Who, me?

I don't know what this is, either.

[nothorses]

Yall know that “toxic masculinity” refers to expressions of masculinity that are toxic, right? it doesn’t imply that all masculinity is toxic- it’s used to talk about like, how people will repress their emotions aside from anger in order to seem “manly”, and how they might act in violent or self-destructive ways because that is what society expects of men.

masculinity is not inherently toxic. it hasn’t been poisoned or corrupted. it is a neutral concept, a kind of gender presentation, and it doesn’t make you a bad, unhealthy, or toxic person to be masculine.

masculinity does not need to be “soft” to be acceptable, it can just be neutral. because it is not toxic, just sometimes expressed in toxic ways or for toxic reasons.

[ninjakittenarmy]

Does this mean there is toxic femininity?

[nothorses]

imo? Yes.

Like when white women fake cry to win arguments, or to appear to be the victim (despite how much damage they may have caused), or when female abusers point to their femininity as a reason they couldn’t possibly be hurting anyone. Or when the girls in school weaponize their performances of femininity against more androgynous, less traditionally attractive, or more masculine girls.

Plenty of cis women have a similarly toxic relationship to femininity as cis men do to masculinity. A good example of a less material expression might be the tendency to self-martyr, using the “caregiver” role to guilt trip and gaslight, and abuse in a more manipulative, emotional/mental way than the physical aggression more typical with toxic masculinity.

The patriarchy rewards gender conformity, and requires cis people of both genders to uphold it. Cis women are at a structural disadvantage to cis men regardless, but can absolutely gain more social power by adhering more strictly to traditional femininity- and weaponize that power against others.

[antiqua-lugar]

There absolutely is toxic feminity and the fact that this aspect is not discussed frankly worries me, because it perpetues the “men bad, women good (nb people? never heard of them)” mindset which belong to fringes of feminism I’d like to stay the hell away from. 

[fierceawakening]

Yup. This is also, IMO, precisely why a lot of female abusers are caregivers, parents, etc. It’s more easily deniable that way.

[tyrantosaurus]

It’s particularly confusing that toxic femininity isn’t spoken of too because- Toxic Masculinity is largely harmful to the self. Sure it gets imposed onto other generations and it can take away accountability, but that’s traditional gender policing and not a symptom of the toxic masculinity itself. But toxic masculinity is about what you’re allowed to be or what emotions you’re allowed to have and a lot of it is about stunting the growth of the self rather than the other.

Where as toxic femininity is about the manipulation of others using the femininity as a weapon for control. Is there a reason why that came to be? Yeah. Because a lot of history involves women having no other option to control a situation than to use their femininity. But it doesn’t change that toxic masculinity is a metal cage with the barbs facing in and toxic femininity is a metal cage with the barbs facing out.

[geges]

good morning cnovel readers you are not immune to anti northern/central asian racism

[geges]

