Queen.

European girl. Egalitarian feminist, economics student & seeker of aesthetic pleasure. I post pretty things and occasionally rant about social issues. May include raving about food, cute animals and Game of Thrones.

[enjoy-the-life-baby]

[atomic-chronoscaph]

1970s - photos by Stephen Shore

[wilwheaton]

This is what my childhood looked like.

[thewittyphantom]

[kidslutti-]

Lmfao

[cherrypies]

Life in Austria in a nutshell

[thequotejournals]

My only anxiety is, how can I be of use in the world?

Vincent van Gogh (via thequotejournals)

[pleatedjeans]

Three cheers for these guys [x]

[blackphoenixincorporated]

This is how to be a good ally.

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

Using their Bro-ness for good, not evil

[ladyflowdi]

So a tiny story: on Black Friday a few weeks ago I went to Gamestop to buy my brother a game for Christmas, and I noticed this older man was watching me like a hawk. He was loitering around the front of the store without really buying anything, and every time I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye he was looking at me. I went to look at the PS4 games, and he was looking at something right behind me. I checked out the Nintendo games, and he was looking at them too. I was the only woman in the store, by the way.

By the time I got in line to pay he was loitering at the front of the store again, and I just had that feeling that he was going to try and take the game I just bought, or steal my purse, as soon as I left the store. OR, he was going to try and follow me home. And I know I don’t have to explain that terror to any woman reading this, but all I could think was that I’m in this Gamestop alone with at least twenty other men and something is about to happen. I’m beginning to freak out, to the point where I’ve just pulled my pepper spray out of my purse and into the pocket of my coat. 

So there I am, next in line to pay, and there is this GIGANTIC dudebro right behind me, and I say gigantic as a 6 foot tall woman. He says, “Ma’am? Don’t be offended, but would it be alright if I walked you to your car?” and I was like “Are you serious?” and he was like “There are some weird guys in here right now. Have you noticed that guy watching you?” and then I showed the dudebro the pepper spray in my pocket and he was like “Right on. Would you still let me walk you to your car?” and I said yes.

So I paid, and waited while HE paid, and he walked me to my car. And just as I was getting in, the weird guy who’d been loitering came out of the store, saw me and my dudebro, and turned around and walked away in the opposite direction. 

In short: men who recognize that women are unsafe in dark alleys, college campuses, grocery stores, gas stations and retail stores and do something about it are the kind of quality men that this world needs more of.

[brittascribbles]

STORY TIME

When I was still living in SF, I used to stop into Starbucks that was right down the street from my work every morning. I was used to seeing many of the same faces at that Starbucks, so it was odd to see anyone in there I didn’t recognize. In the summer one day, a new guy started coming in - late 30′s with black hair. I didn’t pay much attention to it until I noticed something he always came in RIGHT after me in the morning behind me in line. It didn’t matter what time of morning I came in - he was always behind me in line. I just figured that we had a similar “tea time” schedule on our morning commute, and didn’t think much of it.

One of my classmates from school was a barista there, and when I saw him at my work one day, he mentioned to me that the guy ONLY ever came into that Starbucks when I was there. (Which was incredibly odd, because my work schedule did NOT have regular hours and days off, and it often changed on a day-to-day basis.) When I heard that, I started to get worried. This guy - whomever he was - knew my schedule. Was he following me? I still don’t know, but I’d have to think he was.

One day in particular, on a day off, I stopped into the Starbucks and found a seat in a corner to have a Skype call with someone. Without my noticing, this guy came in, grabbed his coffee, and sat down at the table RIGHT next to me, essentially blocking off my way for a clean exit. Once I realized what had happened, I started to panic.

He started talking to me and leaning into my personal space, and be VERY creepy. I was sitting next to a wall, so the only way out was to GET CLOSER to the guy, and he was already trying to caress my arm. I asked him to stop and to leave me alone, but he refused.

