Hoopstatic - First World Problems
I really recommend reading the entire article. Trigger warning for discussion of rape and rape culture - it’s a tough article but very important.
(Thanks to byunbbi for submitting)
I think this quote also really captures what is happening when one is reported so much more than the other in American media:
“24,000 rapes in one year. That’s an epidemic. Brutal gang rape. Police doing nothing to protect or prosecute. Culture of rape. But something like that would never happen here in America, right? India is dirty and dangerous and overcrowded and backwards and misogynistic and this is just a third world problem, right? A really sad problem, but it would never happen here, right?”
It creates another false dichotomy where “we” feel bad for “them” that they have to live in those “conditions.” Definitely both situations are in need of address, but it’s worth examining why media leaps on framing India and its sexual assault issues as if they are a world different from ours- as if “our people” /culture really act better or respect women and victims more (they don’t.)
I don’t want to be a feminist anymore. Like a five-year-old, I want to close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears, stomp my feet on the floor and scream “No! No, you cannot make me, I won’t, leave me alone!” I am, simply put, too tired. So very, very tired.
I am tired of fighting with my friends. I am tired of arguing that someone groping and slapping my butt isn’t “what I have to expect”, just because I’m at a bar, and the one attacking my butt has a drink in the other hand. I am tired of hearing “boys will be boys” and “when you’re dressed like that …” and “that’s just what guys do”. I am tired of trying to drown those sentiments in loud, repetitive no’s, screamed over and over again, till my throat is sore and my voice weak – just to hear them repeated, as soon as exhaustion threatens to silence me.
I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of seeing someone writing something offensive, sexist, racist, ageist, ableist, somewhere online. I am tired of seeing those writings getting likes and lol’s, and SO TRUE’s. I am tired of being consumed by confusion and anger, typing, typing, typing and typing a seemingly endless response, including research, links and statistics, and then hesitate clicking “submit”. I am tired of knowing that I hesitate because I am afraid of the flood of responses that will come. I am tired of knowing that I will be bombarded with lighten up’s, stop whining’s and get a sense of humor’s for so long, that I will start to wonder if I am indeed wound up too tight, a nagger and humorless. I am tired of the fact that I’m afraid of being called a cunt, even though I don’t find genitalia insulting or demeaning.
❞I don’t want to be a feminist anymore. (via gingerrqueer)
Read the rest of this article - it’s perfect.
(via provoice)
The next time you feel down, just remember that Bruce Banner tried to kill himself and Tony Stark has anxiety attacks, and they’ve both saved the world. You will be okay.
Four Redesigns I did for She Has No Head’s new article by Kelly Thompson
The theme were characters that need a redesign.
My pal Kelly Thompson has an awesome post up this week with some redesigns of female costumes by Kris Anka and Meredith McLaren. Above are Anka’s design for Raven, Harley Quinn, Starfire and Emma Frost. Go take a look. Sadly the comments more than meet internet commenting standards.
Sometimes, I wish I could ban my students from saying the word “gay” unless we’re specifically talking about homosexual people. Today one kid said that the ceiling was gay. Ceiling can’t be gay. Ceiling can’t even be straight. Ceiling is ceiling. Ceiling’s sexual preference is light bulb.
- heterophobia is not the solution to homophobia
- skinnyshaming is not the solution to fatshaming
- “reverse racism” is not the solution to racism
- misandry is not the solution to misogyny
don’t fight fire with fire, it’s called “equality” for a reason.
This machine allows anyone to work for minimum wage for as long as they like. Turning the crank on the side releases one penny every 4.97 seconds, for a total of $7.25 per hour. This corresponds to minimum wage for a person in New York. This piece is brilliant on multiple levels, particularly as social commentary. Without a doubt, most people who started operating the machine for fun would quickly grow disheartened and stop when realizing just how little they’re earning by turning this mindless crank. A person would then conceivably realize that this is what nearly two million people in the United States do every day… at much harder jobs than turning a crank. This turns the piece into a simple, yet effective argument for raising the minimum wage.
brilliant.
Yesterday was the 57th anniversary of the arrest of Rosa Parks. 57 years ago Rosa refused to move from her seat to the back of the bus.
It was only 57 years ago that it was legal to tell someone just because of their skin color they had to give up their seat. Discrimination like this was widely accepted, it took one brave person to stand up and fight it.
Yesterday President Obama visited the bus Rosa Parks was arrested in. It’s a powerful photo.
Don’t forget the recent past.
Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water.
And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes
you cannot even breathe deeply, and
the night sky is no home, and
you have cried yourself to sleep enough times
that you are down to your last two percent, butnothing is infinite,
not even loss.You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day
you are going to find yourself again.
What poc people say: ”People of color can’t be racist”
What they mean: “There is no institutional racism against white people in countries where the majority of people are white.”
What they fail to understand: Racism can exist on a micro-level by instigating racial discrimination, which is what happens when you spew out discriminatory slurs based on race. Racism doesn’t depend solely on institutionalized power, and their assertions are pernicious when they don’t bother to clarify them.