I'm a xinjiang chinese-kyrgyz that's very active in both the en and cn speaking cnovel fandom and yall need to understand that as much as that was phrased as a meme, you are truly not immune to it. racism, colourism, and xenophobia against ethnic groups in/from central and northern asia are entrenched in every single aspect of the han media that has been popularised in western fandom. the books and adaptations of them use racism that can be as subtle as the eye colours of villains to making the xiongnu an alien species of violent beasts. cnovels, regardless of their morality or status as problematic/unproblematic, such as mdzs, fgep, cql, tgcf, 2ha, woh/shl and spl, all of them engage in and encourage the racism, xenophobia, colourism, classism, and sexism that form anti-central/northern asian stereotypes this isn't me saying don't read cnovels or to completely disengage with fandom. rather, I'm asking you to think critically about the media you consume and what prejudices it might encourage. think about how this impacts your views of these ethnic groups; even if we don't actively realise it, we are conditioned by media to view these groups as barbaric, savage, and uncivilized. think about how your ingrained prejudices might impact those around you. if you see a character coded as mongolian, then maybe consider how they've been coded. why do you interpret them as mongolian? how does this represent your view of real, living mongolian people? many people honestly don't know about us either! the struggles we face are unrepresented and heavily suppressed by eastern media, making western understanding of northern nomads and similar groups very stunted. the number of people I've met who have never even heard of my people is innumerable. however, being uninformed does not negate the harm you do by engaging in racist habits, no matter how good your intentions frankly, I do not want to be responsible for educating an online space that has firmly entrenched racism, it makes me upset to have these conversations in the first place. I would much rather you educate yourself and think critically, but I also know that topics like these can be difficult for western audiences to understand and I know a lot of people truly mean the best and want to support minorities. so, just as a general guide, here are some things that are the most prevalent in anti central/northern asian racism: eye/hair colour: lighter hair and eye colours, especially when paired with darker skin, are common in our genetic clines, while han culture views those combinations as unsightly, creepy, dangerous, sinister, etc. often you will see villains given bright blue or green eyes, such as xue yang in many mdzs adaptations, to signify that they are murderous and untrustworthy. this directly stems from interactions between central asians(casians) and central plains people. our features are labelled as demonic, freakish, and evil broad features and large stature: often you see the quote "back of a tiger, waist of a bear". the ban yue desert people in tgcf are a good example of this, described as being many feet taller than the average person, broader, and in general much more physically strong powerful voice and coarse language: describing our languages as guttural, barbaric, harsh, rough, simplistic, or lacking nuance is an attempt to paint us as uncivilized, uncultured, and intellectually inferior to other peoples. similarly, giving us voices that are booming, loud, coarse, and rough attempts to do the same sparse clothing and animal furs: think of "caveman attire". having characters wear strips of fur, have bare chests, clothing considered barbaric or caveman-like, etc. this is a pretty self-explanatory one exotic customs/dance/looks: while central/northern asian people often do have different appearances and customs than han people, the portrayal of evidently fabricated, uneducated, exaggerated versions of our culture is offensive, othering, and often fetishistic. our hair styles are also incredibly important, and many times are religiously significant. using them as "exotic braids" or similar intricate styles is offensive and rips away all their cultural significance. these cultures and customs are an important part of life to millions of people, they are not a costume or flashy dance that is there to make a character seem exotic and enticing geographical racism and fantasization: to many casian groups, our lands are extremely important to us, such as the northern steppes. if this is portrayed respectfully, then great! but most media shows our lands as the mystical, faraway, dangerous grass plains filled with roaming wolves and venomous snakes. for the love of everything holy, you can have a fantasy world WITHOUT fantasizing a certain region in an offensive manner. this is an ecological region, similar to every region in the world. if you want to write mystic lands filled with dangers, then have all the regions included in that. do not single out the northern steppes to be some fantastical mountainscape. while this might seem odd to western viewers, this kind of prejudice is linked to thousands of years of casian lands being portrayed as demonic and dangerous in han culture religious racism: again, othering and fantasizing a strong cultural component. having characters practice blood sacrifices, use corpses for "evil religious rituals", cast curses with bones, etc. this is really any uneducated and exaggerated portrayal of casian religion (especially tengriism or any paganistic variant), making it look exotic or dangerous medical racism: this is closely tied with religious racism, but normally manifests through offensive portrayals of shamans or priests. having shamans be anything outside of their traditional roles of religious leaders and healers in most communities is offensive! having shamans or priests be demonic practitioners that make blood curses, raise poisonous beasts, and breed venomous beetles is offensive! innate connection with beasts/animals: making this a trait associated with specific groups of people, especially tribal societies, is just racist and dehumanizing. this one is self-explanatory Brutal Strong Girlboss Female General: large, strong, domineering, women are considered unattractive and disgraceful in han culture. the strong female warrior stereotype is 99% of the time not some feminist girlboss statement, its a racist stereotype to make our people look brutish and unattractive, especially considering that another strong stereotype against us is that casian men are all brutal, womanizing, harem-masters sinicizing/civilizing us: the western equivalent of this is christianizing various ethnic minorities. having casian characters be "civilized" through introduction to han culture is just blatantly racist. similarly, describing mixed han-casian people as "more delicate" than their casian family, being finer-featured, etc is also just plain racism a lot of these overlap with anti-indigenous and anti-black racism too! while the struggles our groups face are not the same, we have many mutual experiences that mean this conversation also extends to these groups. with that being said, if you are not central/northern asian, indigenous, or black, if you clown on or derail this post I'm going to start swinging

[geges]

this also goes for people watching cdramas, donghua, reading manhua, etc. you are not immune just because the racism has been repackaged

[miss-lee-lee-fan]

This really made me think of how the Huns in both Mulan adapts are portrayed, and check almost every detail listed and while being produced by the most wealthy and western studio animation..

