari became to party with and play tricks on the newlyweds, rather than to extract money from them. But crucially, as Kathleen Swanson said,

I think it was a mark of affection in some ways, because you didn’t do it to people you were uneasy with, and whose reactions you couldn’t predict fairly well. I think that’s also the reason why there was never any real damage beyond labels off the cans and that sort of thing.

As Charlie Simpson explained, ‘We had to go back and work together, maybe the next day.

The McLaughlin charivari and its aftermath show that traditions are remarkably resilient. Yet traditions also change; it’s more valuable in contemporary rural Canada to mark marriages – at least heterosexual ones – than to convey disapproval of specific matches. The tradition itself has a new purpose, that of marking the recipients’ change in personal status upon marriage. Yet it resists social change on a larger scale by implying disapproval of those who leave the farm or lead a lifestyle the community does not support. While very few Manitobans currently practise charivari, strong memories remain of events in which neighbours, friends, and families ‘made the night hideous.'"

- Pauline Greenhill, Make the Night Hideous: Four English-Canadian Charivaris, 1881–1940. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. p. 108-110.

[lilithism1848]

[queerism1969]

[dykeulous]

GENDER; apparatus designed to uphold sex-based oppression

What Is Gender?

the social category of woman was made by oppression and exploitation. through a dialectical materialist analysis, we can observe the numerous ways the system exploits & commodifies women.

while both proletarian women & men are suffering under our current system, we can see the clear differences between the types of oppression. that is because proletarian women are not only oppressed for their very reality of being working-class– but are also made to take care of the family, cook, clean, and reproduce, and on top of that; work outside the home, for smaller wages. under a class-based system, women are compelled to act, be, present a certain way, and are connected to the phenomenon of reproductive labor (explained above). women get paid less than their male counterparts, because although the “women must be housewives” stereotype might seem to be fading in western places (it is unattractive to capitalism), it is still present, and it will be present for as long as class is. housework is unpaid labor, and even though a lot of women now have the right to work outside the home, they are still paid less than their male counterparts. they are still compelled to roleplay the idea of a housewife when they return from their shifts, not getting paid for domestic labor, because it is undervalued. both the proletarian male & the proletarian female return home from work, tired from selling their labor & themselves. but unlike the proletarian female, the proletarian male now gets to rest for a bit. it is his time of leisure. the proletarian female does not have this opportunity. her work does not end here. her work continues. her labor & exploitation don’t ever stop, not even when she is in the home, a place that is supposed to be her safe space; and it is not, because it is her husband’s kingdom. the house is her husband’s kingdom, he is the king, and she is just a mere servant. she takes care of the household & of the children.

families produce commodity, and housework is a form of reproductive labor which women are compelled to execute. domestic labor makes sure children grow into people, people who will be part of the exploited class; people on who the burden of running the country while not owning the means of production will befall. in this way, we can see how capitalism depends on domestic & reproductive labor. women are an essential part of the proletarian class; and “woman” itself is a class– an oppressive cage that enslaves all people of the female sex, a cage that we must destruct if we want total liberation. under a class-based system, “woman” is a socioeconomic category: it is a complex & oppressive category that includes everyone who was born female, anyone who has altered themselves to the point of being seen as female by society (a demographic of dysphoric male people– medically transitioned trans women, stealth trans women), and intersex male people who have underwent female socialization. it is not biological reality that makes one a woman, it is the amalgamation of female socialization, capitalist exploitation, and fierce male chauvinism. transitioned & stealth trans men might seem to be the only demographic able to escape this category of “woman”, however, even though they may be granted several privileges; feminism still has their best interests at heart– since they have once belonged to the category of “woman”, experienced female socialization & a misogynistic childhood; they still have a place in feminist circles, and their place will not ever fade. they have their voice within feminist spaces, and they still can speak on numerous female-only problems that stealth, transitioned trans women cannot speak on.