I locked eyes with a group of tourists on the other side of the cafe. One of the women in the group tapped her VERY TALL AND MUSCULAR guy friend on the shoulder and gestured my way. The guy from the group must have seen the desperation and panic in my eyes, because picked up his coat and strode over to me and said “Hey, babe - sorry I’m late. Are you ready to leave?” He asked.

I immediately nodded and picked up my belongings. The guy took my hand and walked with me outside. Stalker guy followed us out, but when the rest of the group of tourists came out to wait with us for a car, he turned around and left.

They walked with me as a group down to my work building, where the girl who had seen me first called us two Lyfts - one for their group, and one for me to take anywhere I needed to go in the city.

The man hugged me and said he was glad that he was there to do something.

TL,DR: Massive beef-cake totally hot cinnamon roll tourist pretends to be my bf to scare away creepy stalker and his buddies pay for a ride to get me to a safe place.

Men who recognize that women are unsafe in dark alleys, college campuses, grocery stores, gas stations and retail stores and do something about it are the kind of quality men that this world needs more of.

[fffddd09-deactivated20170610]

These stories. We need more men like this.

[cherrypies]

Quality men. ♡

[boy-so-pale]

[micdotcom]

Watch: President Obama smacks down Donald Trump, says using “radical Islam” plays into terrorist hands.

[queenrvyes]

DAMN

[coltre]

[calliophies]

witch moodboard: poison girl

[the-deep-woods]

So I just read this article about how people end up fucking up whatever task they’re doing when they feel like they’re being watched.  Scientists have discovered that the sense of being observed actually SHUTS OFF a part of the brain, the inferior parietal cortex. 

Given the fact that women are constantly watched in our society, and we are constantly REMINDED that we are being watched by people making fun of fat, “ugly”, or gender-nonconforming women, it makes me wonder how many women have messed up important tasks or projects or just day-to-day activities because A PART OF OUR BRAIN is permanently being deactivated?

Like talk about a fucking handicap.

Women are constantly held under the microscope- whether we are attractive or unattractive, the gaze of patriarchy never ends.

Just last week I was walking my dog and bent over to literally pick up poop.  Suddenly I heard whistling and looked up cause I knew I was the only person around.  Sure enough, about 300 feet away, some construction worker was perched on top of a building, grinning at me and calling out stuff I luckily couldn’t hear because he was so goddamn far away.

I wonder what it does to women to have this constant source of stress hanging over us, each and every day, knowing we are being scrutinized and examined no matter what we’re doing.  I wonder how many more accomplishments, life-changing discoveries, inventions, etc would have been achieved by women if we didn’t have this constant brain-handicap imposed on us by men.

[oldmaninatee]

This feeling of being watched extends even when we’re alone and affects our abilities- here’s a study where women took a math test while in a bathing suit and performed significantly worse than women fully dressed, even though all the women were alone when taking the test. The men in bathing suits and the men fully-dressed had no significant difference in performance. It is a major fucking handicap.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247434408_That_swimsuit_becomes_you_Sex_differences_in_self-objectification_restrained_eating_and_math_performance_Correction_to_Fredrickson_et_al_1998

(I don’t remember how to make a cleaner link on my phone, sorry)

[talix18]

This is AMAZING. It never occurred to me that “Observing a thing changes that thing” includes the eye of the male gaze.

[thoodleoo]

in ancient rome one of the careers you could have was professional mourner, and your job was just to go to funerals and wail as loudly as you could, and honestly we should bring that back because that’s the sort of career i could see myself doing in the future

[ptafanboy-deactivated20211109]

I can’t see me loving nobody But you for all my life

Happy Together (1997) (Dir. Wong Kar-wai)

[thoughts-memories]

[shokoofeh]

[mymodernmet]

Photographer Captures Heartwarming Portraits of Blind Cats to Help Them Get Adopted

[newyorker]

It’s the last weekend of August, and the end of summer is nigh. Here are some past New Yorker covers by the artist Jean-Jacques Sempé that celebrate the pleasure of being at the beach—for children and adults. See the full slide show here. 

[sandandglass]

The Half Hour S05E09 – Emily Heller