[craigslisthorses]

da heck 

[sdzoo]

Only about 600 Somali wild asses remain in their native range. We’re proud to do our part to keep this species’ gene pool growing through careful breeding. Learn more. 

[thegetty]

A Brief History of Roman Mosaics

Mosaics decorated luxurious domestic and public buildings across the broad expanse of the Roman Empire. Made between the 2nd through the 6th century AD, mosaics offer a vivid picture of ancient Roman life.

From dramatic athletic contests to tender portraits of local wildlife, mosaics provide a glimpse at who the Romans were, what they valued, and where they walked.

The spread of mosaics parallels the vast spread of Roman power, from France to Syria to Tunisia. And like the rest of Roman culture, mosaics in different places reveal a combination of local traditions and Roman influence. 

Roman mosaics were meant to be walked on. Paintings covered the interior walls of Roman villas, but weren’t practical for decorating floors. Enter mosaics: a durable and lavish way to spruce up a room and support foot traffic at the same time.

Wealthy Romans chose mosaics for their private homes with themes that reflect their status: mythological stories would show off a man’s book learning, while scenes of wild animals being captured for fights in the arena might highlight his sponsorship of public games.

Many mosaics lay under the soil for thousands of years. Because they are built into the foundations of buildings, mosaics are among the best-preserved of all forms of Roman art and many still retain their original color as they were made from stone and glass.

Read the full blog post on Roman Mosaics 101 on the Getty Iris here.

“Roman Mosaics Across the Roman Empire” at the Getty Villa is open through September 12.

[brookshawphotography]

THREE critically endangered Onager foals were born at Chester Zoo within the space of a few days - great news!

Here are a few photos - they are very cute! :-)

[ainawgsd]

The Polish Hussars or Winged Hussars, were one of the main types of the cavalry in Poland and in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Hussars were famous for their huge “wings”, a wooden frame carrying eagle, ostrich, swan or goose feathers. In the 16th century, characteristic painted wings or winged claws began to appear on cavalry shields. The most common theory is that the hussars wore the wings because they made a loud, clattering noise which made it seem like the cavalry was much larger than in reality and frightened the enemy’s horses. Other possibilities included the wings being made to defend the backs of the men against swords and lassos, or that they were worn to make their own horses deaf to the wooden noise-makers used by the Ottoman and the Crimean Tatars. 

Keep reading

[ainawgsd]

Wild type vs Domestic mutations-Horses (light breeds)

Horses were domesticated around 6,000 years ago in the steppe lands north of the Black Sea from Ukraine to Kazakhstan. The ancestor of today’s domestic horses is the now extinct Tarpan, also known as the Eurasian Wild Horse. The tarpan became extinct in the 19th century,  the last individual believed to be of this subspecies died in captivity in Russia in 1909, although some sources claim that it was not a genuine wild horse due to its resemblance to domesticated horses. There are conflicting reports of the appearance of European wild horses, though they may have looked similar to the Przewalski’s Horse. A stocky type of horse living in forests and highlands was described during the 19th century with  a robust head and strong body, and a long frizzy mane. The color was described as faint brown or yellowish brown with eel stripe and leg stripes, or wholly black legs. The flanks and shoulders were spotted, some of them tended to an ashy colour. However, it is possible that these were feral and not wild horses. The color of pure tarpans was described in The Natural History of Horses by 19th-century author Charles Hamilton Smith as constantly brown, cream-colored or mouse-colored. The short frizzy mane was reported to be black, as were the tail and legs. The ears either were of varying size, but set up high at the skull. The eyes were small. According to Smith, tarpans made stronger sounds than domestic horses and the overall appearance of these wild horses was mule-like.

Horses have been domesticated and developed into hundreds of distinct breeds for a variety of purposes. Historically, horses have been a crucial mode of transportation and power for machinery. Through different periods of history and different cultures they have also been a source of meat and milk as well as leather.

[speciesofleastconcern]

[degenezijde]

Lol, funny to see my own bad photo of my e-reader. Should have made it into a quote, help people with screen readers. 

Anyway, I originally posted it here, source is  Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees by the excellent Thor Hanson. 

[sixth-extinction]

Extinct animals on display at the Natural History Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo from Flickr: [x] 

The display features a model of a dodo skeleton and taxidermy specimens of the Great Auk, Carolina Parakeet, Przewalski’s horse, thylacine, and two Passenger Pigeons. Though it is displayed with extinct animals in this exhibit, the Przewalski’s horse is currently classified as endangered; it was once considered extinct in the wild.

