Live with no excuses, love with no regrets

"Plenty of oppressive bullshit goes down under the guise of nice. Every day, nice, caring, friendly people try to take our bodily autonomy away from us (women, queers, trans people, nonbinaries, fat people, POC…you name it, they just don’t think we know what’s good for us!). These people would hold a door for us if they saw us coming. Our enemies are not only the people holding ‘Fags Die God Laughs’ signs, they are the nice people who just feel like marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense, it’s just how they feel! We once got a very nice comment on this site that we decided we could not publish because its content was ‘But how can I respect women when they dress like – sorry to say it, pardon my language – sluts?’. This is vile, disgusting misogyny and no amount of sugar coating and politeness can make it okay. Similarly, most of the people who run ex-gay therapy clinics are actually very nice and polite! They just want to save you! Nicely! Clearly, niceness means FUCK ALL."

The Revolution Will Not Be Polite: The Issue of Nice versus Good (Social Justice League)

I’ve been thinking about niceness a lot lately. I’m not sure it’s as beneficial as I used to think it was.

(via meganwest)

11 hours ago

2167

12 hours ago

5536

# that really would be lovely

voteagainstamendmentone:

Here’s a sneak peak of some of the awesome pictures from today’s protest in Newton, NC against Pastor Charles Worley’s hateful anti gay sermon.

According to the Sheriffs Dept, there were around 1300-1600 people there and about 50 counter protesters. Here’s a picture of an anti gay protester and please notice the awesome handmade sign to the left (it says “I’m With Stupid”).

Picture belongs to Christy. Thanks!

voteagainstamendmentone.tumblr.com

She was so adorable. The woman who I was protesting alongside with actually ran over there to give her a hug and a bottle of water. :)

3 days ago

16

# LGBT

# LGBT rights

# NC

# NC protest rally

# protest rally

# human rights

# marriage equality

# north carolina

"
If we teach women that there are only certain ways they may acceptably behave, we should not be surprised when they behave in those ways.

And we should not be surprised when they behave these ways during attempted or completed rapes.

Women who are taught not to speak up too loudly or too forcefully or too adamantly or too demandingly are not going to shout “NO” at the top of their goddamn lungs just because some guy is getting uncomfortably close.

Women who are taught not to keep arguing are not going to keep saying “NO.”

Women who are taught that their needs and desires are not to be trusted, are fickle and wrong and are not to be interpreted by the woman herself, are not going to know how to argue with “but you liked kissing, I just thought…”

Women who are taught that physical confrontations make them look crazy will not start hitting, kicking, and screaming until it’s too late, if they do at all.

Women who are taught that a display of their emotional state will have them labeled hysterical and crazy (which is how their perception of events will be discounted) will not be willing to run from a room disheveled and screaming and crying.

Women who are taught that certain established boundaries are frowned upon as too rigid and unnecessary are going to find themselves in situations that move further faster before they realize that their first impression was right, and they are in a dangerous room with a dangerous person.

Women who are taught that refusing to flirt back results in an immediately hostile environment will continue to unwillingly and unhappily flirt with somebody who is invading their space and giving them creep alerts.

People wonder why women don’t “fight back,” but they don’t wonder about it when women back down in arguments, are interrupted, purposefully lower and modulate their voices to express less emotion, make obvious signals that they are uninterested in conversation or being in closer physical proximity and are ignored. They don’t wonder about all those daily social interactions in which women are quieter, ignored, or invisible, because those social interactions seem normal. They seem normal to women, and they seem normal to men, because we were all raised in the same cultural pond, drinking the same Kool-Aid.

And then, all of a sudden, when women are raped, all these natural and invisible social interactions become evidence that the woman wasn’t truly raped. Because she didn’t fight back, or yell loudly, or run, or kick, or punch. She let him into her room when it was obvious what he wanted. She flirted with him, she kissed him. She stopped saying no, after a while.
"

Harriet J on Another post about rape

Shattering truth.

(via reconnect-restore-rewild)

this post is…giving me life.

(via bad-dominicana)

4 days ago

8680

# rape culture

# holy fuck this is so true

symphony-of-a-survivor:

The voices of rape culture.

4 days ago

1791

Ever wonder why I’m on a feminist rampage?

extantecstasy:

Because the media reacts like this when we’re less than perfect. Because our emotional range gets stunted and limited.

Because so many aspects of our culture normalize rape on a subconscious level.

Because Kansas and Arizona pass bills that allows the beliefs of a doctor or pharmacist to trump the health of a woman. And because fetuses are becoming increasingly more important than the woman carrying them.

Because a state representative can compare a woman giving birth to livestock.

Because legislature that criminalizes pregnancy and abortion are being forced into discussion again and again.

Because the rest of the world wants to know why American women aren’t angrier.

Because of bills that limit the time frame of my choices.

Because for some reason, religion is a legitimate reason to interfere in my uterus.

Because the Protect Life Act even exists.

Because women who miscarry or lose their babies are being charged with murder.

Because a woman who tried to commit suicide while pregnant was jailed and charged with feticide.

Because mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasound probes are legally defined as rape.

Because ectogenesis technology could further remove birthing rights from a mother.

Because programs like this even have to exist.

Because birth control is suddenly a religious issue. Because women can be fired for using birth control as a contraceptive. Because the benefits of no-cost or inexpensive birth control are overlooked. Because ignorance necessitates posts like this.

Because again and again, organizations like the Medicaid Woman’s Health Program are seen as unnecessary. Because even the Susan G. Komen Foundation tried to stop funding Planned Parenthood. And if you think we’re past that, think again.

Because America ranks among a very small number of countries that don’t have paid, mandatory pregnancy leave. In fact, women routinely get forced out of their jobs for being pregnant.

Because public discourse from men like Rush Limbaugh is insulting and misogynistic and goes mostly unpunished.

Because the U.S. Military has some of the highest rape rates and most reprehensible policies for dealing with them.

Because women are bitches for saying no and sluts for saying yes. Because we are valued by how many or few cocks have been in our vaginas.

Because this is normal.

Because I don’t know a single woman who has not been harassed, derided, assaulted. Because I know many women and girls who have been raped. Because I’ve seen the long term, life long repercussions of sexual abuse.

Don’t tell me there isn’t a war on women. And don’t tell me the economy is more important than this. This barely scratches the surface.

Repeat after Soraya Chemaly: I am a woman and I have these human rights. The right to life. The right to privacy. The right to freedom. The right to bodily integrity. The right to decide when and how I reproduce.