as capitalism is using our women at workplaces & exploiting their abilities, the patriarchy is efficiently trimming, undercutting & ultimately burning their wings. both those systems are destroying their beautiful, spark-shaded eyes, which resemble some kind of lightning bolts, and sucking all the life out of them. female infants are born with strong, dark, stratified wings; wings that the patriarchy & capitalism, as best friends, promise to ruin & remove through aggressive female socialization and capitalistic standards of life. male infants are left with their strong wings: however, their wings are weakened through male socialization & although they’re given a childhood of leisure & freedom, their freedom isn’t unconditional. they must be the patriarchal capitalism’s strong soldier & behave like a perfect male model for patriarchal capitalism. their strong wings are used for the benefit of the socioeconomic structure, and their life is in hands of the most powerful ones, the males above them. our female & male comrades all across the world are being exploited for their abilities. the most oppressed male has one ability our system cherishes the most: the ability to oppress a lesser being than himself– his female counterpart. he has the ability to tear her apart, to destroy her, to set her already weak & utterly transparent wings aflame; to push the sharpest thorns against them, to cut them off in the most disturbing, most violent ways known to humankind. he has the ability to abase her existence and minimize her humanity. his wings get exploited by the system daily, and despite knowing oppression & understanding the harm it does to him & his male comrades, he still has a roaring desire to do that exact same thing to his female counterparts. he still has a desire to serve the system, be a class traitor, as he believes the system will spare him & raise him to the top. after all, it is better to have weakened wings, than not to have wings at all.

Capitalism and Gender

when discussing societal concerns pertaining to currency, we not only discuss socioeconomic disparities and inequalities but also the tactics that this system uses to ensure the greatest chance of survival for every human being. before discussing any further, we must first make clear how the capitalist system works. in summary, capitalism superseded the feudal era, when it was determined that a worker would be paid fairly based on the type of labor they performed. the capitalists’ role is to concentrate as much as humanely possible, and in this process, the capitalist relies on the servitude of workers– as he cannot climb on the top alone. he needs to exploit others’ labor in order to reach the top. this is how labor exploitation is born. because of this mechanism, an excessive amount of manufactured material is produced, of which less than half will actually be able to be obtained and used. this creates overproduction, and economic chaos every 7 years; which results in environmental crises, pollution, and more.

through class systems, the masculine & feminine gender are created. woman, the feminine gender, is in charge of staying at home to take care of children, satisfy the man’s needs & give him more children. man, the masculine gender, is in charge of the woman, the children, and he goes to work where his labor is exploited. through this, both genders are exploited– but the woman is exploited both by capitalism & another oppressive system– the patriarchy. both depend on gender existing as a division of the working class, and both benefit from female oppression. this sort of division included excessive performing. to be the perfect feminine gender, the woman had to take supplies: makeup, hair removal, meekness, nurturing elements, servitude, submission, cleaning supplies, maternity and more. the man, in order to be the perfect masculine gender, likewise had to take supplies: dominance, rationality, strength, lack of sensitivity, the ability of providing for his subordinates, and more. gender division created infighting between the working class; and capitalism relies on infighting. men enjoyed privileges over women, took advantage of them, exploited them & benefited from their pain. while men were also made to conform to an unhealthy and anti-nature standard; they exploited women, and reached the top from labor that wasn’t performed by them. although the patriarchy predates capitalism, capitalism was not the first class system to ever exist. that being said, capitalism and gender do not have the same material base– but that does not mean that capitalism didn’t significantly influence the development & evolvement of gender. gender expanded to fit varying cultures and eras throughout history– capitalism, colonialism & imperialism all help spread sex-based oppression, and thus all have major influence on gender as a hierarchical class system. gender constantly evolves, expands and develops; and capitalism as our current class-based system aids it in its development.

never forget that women always have worked. throughout history, women have always performed more physically exhausting, more dangerous labor. housework is not the only type of unpaid female labor, and the entirety of reproductive labor isn’t, either. being underpaid, or unpaid, used as a slave and as a servant does not equal exempt from productive labor. even while the housewife stereotype was prevailing, women still worked. women still performed both productive and reproductive labor.

The Origins of Gender

the transition from the hunter-gatherer way of living to settled agriculture during the neolithic revolution led to the development of surplus food and the formation of proto-urban settlements, and class. with the emergence of private property & the need to protect resources, hierarchies and inequalities began to form, including class divisions & the division of labor. these divisions led to the concentration of power, control & resources in the hands of the neolithic period’s privileged few, which contributed to the formation of oppression: including the oppression of female people.