[greenteacology]

Whenever I see a stingray skeleton I’m like oh that’s just one of those fake Target Halloween decorations like the skeleton spiders and shit but NO stingrays are actually Like That and it is concerning

[pineapple-jarritos]

weltawletjwpeltljwejwtwltew wig

[greenteacology]

Evolution was like oh you wanna be a vertebrate?? You want some fucken cartilage??? We can make that happen.......

[rettaroo]

I reblogged this before, but have since learned that their jaws/teeth are also WILD

[craigslisthorses]

this horse is a fucking mess

[kisstocanter]

what a lovely gelding prospect!

[tranarchist]

Trans lesbian feminist Beth Elliot’s response to TERFs who attacked her at the West Coast Lesbian Conference, 1973 (x)

[queercomicsconnection]

[Image caption: A screencap of printed text by Beth Elliot, reading:

“No. Let me explain something. It’s beginning to dawn on me that you are treating me just like men treat women. You define my identity, my sexuality in relationship to what you want to think is true. You expect me to act in a submissive, subservient manner, then treat me as less than human. The idea that I might be the same as you threatens you, so you hold me down. You expect me to be satisfied with ‘feminine’ clothes and mannerisms, and to stay in my place. I am here to be exploited then discarded–SFDOB said that in print, publically [sic]. Well, I’m sick of it, and there are so many sisters who see through you.

I will concede you one point on conditioning. Having grown up in Nixon’s America, you make a damned good fascist.”]

From The Berkeley Revolution source link:

“Here, Beth Elliott responds to these charges [edit: transmisogynist claims by speaker Robin Morgan at the WCLC] in an article published by The Lesbian Tide, which published four or five pieces discussing Beth Elliot’s appearance at the West Coast Lesbian Conference in the same issue. Overall, The Lesbian Tide seems to be on Elliott’s side – although some of the articles they printed, including the transcript of Robin Morgan’s speech, were very much not. Beth Elliott had served as the SF correspondent for The Lesbian Tide, and they had published a statement in support of her after she was banned from the Daughters of Bilitis for being trans.“

[empty-altars]

A quick reminder for folks in the US: if you haven't seen anything about ACA open enrollment this year, that is by design. Secretary Azar wants to lower enrollment numbers to justify pulling funds from medicare/medicaid. Here are your dates:

And the link.

[cumaeansibyl]

The 2020 Open Enrollment Period runs from Friday, November 1, 2019, to Sunday, December 15, 2019. If you don’t act by December 15, you can’t get 2020 coverage unless you qualify for a special enrollment period. Plans sold during Open Enrollment start January 1, 2020.

[k-michaelis]

By the way, Open Enrollment means that you can buy health insurance without a qualifying life event! This is your time to get enrolled, change plans, and other things like that.

Individual health insurance can be pricier than group, but you may even qualify for a subsidy that can go towards your premium payments (or tax refund, if you want).

[k-michaelis]

Note: Those dates are the Open Enrollment for the Federally Funded Marketplace (govt health insurance).

Depending on your state, for those of you who will self-pay premiums, you may be able to enroll in a plan earlier than that (just without the subsidy.)

For example, Open Enrollment in Florida started on October 1st. That means that Floridians who will pay the full cost of their premiums can enroll in a plan for 2020 right now.

[teaboot]

I understand why people dislike leather and animal products. But leather is such a good resource? Like… My mom bought a sturdy leather coat in 1989. I’m in my 20’s and I now wear that coat. That’s a 30 year old coat? 30 years, two generations, one coat. Versus, like… A plastic one, that rips and gets thrown out, or releases bits into the ecosystem every time it’s washed, takes a billion years to decompose, lasts maybe a decade if you’re super duper careful, and uses oil products in it’s construction. Like, yeah leather is expensive and comes from a living animal, and I’m not saying that you should go out and buy fifty fur and leather products for the he’ll of it, but like… Maybe the compromise is worth it? One animal product, valued and respected and worn down for generations, versus like… Six plastic products that will never ever go away?

idk, I could be wrong.

[800-dick-pics]

this is why im so fucking pissed white colonial fucks and white vegans get so enraged at indigenous people for using hides/leather and animal bones as if that shit breaks or rips like cheap polyester does

[drtanner]

Remember, kids:

It’s not “vegan wool”, it’s plastic.

