Beyond the Birdcage

[angel-cine]

[birthmark-poetry]

I'm going to say this once

To my fellow white women: Beyoncé’s LEMONADE is not for us. We can enjoy it. We can blast it loud in the shower. We can appreciate it aestheticly and visually and musically. But it is not for us to appropriate for our own gain. I don’t want to see white women writing op-eds about it. I don’t want to hear your acoustic covers of the tracks. I’m not interested in your critiques, as a white woman, of it. I don’t want you CAPITALIZING on a piece of art that is fundamentally not. for. us. LEMONADE is a beautiful tribute to black womanhood, femininity, the black struggle, and black power. It is NOT for all women, and most importantly, it is NOT for white women to co-opt and colonize and attempt to profit from.

I don’t care if your feelings are hurt because it “doesn’t include enough” white folx. I don’t care. I don’t want to hear about it.

Appreciate the beauty. Sing its praises. Enjoy the depth and the poetry. But don’t try to make what isn’t for you, your’s. In any way, shape, or form.

[broodingsoul]

This goes out to all you white gay men who talk about your “inner black woman.” You do not have an inner black woman. And this album is not for us either. Appreciate the beauty. Sing its praises. Enjoy the depth and poetry. But don’t try to make what isn’t for you, yours. In any way, shape, or form.

[harlemgirl643]

Amen and Amen…

[fvlani]

S/Os to these allies.

But, read the notes, some of them just don’t get it or want to get it.

[simone-rose]

[micdotcom]

Bill O’Reilly just managed to come off worse than Donald Trump. Not only is O’Reilly’s stereotyping of black Americans offensive — it’s hypocritical.

[micdotcom]

Update: Larry Wilmore saw this O’Reilly segment and had some words for the Fox News host.

But he didn’t stop there. Wilmore invited his viewers to join in:

And they did.

[gamegrrl]

laying down the god damn law on this tinder boy

[brutereason]

The best thing I ever got at a social justice conference was a dishtowel: Embroidered on it are the words “Everyone wants a revolution – no one wants to do the dishes.” It’s easy to give someone glory and social cred for being an Internet personality or making a speech at a march. It’s easy to get lost in judging other folks’ value by how well they “speak feminist” or how many articles they’ve written. It’s harder to recognize and celebrate the invisible and unglamorous work like child raising and cooking and cleaning that has always traditionally been done by women, particularly migrants and women of color. This, however, is the work that makes any “movement” possible, and is equally important as speaking on a panel or teaching at a university. We need to start recognizing and centering this work, and the people who do it, in order to build truly accountable social justice communities.

9 Ways We Can Make Social Justice Movements Less Elitist and More Accessible — Everyday Feminism (via brutereason)

[moon-artemis-blog]

i just discovered the term ‘black knighting’ courtesy of reddit and i want to vomit :) 

i can never believe how much men hate women. it just keeps getting worse and worse

[goddess-of-misandry-deactivated]

I’ve never heard of that. Is it new? And what is it? I have a bad suspicion… :(

[moon-artemis-blog]

no idea how new it is, as i typically avoid reddit like the plague (but i discovered this term through the link to the gendercritical subreddit) 

“A Black Knight is someone who pisses women off for entertainment.“ as opposed to a White Knight aka someone that stands up for women in order to try and get sex :/

here are some excerpts, courtesy of theredpill

on the subject of a woman walking away from you at night: “I’m just a man who decided to run an errand at night. Next time this happens jog after her. There is no law against jogging. Chase her for a while and then stop. Enjoy the fear you created. Woof woof you stupid cunt.”

on the subject of what they called “biological warfare”: “How do you exploit these two weaknesses? Start baking for the office. See how much butter and sugar you can make the little piggies eat. With sustained effort everyone will be up ten pounds in three to six months.”

“Fructose has various nasty biological effects when consumed in excess. Main ones we are interested in are raised blood trigs, adiposity and increased appetite (outside of normal insulin fuckery, but related).“

“Try replacing the fructose with a sugar alcohol like sorbitol. For a portion of the population, it causes “gastric distress” - diarrhea and gas, mostly.”

another story that im gonna paraphrase: guy didnt like his female boss, she was stressed over a project, someone “accidentally” sent flowers to the wrong desk- to HER boss- with a note saying “the interview went great and we look forward to working with you next month!” to make it look like she was secretly searching for another job. she got fired within the week.

using the womans bathroom at starbucks, which one man described as “empowering in a red pill way” because of course most women are going to look confused if not upset… clearly beyond the red piller to imagine reasons a man might enter a womans restroom besides to go to the bathroom

some things fairly innocuous like leaving empty condom wrappers in womens restrooms and stuff…. to intentionally trying to intimidate women, getting a woman fired, etc. men harassing women in various ways, “for teh lulz” i guess. 