the neolithic revolution brought many new inventions; some of them being wide hoes (helpful for cultivating the land to feed a smaller village), plows (helpful for cultivating the land to feed a bigger proto-urban settlement & early towns), shovels, sickles, artificial irrigation system, looms, ceramic & textile production (which demonstrated the neolithic human’s sedentary lifestyle), tournette wheels and archery wheels (improved mass production), plant cultivation and domesticating animals & agriculture that required selective selection– and, finally, it also brought the market, private property, class; and with that being invented, the neolithic revolution marked the beginning of female suffering & female subjugation. the claim that female subjugation is innate & biological can easily be disproved. why have we, throughout the most of our existence, lived in quite egalitarian communes? if female oppression is biological, innate, and natural– why have our female ancestors been hunting as much as our male ancestors?

this era helped us get where we are today. it brought much progress, and ensured an easier way of living (could be argued otherwise, examining the skeleton of a late hunter-gatherer human and the skeleton of an early neolithic human, we can see how we lost a few inches of height and how we only recovered that in the 20th century- or how the way of living clearly depended on your social status that was just “invented” in this era), but it also invented sex & class-based inequalities, and helped shape violent hierarchies. it is said that, during this era, women after death, had a smaller chance to be buried in a respectful & proper way than males did. unlike in our hunter-gatherer, semi-nomadic & nomadic lifestyle, where both the females and the males hunted and gathered the neolithic women started being restricted to child rearing, domestic labor & reproductive labor (the neolithic women had babies more frequently than the pre-neolithic women– approximately once every two years, unlike the pre-neolithic women, who had approximately once every four), while the neolithic men were doing the fieldwork. the neolithic woman became secondary. she became a second-class citizen; she wasn’t contributing food, and she had no control over it. she was subjugated, oppressed, and exploited.

at this point, the neolithic human achieved the ability of being their own food producer. the neolithic human tamed the sheep, and then other animals– and slowly started relying on agriculture, rather than on hunting and gathering. the neolithic human achieved a better quality of life than their nomadic & semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer ancestors; the neolithic human achieved the creation of something that is the root cause to our never-ending struggle: CLASS.

Gender Abolition

as gender functions as a superstructure– it is vital to understand what is the base, and what is the structure. as stated before, gender is produced by the division of (reproductive) labor. numerous pseudomarxists will go out of their way to constitute that the material base of gender is biological sex– which is a very simplistic & poor view of historical materialism. this is not an implication that biological reality is unimportant or grounded in something unscientific– biological sex itself should carry no gendered connotations & no artificial attire; but that is unfortunately not the case, as gender is imposed on our bodies/our biological sex. we regard penises as man parts, and vaginas as woman parts– this is essentially gender being imposed on otherwise neutral human bodies. sex categorization and biological sex are two distinct concepts– biological sex is a clear canvas, whereas sex categorization is what allowed for gender to flourish as a superstructure. sex categorization is, in other words– the gendering of our biological features. it is only important under a patriarchal system, and feminist action can use sex categorization as a way to help push for female liberation (i.e demanding female-only spaces, etc.), while also understanding that it is not something that should carry special significance under a non-gendered world.

when speaking of gender abolition, it is important to say that our goal is to eradicate gender classes first & foremost– that is, our goal is to put an end to the patriarchy– to strip gender of being a power system. gender identity is a concept distinct from gender class, and different people will define the phenomenon of gender identity differently– but it would be nebulous to claim gender identity could persist and stay as a healthy part of a non-gendered society. it would eventually fade, and that would be proof of a successful abolition of gender. a person’s gender identity is superstructural– it stems from and is directly connected to other concepts; such as gender class, biological sex, sex categorization, neurological disorders (dysphoria, sex incongruency) etc. a person may “develop” a gender identity through interacting with reproductive labor in differing forms– by conforming to their assigned gender class, or by choosing to reject it– the latter being made up of people who either use gender identity as a mechanism to help alleviate their socially produced dysphoria, and/or neurological type sex dysphoria, as well as of people who use it as a tool to promote their seemingly punk subculture of attempt at rejecting the heteropatriarchy, and of (some) generally gender non-conforming people. the fall of gender identity as a concept will be the eventual byproduct of the fall of gender as a hierarchical system.