It’s not “vegan leather”, it’s plastic.

It’s not “vegan fur”, it’s fucking plastic. It’s all plastic.

It’s all fucking plastic, and every time you wash it, or damage it, or try to dispose of it, that plastic winds up in the water, in the earth, in the air.

Hell, the damage has already done when the fucking thing’s been made. As the OP says, it’s all oil and oil products; it creates pollution just to produce synthetic fabrics and materials, even before you try to throw them away, which, I mean, good luck with that.

A lot of vegan ideology is built up around a very superficial set of ethics that are supposedly about protecting animals, wildlife and the environment, but they fall apart when you look even a little bit below the surface. Every time you eschew an animal-based product in favour of something “synthetic” for the sake of “saving an animal’s life”, you’re creating pollution and trash that won’t go away for thousands of years, damaging the Earth and making life so much worse for countless animals and people.

Think about this stuff more than not at all, please.

[appropriately-inappropriate]

Eeeeeeverybody loves to get up my asshole because I wear fur. Yeah? Okay then.

When you live somewhere with -40C winter temperatures, you realize that pragmatism and warmth trump all other considerations.

I’m in and out of cars and buildings all day, every day. I have to dress for the weather and fur is hands down one of the warmest things you can wear — ask the fucking Inuit.

So you know what I do?

I check consignment stores. I check estate auctions. I get family heirloom furs.

I buy furs that are literally older than I am, in styles that would consign them to the dumpster, and then get them tailored to fit. My fur earmuffs? Salvaged fur from a coat that was ripped and functionally useless. My fur short coat? A fur that got raggedy and moth-eaten at the bottom and so was hemmed to hip height. My long fur coat is almost fifteen years older than I am, and I’m thirty one years old. Do that math.

So yes. I wear fur, because it fits my needs, my budget, and my ethics. The vegans wearing pleather can kick a brick. Only one of our coats is going to destroy the planet, and it isn’t my grandmother’s mink stole.

[mycroft-valentine]

Not to mention the fact that buying these natural leather products from indigenous peoples both subverts capitalism (that wants you to buy cheap shit that breaks), and also supports indigenous communities and artisans.

[appropriately-inappropriate]

I’m reading the notes and it’s really cute when people go “but use hemp! Use cotton! Try linen!”

Yeah?

Imma wear linen when the weather looks like this:

I am NOT going to wear hemp, linen or cotton when the weather looks like this:

When the weather outside is frightful, I’mma make like an Inuit and dress like this:

(Also, as you say: it is possible to responsibly source ethical furs. I prefer furriers like Victoria Kakuktinniq, who is an Indigenous Inuit fashion designer who interprets traditional fur designs for a modern sensibility. The funds from her clothing — and from other northern Indigenous communities — allows those northern communities to maintain their cultural traditions, while also introducing a much-needed revenue stream. If you have to buy fresh fur, Indigenous furriers are a good bet!)

[ms-hells-bells]

@acti-veg this is just…. *sigh*

[appropriately-inappropriate]

Which part is *passive aggressive sigh*?

Would it be the:

-reuse of fabrics and furs that are generally anywhere from 10-50 years old?

-recycling and repurposing of old or otherwise unusable materials like leather and fur to make smaller items like jackets, vests, gloves, hats and balaclavas?

-support for Indigenous traditions, handicrafts and artisans?

-recognition of the fact that there are very few plant-based products that will stand up to winters where the average temperature is anywhere from -20 to -50

I know, I know. Your ethics are itchy and it’s very simple to talk that good shit.

But let me introduce you to a Canadian phenomena: frostbite.

Frostbite occurs when your cells freeze. Your cells.

Ice crystals begin to form in cells in temperatures lower than -4C, which is what Canadians call “spring, fucking finally”.

In the teeth of winter, you get maybe ten hours of sunlight a day and your highest temperature is still double digits below 0C and the weather channel is saying “WEATHER WARNING: skin freezing in 30SECONDS”, and the government has put out a WEATHER EMERGENCY: EXTREME COLD WARNING.

When the weather is that severe, we don’t actually get the luxury of waxed cotton, woollen peacoats and a few layers of linen.

Sanctimony and sighs and good intentions don’t keep us warm.