[whiskey-and-c41]

We could never hate men as much as they hate us.

[shamelesslyunladylike]

Andrea Dworkin recommended for the women of the 21st century to harden our hearts and learn to kill. Perhaps she was right.

[decayinginfrontofme-blog]

women who hate men want to distance ourselves from men, have our own communities, when women hate men, we want to get away from men. When men hate women they do the exact opposite, they invade our spaces, harass us, intimidate us, stalk us, are violent against us. It doesn’t matter how much women hate men, we don’t hate men the way they hate us.

[gnc-centric]

^^^ the last comment is so important

[jenndoesnotcare]

@joava

[refinery29]

Samantha Bee perfectly explains why “girl power” doesn’t mean anything– right now

We tell girls they can grow up to be anything, but what does that mean when workplace harassment is so common? Samantha Bee is on it. And she has one totally simple solution.

Gifs: Full Frontal

WATCH THE VIDEO

[micdotcom]

Watch: Complaining about political correctness says more about you than it does others.

[chescaleigh]

I support this 100% but I’m curious if Paul F. Tompkins has gotten death and rape threats over this video? I’ve never gotten more harassment online than when I dared explain that political correctness isn’t prohibiting anyone’s free speech. As happy as I am to see this conversation happening, it sucks that the same info is always more palatable when expressed by straight white dudes. 

[sizvideos]

Join the campaign #WomenNotObjects to fight against the objectification of women in advertising

[thefeministpress]

A very powerful add, though I can’t ignore the last statement. The phrasing, “I am your mother/sister/coworker/etc.,” or “She is someone’s mother/sister/etc.,” is saying that a woman must be attached to someone (a man) in order to be empathized with or even relevant/ of value. Instead, the statement should say, “I am someone,” “She is someone,” or “I am a human being.”

[demonprincex]

We finally have the Dear Prudence we deserve. 

[xthegirlwithkaleidoscopeyesx]

I don’t wear makeup to ‘kill men with my winged eyeliner’ or to ‘slay misogynists with my red lipstick’, I wear makeup because I’ve internalized patriarchal concepts of beauty and because I want to survive in a world where 99% of the time a woman is judged solely by her appearance.

[solitics]

And that’s why it holds no value in these arguments to say “but it empowers me! It hides my insecurities therefore boosts my confidence”. Okay sure, but why does it empower you? Why do you have insecurities about your face? Why do you feel happier with make up? Could it be because of the fact the rigid epitome of beauty has been ingrained in to you as has the fact your value is determined by your closeness to this epitome? Or is it just your own personal feelings that exist in a vacuum (hint it’s not the second option)

[aashiqaanah]

We know every woman has two jobs - one at the office and one at home. She multitasks and handles both almost single handedly. It’s time to understand why. It’s time to get to the root of the issue. Is it our upbringing? Are we passing gender roles that haven’t evolved with the times? In our society why are women only responsible for the household? It’s a responsibility for both genders. (x)

[cishits]

Expecting marginalized peoples to disregard their own emotions to calmly educate you is the epitome of entitlement.

[black--lamb-blog]

[darkestnighthour]

[beyondthebirdcage-blog]

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

"Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles; Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency ask the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience ask the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” I offer this quote to my fellow white folks today. Here, in 2016, black and brown bodies are systematically targeted by the "justice system," are shot and killed, are denied jobs, are trapped in poverty, are denied mobility, are incarcerated at an astronomical rate, are treated with prejudice, disrespect, and hostility. You will hear/read a lot today about passive resistance, civil disobedience, maintaining peace and order. Those things are valuable when you consider that black people have been killed for less. I am not a black or brown person. I am white. I have been awarded a privilege of safety based on the color of my skin. As such, I have a responsibility to speak and act out in ways that are not safe for my black and brown peers to do. This year, set aside the cowardice, the vanity, the expediency that our black peers don't have the privilege of considering. This year, white folks, ask yourselves, "Is it right?" Speak up. Act out. Defend your fellow human beings. Racism is not a problem for black folks, it is an affront to the human race.