gender isn’t just used for oppressing people. it inherently oppresses people by existing. it is, in essence, sex-based oppression. the blue & pink boxes & the characteristics that fill them inherently oppress and repress people, by making certain appearances and certain personality types, skills, abilities & hobbies inherently female and inherently male. it’s not as simple as using these heavily restrictive & limiting standards and then assigning one group of people to be dominant, thus privileged; and the other group of people submissive, and thus oppressed. it’s never as simple, never as black and white as that. the problem not only lies in the fact that men are put above women, it lies in the fact that these unnatural categories even exist in the first place– for they are responsible for putting men above women. feminist theory goes against the bio-essentialism of the patriarchy, we believe that the construct of gender is not directed by “male” or “female” minds, however impacted by societal standards and gendered socialization. masculinity & femininity are not biologically fixated, nor ingrained in any male or female person, but they aren’t fixated on feelings or identity either; they aren’t harmless, as queer theorists claim they are: rather, they are the guns that the patriarchy has on us. gender ideologists & queer theorists have always understood that gender was a social construct. that was never the misunderstanding between radical feminists and queer theorists. both sides believe it is a social construct, and both sides can differentiate between gender & biological sex– however, queer theorists misunderstood what kind of social construct gender is. they believe gender is a socially constructed tool of self-expression. we cannot define gender as a socially constructed tool of self-expression, when it has been used for thousands of years for repressing self-expression, which is why radical feminists define it as a socially constructed tool of self-repression.

[angelic-transsexual]

Trans men need access to abortions too y’all. Not just cis women. It is not a “woman’s issue.”

[canary-prince]

Ways For US-Americans To Help If You're Abstaining From Voting

Can't vote on moral grounds, but still raring to do something? Stuck in America and unsure of how to meaningfully serve your community? Here are some ideas that I, a social worker serving house-bound citizens, can share out of personal experience. Feel free to add other ideas or links. We are not powerless.

Volunteer (these are just examples/sources of info)

Planned Parenthood needs volunteers for nearly every non-medical department

See if your state has a volunteer stewardship program, where you can help weed out invasive plant species and defend your natural ecosystem

If you have medical skills, become a street medic

Contribute to the preservation of Queer History

Put your labor towards the upkeep or repair of properties in Indigenous communities

Adult literacy is not great right now, and we're harder to lie to if we're literate; volunteer to help your neighbors who were failed by the school system

Resources to help the unhoused constantly need volunteer counselors, cooks, and someone to sort donations

The sick and elderly are very under-served, particularly if they're broke, so reach out to a local hospice to see what skills they need

Give (if you can't physically volunteer but have money to spare)

Donate to an abortion fund; this one is for Native peoples specifically

Donate to a book gifting program or book mobile; this link is for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Donate to preserve the histories of communities of color; this fund is specifically for preserving African American historical sites

Donate to protect the natural environment

Donate to help free those caged in prisons; this link is for the Innocence Project, which aims to challenge wrongful convictions

The arts are for everyone, but wealth gaps interfere; this fund is for art initiatives that contribute to community building, including increasing accessibility

Learn (resources that many communities have but aren't widely educated on)

Community Action Agencies: these are non-profits and private companies that act in service of their communities' human rights and quality of life. Many have utility funds, run food banks, manage emergency shelters, provide education and job skills opportunities, and participate in social activism.

Area Agencies on Aging: Non-profits that serve elders (and non-elderly disabled citizens) in a designated service area. They primarily offer services to prolong independent living (free or low cost in home care, meals on wheels, home safety modifications, and Medicare guidance) or help with transition into assisted living.

Habitat For Humanity: They aren't just in disaster zones or on foreign soil; they have local US chapters that provide critical repairs to families in need. They repair roofs, address barriers to access, and perform electric and plumbing work.

Durable Medical Equipment Loan Closets: Communal sources of vital medical equipment including wheelchairs, walkers, canes, hospital beds, shower chairs, and more. May be able to provide incontinence supplies or diabetes supplies. Rarely but sometimes provide oxygen.

Non Emergency Medical Transportation/Alternatives to Mass Transit: Transportation for elderly, disabled, cognitively impaired, and low income citizens to help them reach medical providers, dental care, physical therapy, and eye exam appointments. Can also provide transit to shopping centers, the grocery store, religious events, cultural events, and polling stations. Offer door to door services for the housebound. IF YOU HAVE MEDICAID, YOU SHOULD NOT EVER BE PAYING FOR THIS. MEDICAID IS OBLIGATED TO MAKE SURE YOU REACH ANY AND ALL MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS.

Legal Aid Clinics: Sources of pro-bono or sliding scale legal advice and representation.