[systlin]

Seriously, it hit -50F here last winter, linen and cotton don’t do fuckall in those temps.

Well, that’s not true. They DO, actually. They get wet from sweat and then get clammy and suck the heat out of you, leading to frostbite. Polyester is plastic, and I avoid that, because it’s bad for the environment.

You know what actually keeps you warm when it hits -50F? Wool, fur, and down. All animal products, all renewable and biodegradable, and all of which will last years with proper care.

I have two fur coats, both of which I paid $20 or less for at thrift stores, and both of which are vintage. Wool doesn’t harm the sheep it’s sheared from…they need to be sheared to stay healthy, actually…and down is harvested from animals that will be eaten, meaning none of the animal goes to waste.

[systlin]

Ah, yes. Truely, sheep live terribly. (Note; sheep wool is useless unles they have good pasture they’re raised on)

Ah, yes, the sheep are so mistreated when they’re sheared. A whole four minutes and they’re done. It’s like giving a fussy toddler a haircut.

And if they’re NOT shorn, you get flystrike, which I’m not going to post a pic of here because it is very unpleasant. Basically, flies lay eggs on the thick wool and the larvae eat the sheep’s skin off. It can be fatal.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/health-welfare/livestock-diseases/parasitic-diseases/fly-strike-warning-warm-wet-weather-continues

But please, tell me, the granddaughter of farmers who lives in farm country and who has neighbors who keep sheep, how sheep work.

[teaboot]

Hi I’m the OP and I grew up dirt poor on a Canadian sheep farm and I support this message

[spellsinsugar]

To even pull away from cold weather folks, my people are all from Texas and Louisiana and leather is 100% useful for so many things. Tanned hides were a common good for us and surrounding tribes because they’re fucking awesome when it comes to rain protection, provide quick shade in the heat, and were a great way to protect your ass when riding an animal.

Tanned hides work great as a base for moccasins, because it’s thick enough to protect your feet from the heat of the packed dirt, and thin enough that your feet don’t sweat to death inside of them. In boots, I don’t trust any material that isn’t leather or reptile skin to protect me from animals or the elements.

Y’all really need to look at your anti fur/leather/wool campaigns and recognize the anti-Indigenous sentiment that runs through all of them.

[nos4ay2]

My go-to response when someone tells me they bought a vegan leather item is to go “whats that? Oh you mean pleather”. I personally see the whole vegan leather thing as one of the greatest rebrandings of a product.

[rottendyke]

!!! The entire “vegan”/plastic leather fad is damaging as fuck, both for the environment and for people as a lot of the time that shits also produced in sweatshops or other shitty places. If you’d rather contribute to fast fashion and get a shitty fake leather jacket that’ll last you maybe five years tops with frequent wear whilst likely supporting companies that exploit their workers, that will never biodegrade and will instead sit in landfill after already releasing tiny plastic particles into the water, be my fucking guest if it helps you sleep at night better than if you bought a second hand leather jacket for likely a fraction of the price, but know that you’re an utter fucking moron for doing so.

You can recycle all you want and eat all the veggie burgers you want, but if you buy pleather you’re still contributing to the destruction of our planet and the exploitation of workers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sand-in-the-timepiece]

This entire post brings me hope

[turquoisemagpie]

Animal fur used for effective and historically successful survival? Yes

Animal fur that’s put on display in a house as a decoration for shooting an animal purely for the sake of ‘sport’? No

[goldencloud]

Friendly addition (please don’t @ me) , the leather tanning process pollutes rivers and harms workers. The environmental ethics of leather vs pleather are not actually as simple as “natural good! synthetic bad.” Read on different types of leather tanning (chrome vs vegetable) and look for leather tanneries that don’t cause massive water pollution.

This is aimed at those who do not live in places with subzero or arctic temperatures.

Also, the most sustainable clothes are the ones you already own. I know a lot of middle class people who get drunk on the gospel of “synthetics bad” and throw all their synthetic clothes away to replace with “natural” fibers and materials. This is not more sustainable. That’s encouraging more production and throwing away usable garments.

The ethics of materials is way more complicated than you can get from a tumblr or reddit post. “Take care of what you own and try to avoid buying new stuff” is probably the best guideline. If you can’t afford leather or are opposed to using animal products, you’re not “the problem” because you can’t actually ethically consume your way out of this mess. We don’t even have all the info we need to “ethically consume.”

[academicssay]

[academicssay]