Body Image Positive

Check out the blog at bodyimagepositive.com.

[lavernecox]

On May 29, 2014, the issue of timemagazine magazine which proclaimed the “Transgender Tipping Point” was revealed with me on the cover. June 1, 2015 a year and 3 days later, Caitlyn Jenner’s vanityfair cover was revealed proclaiming #CallMeCaitlyn I am so moved by all the love and support Caitlyn is receiving. It feels like a new day, indeed, when a trans person can present her authentic self to the world for the first time and be celebrated for it so universally. Many have commented on how gorgeous Caitlyn looks in her photos, how she is “slaying for the Gods.” I must echo these comments in the vernacular, “Yasss Gawd! Werk Caitlyn! Get it!” But this has made me reflect critically on my own desires to ‘work a photo shoot’, to serve up various forms of glamour, power, sexiness, body affirming, racially empowering images of the various sides of my black, trans womanhood. I love working a photo shoot and creating inspiring images for my fans, for the world and above all for myself. But I also hope that it is my talent, my intelligence, my heart and spirit that most captivate, inspire, move and encourage folks to think more critically about the world around them. Yes, Caitlyn looks amazing and is beautiful but what I think is most beautiful about her is her heart and soul, the ways she has allowed the world into her vulnerabilities. The love and devotion she has for her family and that they have for her. Her courage to move past denial into her truth so publicly. These things are beyond beautiful to me. A year ago when my Time magazine cover came out I saw posts from many trans folks saying that I am “drop dead gorgeous” and that that doesn’t represent most trans people. (It was news to be that I am drop dead gorgeous but I’ll certainly take it). But what I think they meant is that in certain lighting, at certain angles I am able to embody certain cisnormative beauty standards. Now, there are many trans folks because of genetics and/or lack of material access who will never be able to embody these standards. More importantly many trans folks don’t want to embody them and we shouldn’t have to to be seen as ourselves and respected as ourselves . It is important to note that these standards are also infomed by race, class and ability among other intersections. I have always been aware that I can never represent all trans people. No one or two or three trans people can. This is why we need diverse media representstions of trans folks to multiply trans narratives in the media and depict our beautiful diversities. I started #TransIsBeautiful as a way to celebrate all those things that make trans folks uniquely trans, those things that don’t necessarily align with cisnormative beauty standards. For me it is necessary everyday to celebrate every aspect of myself especially those things about myself that don’t align with other people’s ideas about what is beautiful. #TransIsBeautiful is about, whether you’re trans or not, celebrating all those things that make us uniquely ourselves. Most trans folks don’t have the privileges Caitlyn and I have now have. It is those trans folks we must continue to lift up, get them access to healthcare, jobs, housing, safe streets, safe schools and homes for our young people. We must lift up the stories of those most at risk, statistically trans people of color who are poor and working class. I have hoped over the past few years that the incredible love I have received from the public can translate to the lives of all trans folks. Trans folks of all races, gender expressions, ability, sexual orientations, classes, immigration status, employment status, transition status, genital status etc.. I hope, as I know Caitlyn does, that the love she is receiving can translate into changing hearts and minds about who all trans people are as well as shifting public policies to fully support the lives and well being of all of us. The struggle continues…

[chelseapoe]

i’m kind of the biggest humiliation slut and love being degraded via domination but that doesn’t make my politics or my activism any less real. 

[brutereason]

What is almost impossible for some people to contemplate is that there are human cultures where rape is virtually unknown. Societies where women don’t calibrate themselves, for their entire lives, to its threat. More than 40 years ago, anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted an extensive cross-cultural study of rape involving more than 150 human societies around the word. She found that 47% of societies she studied had no rape, 36% had some incidence of rape, and 17%, of which we are one, were definitively rape prone. What marked cultures where rape was missing were that women had authority in the community that was not related to reproduction — they were political or religious leaders and made valued economic contributions to society; feminine qualities were valued by communities; the relationships between men and women was not defined as hierarchical; boys were taught to respect girls and women (something altogether different from learning to protect them); these societies were stable and peaceful, making reliance on brute male physical dominance less likely; divinities were not uniquely male; and, lastly, these cultures had great respect for their environments and did not destructively exploit them. On the other hand, rape-prone societies like ours are those which tolerate, encourage and often glorify violence as a marker of masculinity starting in early childhood. Boys learn that to be men meant being aggressive, competitive and dominant; work and access to authority are more rigidly sex segregated; women have minimal, if any authoritative roles in public or religious life or sports; femininity and feminine qualities are considered inferior and routinely mocked; “women’s work” is undervalued and considered demeaning to men; and, women’s roles were largely restricted to reproductive ones, their reproduction more likely to be regulated by men. Sound familiar?

Our ‘Rape Problem’ Can’t Be Solved By Colleges | Soraya Chemaly (via bruteeason)

[chrisnerdwick]

(x)

[bisexual-books]

Queer characters DO NOT and SHOULD NOT have to “make straight people see how normal we are”. I have no interest in characters in literature who look like me but are not for me. Queer characters should first and foremost be for queer people. If straight people get anything out it, then that is a neat perk. I reject the idea of cloaking characters in respectability politics because queer characters are not to blame for queer oppression. I do not want characters that are written to teach straight people that we are “good people” because the logical extension is to blame queer characters (and queer people) for not being good enough.

Sarah Stumpf at bisexual-books.tumblr.com

[bipottawa]

(via

bisexual-books

)

[robertmoorejr]

Guys, I wanted to let you know about a personal decision I recently made. I don’t really feel like discussing it, but I want to put my position out there. Please be respectful. This is a really long post, but please read the whole thing.

I’m taking the brakes off my car. This isn’t a rash...

[bipottawa]

Anon: "When in the same breath my own family member tells me that I can't relate to people at all but that an Aspergers diagnosis would be devastating #NotMyNeurotypicalAlly"

[bipottawa]

Anon: " #NotMyNeurotypicalAlly if you tell me "It's a good thing to test yourself" when I'm temporarily cut off from my support"

[casualhottubharmony]

”Oh, so you want to stop taking meds? You must be in denial and in need of some more brainwashing.”

[casualhottubharmony]

Are post-secondary institutions even pretending to be our allies anymore?

[bipottawa]

#NotMyNeurotypicalAlly

[destopianfuture]

If you say my difficulty knowing how hard to push buttons is because I “don’t work with [my] hands enough”, you’re #NotMyNeurotypicalAlly.

[casualhottubharmony]

When my mind is reduced to a multi-million dollar campaign and they end up profiting billions from it while throwing a few pennies at us

[casualhottubharmony]

I am tired of being told to abandon being respected as a compromise

[casualhottubharmony]

”As your parent, i know what is best for you , more than you or any doctor”.

[higanbanalabyrinth]

RT @CatalyticRxn: You’re #NotMyNeurotypicalAlly if you decided NOT to vaccinate your kids b/c you think autism is scarier than infectious diseases…

[casualhottubharmony]

Making me believe that i had something for three years before telling me that i didn’t have it.

[higanbanalabyrinth]

RT @AliceoHewitt: you are #NotMyNeurotypicalAlly if you say I’m not disabled! just differently abled~ to ignore the role you play in disabling me