spoiler alert

sorta annotated biblio of things gahsofluffy is reading

[workingitinportland-deactivated]

CA friends, PLEASE call about this. This bill has already affected outreach services similar to the ones STROLL provides; if you care about sex workers, if you’ve been wanting to do something to help us and regretting not harassing the heck out of Kamala pre-SESTA, this is your chance. Call your famous friends, call your family, use your fan base, whatever. Please don’t allow this to happen. CALL BEFORE NEXT TUESDAY 4/10!

Text of the image: Via a sex worker friend, please read:

CA is passing a bill that changes the definition of pandering making it a felony to provide any help or out reach for sex workers.

That means distributing condoms to street based workers, know your rights pamphlets, any kind of mentoring, basically all harm reduction will be a felony. I know I talk a lot about sex work and y’all are probably are bored but my community is on fire. The government wants sex workers dead, in jail and exploited.

This bill and fosta will literally mean life and death for REAL HUMAN BEINGS who just want to survive. This feels hopeless and is an incredibly dark time.

If you care about poverty, feminism, trans people, poc, sex workers and sexual freedom PLEASE CALL Nancy Skinner (chair of the CA state committee) to let her know you oppose SB 1204

[phone] (local office) [phone] BY 4/10 (tues)

[femchef]

Here is a link to the proposed bill on the California Legislature page if anyone needs it: 

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1737

[bookphile]

The first woman of YA — and the first person to be recognized as a YA author — started out as many first women in history do: downplaying the fact she was a woman.

Within the pages of these books, we have girl stories. That is, stories about what happens to girls, not books for girls. There’s physical violence, romance of all shades (between a girl and a boy, a girl and more than one boy, a girl and a girl), sexual violence, self-harm, tough but real language, and sex/sexuality. And sure, many of the books written by women that are challenged have male main characters, but the problem goes back to what S. E. Hinton was told when she launched this ship in the first place: you can’t be a woman and be taken seriously.

Call them by any name you want, but these challenges stem from fears about girls’ stories coming to the front and being told. Men have their novels challenged, too, but less frequently and, more likely than not, for reasons similar to why women’s novels are: the fear of something different (anything outside the “mainstream” white, straight male standard). Blume has more titles on the most-challenged list than any other author — even Robert Cormier could only muster three — because being female and writing about issues girls face are challenge- and ban- worthy actions indeed.

Men write universal stories. Women write stories for girls. Men write Literature. Women write chick lit. Even in a world where women do publish in heavier numbers than men do, they are underscored, underseen, and undervalued. Twilight is and will remain a crucial part of YA’s history — YA’s female-driven history — despite or in spite of the fact it doesn’t garner the same praises that those held up as idols within the community do. Men like John Green become symbols of YA’s forward progress and Seriousness as a category, whereas Stephenie Meyer gets to be a punchline.

I couldn’t just pick one quote because this entire article is gold, and I recommend you read it: http://bookriot.com/2014/03/24/censored-history-ladies-ya-fiction/

[jennytrout]

Late night tumblr story time

At the Romantic Times convention in Dallas last year, there was a rodeo themed night with a mechanical bull you could ride. So naturally I had to ride this mechanical bull, right? Now, if you’re unfamiliar with romance novels, cowboy/rancher/farmer/rodeo dude romances are like, a BFD. Well, there’s this cute guy with a cowboy hat and a plad shirt who works with the mechanical bull set up, and he’s laughing with the women and getting flirty with them when he’s helping them onto the bull. I get up to the front of the line, and he sees the tattoo of a beluga whale on my chest, and like, the whole flirty cowboy persona just drops, and he’s like, “I love whales.” And he rolls up his sleeve and shows me a tattoo of a whale. Not just any whale. Some specific whale who has a defect with its voice and it can’t talk to other whales, so it’s like, the loneliest whale on the planet. And as he’s telling me about it, he gets actually choked up and goes, “I’m sorry, I get real emotional over this whale.”

TL;DR: romance readers and authors who love cowboy romances go to a party and don’t realize that an actual romance novel cowboy is also at the party.

[eatmystardustloser]

you’re telling me there’s a cowboy who’s obsessed with the 52 Hertz whale? idk why this information delights me so much, but it does

[jennytrout]

Enough so that he has a tattoo of it and feels a great kinship toward it as a fellow lonely soul. This is a real dude.

[omgthatdress]

Kesha's Plea To Get Out Of Her Contract With Dr. Luke Is Denied By Judge

The singer contends that unless she is released from her exclusive contract with Dr. Luke, who she claims sexually and physically abused her for years, her career will soon be over.

In other news, fuck the patriarchy, fuck rape culture, and FREE KESHA

[gahsofluffy-reader]

The numbers are striking.

[phoukanamedpookie]

Scientists now think that being overweight can protect your health

Studies show it helps patients with an increasingly long list of medical problems.

[sourcedumal]

And notice the tone the scientists researching this.

“What do you mean the fatties live longer? This CANNOT BE RIGHT DO THE STUDIES 15 MORE TIMES!”

And when they can’t figure it out, they simply say “it’s not worth reading” to keep anything POSITIVE about fat bodies from getting out into the public eye.

Because then folks might not but into the billion dollar industry for diet fads and weight loss scams that all of these obesity doctors line their pockets with.

Because then theyd actually have to start treating their fat patients like PEOPLE.

[dont-at-m3]

“Even scientists whose own research has identified the paradox often seem ambivalent about the possibility that it might hold true. Carnethon has published several studies documenting the link between overweight or obese and better survival rates among people with type two diabetes. Yet like nearly every researcher I’ve interviewed on the subject, she resists the idea that fat might not always be unhealthy. ‘We’d never want to back away from weight-loss recommendations,’ she says.” I mean SERIOUSLY???

[sourcedumal]

Adding this to the “Fat Hater Soundtrack” cus this is just too rich…

[gahsofluffy-reader]

The Doomsday Invention

Will artificial intelligence bring us utopia or destruction?

my conclusion: i’m not worried about ai, but it seems like a good thing that someone is

[gahsofluffy-reader]

Making Bad Tropes Empowering: An Interview With Author and Fifty Shades Critic Jenny Trout

Jenny Trout is a romance novel author who’s made a splash on the internet in recent years. She’s known for her books The Boss (written as Abigail Barnette),

[gahsofluffy-reader]

[gahsofluffy-reader]

Multimodal Learning Through Media: What the Research Says 

[gahsofluffy-reader]

You can increase your intelligence: 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential

1. Seek Novelty

2. Challenge Yourself

3. Think Creatively

4. Do Things The Hard Way

5. Network

[gahsofluffy-reader]

How to make good food choices for your family while staying sane

BOOK EXCERPT | Don’t get caught up in rules and labels. Do your best, respect others, and then let it go.

[gahsofluffy-reader]

What’s wrong with the celery you’re buying

Unless it’s local, chances are you’re missing out on surprisingly complex flavor — and lots of leaves.

[gahsofluffy-reader]

Our thermostats could be making us sicker

Keeping our thermostats programmed at year-round comfortable temperatures could be affecting our health.

[gahsofluffy-reader]

Dozens of baked goods found to have potentially cancer-causing additive

Potassium bromate is a possible carcinogen that’s banned in many countries. But in the U.S., it’s still on grocery store shelves.

[gahsofluffy-reader]

A Placebo Can Make You Run Faster

A new study of the power of placebos in athletic performance found that runners improved their times after a placebo injections of saline.

[gahsofluffy-reader]

When children eat organic fruits and vegetables, the amount of pesticides in their bodies declines, a new study shows.