Panel one: a large, threatening looking man is banging on a locked steel door, he says “hey, let me in, i am going to hurt you.”
Panel two: inside the room there are two people, one with glasses, both are holding keys. the man points to the one with glasses and says “four eyes like you shouldnt exist, once this door is unlocked im gonna kick your ass, once this door is open its over for you.”
Panel three: the person with glasses exclaims “you- youre insane! I need these to see! Why the hell would i let you in when you just threatened me?! I cant help meeding these glasses, theres nothing wrong with me!”
Panels four and five: the man stares through the door, then looks at the person without glasses
Panel six: the following exchange occurs
“Hey you”
“Me?”
“Yeah you, with the normal eyes, you hungry?”
“Starving!”
“I got a sandwich here”
“A sandwich?”
“A big one, biggest youve ever seen, right here with me, normal eyes like you and me deserve all the best sandwiches. Tell you what, you open this door for me and ill share this tremendous sandwich with you. You have perfect vision, youve earned it.”
Panel seven: no glasses says “okay”, the person with glasses is shocked and shouts “WHAT!?”
Panel eight: glasses continues, “are you kidding me?? Didnt you just hear what he said hes gonna do to me?? Do you want to see me get my ass whooped??”
Panel nine: no glasses rolls his eyes while unlocking the door while the man stares through the bars. No glasses says “dont be dramatic, that would be assault! He obviously didnt mean it! How i use my key and my relationship with you have got nothing to do with eachother!”
Panel ten: the man walks by, ready to beat the person with glasses, no glasses pays this no mind and says “plus im really craving a good sub right now… i hope its on wheat…”
Panel eleven: glasses is beaten and bloody on the floor, his glasses shattered nearby. No glasses crouches next to him and says “we’re still cool tho, right?” The bloody hand of the man is in frame.
[Image descriptions: 1. Screencaps of Alok Vaid-Menon saying, ‘One of the things that people don’t realize is that 19th century European and US American scientists were explicit in believing that only white people could have the gender binary. They would argue that the reason that Black people, Indigenous people, and other racialized people across the world were “less human” was because they were, quote unquote, their words, not mine, “sexually ambiguous.” And so they would say, as you evolve as a civilization, you move into these binary categories of male and female. So homophobia and transphobia, it’s part of this larger racial project of white supremacy.’ As they speak, images appear onscreen showing a sketch of a white man, some comparative drawings of the top halves of human skulls, and some drawings of four different types of skulls as seen from above. The visible labels on these are ‘Caucasian’ and ‘Mongole.’ The camera also cuts to Jonathan and some other guests on the show as Alok talks. \End description]
[Caption plain text: Alok Vaid-Menon / Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness 1x03 (2022) \End PT]
[Image descriptions: A series of squares titled, ‘the racist history of the sex binary.’ The accompanying art shows a person whose face is divided vertically into a blue half and a pink half. The blue half has flowers growing out of a pool coming from the person’s eyebrow, and the pink half has flowers growing up the person’s cheek and around their eye. Long descriptions follow.
1. Text reads, ‘The sex binary [start underline] (the idea that there are only two, distinct, opposite sexes) [end undeline] is a 19th century colonial invention. While some cultures across the world had previously divided society into men and women, scientific developments particular to this time period enabled Western scientests to argue that sex difference (once considered energetic) was anatomical (different brains, skeletal systems, nervous systems). [start underline] Sex dualism (two sides of the same coin) became seen as a dichotomy (two distinct and opposite things).’ Art in the upper right shows a drawing of a sun shape and a moon shape floating in the sky above clouds. Art in the lower left shows drawings of two people, one with long hair and one with short. They are drawn with their blood vessels showing and their abdomens and heads opened to show their organs.
2. Text reads, ‘Scientists argued that white people were superior because of their unique ability [start underline] to display a visual difference between males and females [end underline]. Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color (BIPOC) were regarded as sex indistinguishable. When using the word “women” scientists spoke exclusively about white women. Terms like “lower races” were used without reference to sex because scientists believed there were not significant sexual differences in BIPOC communities. In 1886 German sexologist Krafft-Ebbing wrote: [start underline] “The higher the development of the race, the stronger the contrasts between man and woman.” [end underline] In 1897, William Thomas echoed: “the lesss civilized the race the less is the physical difference of the sexes.” [end underline]. Art in the upper right shows a drawing of two people in traditionally gendered Victorian clothing. A photo in the lower left shows Krafft-Ebbing in a suit.
3. Text reads, ‘Scientists did not believe that men and women of different races shared the same nature. Instead, they maintained that sex was race-specific. The belief was that [start underline] as societies progressed from “savagery” toward “civilization” over time, the physical distinction between males and females increased. [end underline]. White people were seen as constantly evolving toward becoming the ultimate civilization on Earth, but Black people (in particular) were seen as stuck in primitivity/animality, unable to achieve sexual differentiation.’ Art in the upper left shows two people in traditionally-gendered Victorian clothing. A diagramme in the lower right shows a progression from ape to human as the latter learned to walk upright. The human depicted has light skin.
