Something or Other

Student currently unaffiliated with an institution. Background in anthropology and digital humanities, with a side of gender studies and mathematics. Interested in feminism, tech culture, science fiction, fandom, cute animals, and occasionally puns.

[14193]

she drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra

[micdotcom]

Watch: The cast of OITNB parody Kimmy Schmidt’s “Peeno Noir” with “Honey Jar”

[lightinthewings]

you know who i’m so grateful for? amy santiago

firstly, she isn’t stereotyped at all but her culture isn’t ignored

despite her rule following and sucking up to her superiors she’s never been a killjoy and ruined things for the rest of the squad

she’s always been portrayed very much as jake’s equal, even though they’re so different, they’re still both super good at their jobs

she’s never just been a love interest, the show has given story lines outside of her relationship with jake and she has been allowed to grow and develop friendships with the other characters

her character development has been amazing. she was so concerned with impressing holt in s1 and now in s3 she’s become so great at standing up to him and making sure that he respects her as much as she respects him

she’s also become a lot more chill, without becoming, y’know, actually chill, probably thanks to her friendship/sister-in-law-hood with gina

she proves that you can be a nerd and be badass

she’s a disastrous chef and she doesn’t think that putting eIGHTEEN CUPS OF OREGANO in cooking is at all weird, what a dork

she outsmarted both jake and holt when they underestimated her also rosa called her an evil genius (because she fucking could be, okay)

she’s also really adorable and sometimes i find myself getting distracted by how pretty her face is

[stuffmomnevertoldyou]

Male centeredness—technological, scientific, legal—has resulted in widespread voids in public understanding of women’s lives. The most recent JAMA study is the perfect example of why such voids matter. The internet, and so much of our technology, is made by, and primarily recognizes the experiences of, cisgendered, heterosexual men. And yet, according to a Pew Research report from 2015, 67% of Americans in the US—both men and women—use their phones to access health and care information. Fully 10% of Americans do not have access to high-speed internet at home and rely on their phones instead.

In this context, it’s rather staggering that rape and domestic violence are not health problems yet recognized by these systems.

The problem with a technology revolution designed primarily for men

[circumventing-the-kerfuffle]

It turns out that if you ask Icelandic engineers about fiber-optics, they tell you about the 'spy cable' built by the United States: a communications line linking the South coast of Iceland to a network of hydrophones tracking Russian subs.  It turns out that much of Iceland’s information infrastructure was developed for the military base built there in the Cold War.  And it turns out that all this public/secret construction worked through watching and being watched.  While Americans used the Reykjanes peninsula to watch Russians, they kept tabs on Icelanders working on the base.  These Icelanders, employed to build and maintain it, felt their attention and sometimes turned it back.  Now-elderly Icelanders who worked for the military describe the conditions of suspicion at work.  Páll, a contractor today in his 60s, is first to tell me a story I come to hear many times: an Icelandic worker is stopped by an American soldier as he’s walking home with a wheelbarrow full of sand.  The soldier sifts through the sand, suspicious, but finds nothing and lets him go on his way.  The next day, the same worker meets the same soldier, whose curiosity again is piqued.  But again he searches him and, finding nothing, reluctantly lets the worker go.  The same interaction continues daily until the soldier accepts the worker’s routine.  'What happened?' asks Páll, hands spread and grinning: the worker was stealing the wheelbarrows, one by one.  When you know they’re watching, give them something to see.

Alix Johnson, The Self at Stake: Thinking Fieldwork and Sexual Violence | Savage Minds (March 16, 2016)

[circumventing-the-kerfuffle]

Being assaulted during preliminary fieldwork was a first position of intimacy I couldn’t shake.  Without choosing it, I was irrevocably tied to someone; both of us were bound to the state.  With law enforcement mobilized in my 'best interests' and the legal system speaking in my name, I was assigned a subject position I wouldn’t have had otherwise, as a mixed-race American in Iceland for a year.  I was claimed in ways that felt and feel complicated – to place and to people, for better and worse.  But being assaulted also changed the way I moved in Reykjavík.  Being watched made me watchful, obsessively engaged.  Preparing for a trial, a police report, a confrontation, I was aggressively attuned to my surroundings.  Hungry for detail, I filed facts away: the shifting clientele of downtown establishments; the quality of ice encasing different streets.  The exact setting time of the sun.  This strikes me now as a kind of amplified ethnography: I was overly impacted by the world.  Like a parody or distortion of the openness we aim for, I took it in hungrily but for my own sake.

Alix Johnson, The Self at Stake: Thinking Fieldwork and Sexual Violence | Savage Minds (March 16, 2016)

[boredpanda]

[reclaimeddyke-deactivated201901]

wow

[circumventing-the-kerfuffle]

You know, the thing I always try to remember when I’m borrowing from mythology is to be a shit-ton more careful with still-living traditions than I am with those long gone or transformed away from their roots. I feel relatively safe treading on the threads of Egyptian myth because there isn’t a centuries-long-and-ongoing history of using, say, the worship of Bast as an excuse to steal people’s ancestral land and children in the name of Christianity. But you know what? I’m still careful, even with “dead” faiths, because I don’t know how playing with these things might hurt real people. Nations have been built upon and torn down by the concepts I’m playing with. The least I can do is research the hell out of a thing before I put a toe in that ancient water. It’s even more crucial for religions that are alive, and whose adherents still suffer for misconceptions and misappropriations. But these are easier to research, and it’s often much easier to figure out when you’re about to put a foot right into a morass of discrimination and objectification. All the evidence is there, sometimes still wet with blood. You just need to read. You just need to ask people. You just need to think. And whether I believe in a thing or not, I always try to recognize that these concepts, these names, these words, have power. Power is always to be respected, whether it’s yours or someone else’s, present or past.

N. K. Jemisin, It could’ve been great | Epiphany 2.0 (March 9, 2016)

[metalarrn]

[oceanwaterheart]

[jimbenton]

[tastefullyoffensive]

by Jim Benton

[holmesianpose]

OMG THE TINY PLEASED EXPRESSION ON THAT LEMON’S FACE

[guardian]

Women you should read about on International Women’s Day

Sonita Alizadeh’s family first considered selling her into marriage when she was just 10 years old. At 16, they said they had found her a husband, but she found a way to escape.

She wrote “Brides for Sale”, a rap tackling the issue of daughters being sold into marriages by their family and created a video showing her in a bridal dress with a barcode on her forehead. She raps: “Let me whisper, so no one hears that I speak of selling girls. My voice shouldn’t be heard since it’s against Sharia.”

Her family agreed she did not have to get married. She now lives in America, and is still writing songs.

Berta Cáceres was a Honduran indigenous and environmental rights campaigner whose high-profile campaigns against dams, illegal loggers and plantation owners were met with threats of murder and sexual violence. Last week she was murdered, days after she was threatened for opposing a hydroelectric project.

In an interview in 2013, she said: “I cannot live in peace, I am always thinking about being killed or kidnapped. But I refuse to go into exile. I am a human rights fighter and I will not give up this fight.”

Greek lawyer Christina Dimakou left her life and career in Athens to become a guardian to some of the thousands of unaccompanied child refugees who have landed on the Greek island of Lesbos in the last year.  

“I cannot save the world or make everything better,” Dimakou said in an interview, “but I can affect the things around me. If everyone does this then the world becomes better. And we become better.”

Harnaam Kaur has polycystic ovarian syndrome, which can cause excessive hair growth. When she was 11, her beard started growing. Initially, she did everything she could to remove it. At 16, after being baptised as a Sikh, she decided to accept her facial hair. Now, she has modelled for bridal sites, a project celebrating beards and became the first bearded woman to walk in a jewellery designer’s fashion show.

Ellen Murray is standing for election in West Belfast, one of Ireland’s most contentious constituencies, once represented by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. At just 22 years of age, she is making Irish electoral history by being the first trans person to run in a Northern Irish election.

Her pledge? To fight “continued homophobia blighting local politics”.

Three women founded #BlackLivesMatter, an international movement campaigning against violence toward black people. Alicia Garza was among the many who were in shock over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. 

She wrote an impassioned message on Facebook, ending with: “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.” Her friend Patrisse Cullors replied with #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi added her support and the three began setting up Tumblr and Twitter accounts encouraging users to share stories of why #BlackLivesMatter. A movement was born and continues to campaign, online and offline, today.

Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier’s work on CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing could enable use to genetically modify almost anything. In theory, the technique could be used to alter any human gene. Their work has an impact on several areas of life: from genetic medicine to the development of new crops and bio-products. Given future challenges facing life on earth, this holds revolutionary promise for disease control and ecology. 

Who have we missed? Reblog and add your own.

[oryspyladia]

[hellyeshaley]

These are all so beautiful and functional. 

[warriorofwellness]

ah yes, i see the bedroom fandom is growing.  

excellent.

[someshitstorm-blog]

I still love this gif.

[micdotcom]

Not everyone was pleased with Bernie Sanders’ mental health/Republicans joke at the debate Sunday night. One tweet pointed out how Sanders was shooting himself in the foot with the comment.

[schuetzengrabenmints-deactivate]

Wow, @micdotcom posting real shit for once?

[allmyfriendsarewhite-blog]

I know people love Bernie because he’s so progressive and bucks the mainstream, but…

old white dudes gonna old white dude.

[superselected]

Janelle Monáe joins Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in Film About Black Women Mathematicians.

[thepositivecattitude]

Mother cat with kittens came to meet an old friend.

[star-anise]

I can’t believe we’ve already found the best animal video of 2016.

[glenn-griffon]

That is too adorable. You can tell the mother cat actually does trust the dog just by her body language. Typically a mother will watch her kittens closely and be very protective of them, here she completely trusts the dog to play gentle with them. This is just too damn cute.

[glyndarling]

When he bops the kitten and looks up at Mom to make sure he didn’t overstep!

[thesweetpianowritingdownmylife]

The dog is trying to make himself as non-threatening as possible!!

[sevensneakyfoxes]

Interspecies friendships are the bestttttt.