4. Text reads, ‘Physical sexual differences were regarded as evolutionary products of the social roles of each sex. According to Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer, [start underline] the reason that white women looked so different from white men, is because unlike their “primitive” counterparts, they were homemakers. [end underline]. The understanding was that if “civilization” (binary gender norms) were brought to “primitive” peoples then they would eventually develop sex differences over time. This “scientific knowledge” was widespread and informed public policy. [start underline] Even 19th century white feminists saw womanhood as “an advanced state of mental, physiological, emotional, and anatomical specialization only achieved by the civilized.” [end underline]. Art in the centre right shows a white child piling apples into their mother’s apron as she sits on the ground. Art in the lower left shows a human head with smaller drawings inside. These show a hat, letters, a couple, a gold wedding band, a dress, a cigarrette holder, a couple, a dog, and a baby.
5. Text reads, ‘Surgeon Dr. Mary walker defined womanhood by genitalia and reproductive capacity because [start underline] “the vagina served as the linkage between the body and the race” [end underline]. The vagina was discussed as one of the last remnants of animality in the white race that had to be managed by women for the future of the race. Because other orifices (like the mouth and the anus) were not linked to racial reproduction, [start underline] oral and anal sex were dismissed as uncivilized. [end underline] Scientists referenced newly substantiated sex differences (like brain and pelvis size) as evidence that women were inherently hyper-emotional and men inherently rationaly. [start underline] They justified denying rights to white women, [end underline], arguing that their only role was to be racial conduits and birth children.’ A photo in the upper right shows Dr. Mary Walker in a dress. Art in the lower right shows two people facing each other. One has a line from A to B in their head. The other has a similar line but with a large loopy squiggle cloud drawn over the line.
6. Text reads, ‘Suffragists organizing for the right to vote were met with formidable backlash because [start underline] their campaign challenged the sexual separation of spheres [end underline] (the idea that women should remain in the private realm and men in the public realm), a feature regarded as a unqiue civilizational accomplishment of the white race. White men feared that granting white women the right to vote would cause the “effeminization of men and the masculinization of women,” and that [start underline] this blurring of the sex binary would lead “the civilized race to slide back down the evolutionaly timeline back to primitivism.” [end underline] Photos in the upper left show various suffragettes in white dresses and hats marching with signs. Art in the lower right shows a person leaning over a washing bin while a cat and a child sit on the floor.
7. Text reads, ‘We are still informed y this legacy today. Rather than fight alongside trans/nonbinary/intersex people, mainstream feminism continues to deny this history and rely on a binary framework of male or female. There is nothing feminist about the sex binary, a tool that was created to naturalize sexism and racism.” A photo in the upper left shows a Time Magazine covor with a pink knitted hat and text that says, ‘The Resistance Rises: How a March Became a Movement.’ Art in the lower right shows a Black person with rainbows painted down their face.
8. A photo of a book with a person leaning on their elbow in a chair. The book is titled, ‘The Biopolitics of Feeling: Race, Sex, and Science in the Nineteenth Century’ and is by Kyla Schuller. The caption says, ‘Duke University Press (2018).’ \End descriptions]
Come to think of it, it really is insane that my entire country is burning alive and literally no one in the rest of the world cares. Thousands of Indians are dying every day from the heat, it's 45+ degrees in multiple areas, the government couldn't give two fucks, we're getting severe warnings and red alerts, and not a soul outside of South Asia is speaking about it because why would you ever care about brown people
USA folks, that is a consistent temperature range hitting 113°. Death Valley temperatures. In Banda, it hovered between 116°-118° (47°-48° C) for a week straight.
This has been happening all month with little to no international media attention. Here are a few organizations you can check out for resources or to support:
working with little kids is so dangerous. you get one kid who has a unique way of speaking & then spend the rest of your life with an internal monologue like “me’s go bathroom?”
the kid who replaced his hard G sounds with soft ones, leaving me incapable of thinking of glasses as anything other than jlasses
kid who would holler "DID" any time she finished her work no matter how many times we told her to just raise her hand
kid who began her scary stories with "once a time" and her friend who began his with "paw time"
middle schooler i had during student teaching who pronounced magritte as "mah-gritty"
the kid who said "i got boogies comin out my nose" while sobbing and the kid who said "theres his puddle of cry" while describing a drawing, both of whom i think of when im crying
kid who said that if he was 80 he would get big and turn grandpa
kid who, for no reason in particular, would just say "like a little feet" as a standalone phrase in relation to nothing
edit how could i forget. the kid who got sneezed on and angrily said "whyd you blessyou on me"
