Intersectional Feminism for Beginners

A basic breakdown of third-wave feminism concepts for the genuinely curious and the terribly ignorant.

[tlatollotl]

The app that's teaching the world an indigenous Mexican language

Keeping the fading language alive

This week,  “Let’s Learn Náhuatl” (Ma tiwelikan nawatl), was officially released, an app created to teach and preserve the indigenous Mexican Nahuatl language.

“In a sub-conscious way, you’ll know some Náhuatl , you’ll have heard the greetings, numbers, some verbs, maybe the animals, body parts, types of maize or scared places that govern the Nahuatl world.”

The project is the result of a collaboration between Manuvo, the National Institute of Indigenous Languages, and the Laboratory of Digital Citizenship, and offers a playful experience for those interested in learning Náhuatl words and expressions (which originated in Acatlán, Guerrero).

The graphics were designed by the design collective Metzican who created all the visuals that accompany the application. They highlight the nuances between the various Mexican communities whilst carefully avoiding clichés.

Presently in Mexico there are around 1,586,884 speakers of náhuatl or mexikatl (‘mexicano’) living across the country. The aim of this initiative is to utilise technology as a mechanism to “disseminate and generate interest in the indigenous languages, the community’s way of living and the cosmology of the indigenous villages in Mexico”.

Also in development is an app to learn purépecha, (the language spoken mainly in the northwestern region of Michoacan) which will similarly represent the identity of the village.

The app “Let’s Learn Náhuatl” is available to download for free on IOS and Android. For more info, check out Manuvo.

[tlatollotl]

FYI, they have Purepecha and Mixtec

http://kernaia.com/purepecha/

http://kernaia.com/mixteco/

[fuckyeahasexual]

So if you lived in a society where you had to secure your communication in order to be yourself around others, here are the apps that could help you do that.

[fuckyeahasexual]

Signal let’s you securely text and make phone calls.

Onion Browser allows you to surf the web without leaving a trail.

Duck Duck Go isn’t super secure but it won’t record your searches like Google.

ProtonMail is a email client that lets you email other secure email accounts.

Periscope allows you to stream live video.

Semaphor is there so you can securely make group chat rooms.

American privacy laws allow you to use these all. So that’s pretty cool.

[beaniebaneenie]

Because we’re currently living in the prologue of a cyberpunk dystopian novel, imma reblog this.

[exeggcute]

aside from being cissexist the whole XX = female and XY = male thing is Straight-Up Wrong

AFAB people can have XO, XXX, XXXX and XY chromosomes while AMAB people have have XXYY, XYY, and XX chromosomes and since the majority of the population never has their karyotype examined,  they’ll never know that they have one of these chromosomal quirks unless that specific combination has associated symptoms, and not all of them do. you could literally have one of the aforementioned combinations without even knowing it and meanwhile you’re insisting that all AFAB people are XX and that anyone else who has this must also be female

[softkats]

we could also talk about how hormonal patterns for XX persons can naturally and biologically mirror that of a typical XY person, or vis versa, which gives rise to things like androgen insensitivity disorder. here u have it, folks, an whole group of intersex people who have XY chromosomes and testicles and vulva and vagina, all grown naturally, all at the same time. 

the number of people who are intersex mirror the number of people who are born with red hair, but no one goes around trying to say that red isn’t a natural hair colour just because the phenotype doesn’t manifest in the majority of the population. 

[millenniumitem]

#hmmmm it’s almost like the gender binary is a piece of shit

[transrants]

seriously consider the bold if you are aggressively upholding the ridiculously flawed theory that is the sex and gender binary.

[destielhiseyesopened]

Big genetics nerd here, with a biology degree for whatever that’s worth. I’ve been saying this for well over a decade (i.e. it’s not a “tumblr thing” lol). The whole “XX = woman, woman = XX” thing, ditto for XY and men, works okay as a rough guideline but it’s simply not a universal “rule”. So telling trans people “you’ll always ‘really’ be [assigned gender], because chromosomes” is scientifically ignorant nonsense for three reasons:

Sex differentiation in humans isn’t really controlled by chromosomes. In species where it is, things like bilateral gynandromorphism can occur. That’s not possible in humans, though, because our development is controlled by hormones. Our chromosomes play only a very small role.

Because people don’t know other people’s karyotypes (or even their own, most of the time), they’re just pre-selecting the conclusion they want, then “proving” it with “evidence” they don’t actually have.

Because other conditions can also produce XX men and XY women, the idea that a trans person’s karyotype determines what they “really” are is a blatant double-standard. One which exists solely to “prove” the pre-determined conclusion that cis people’s genders are valid, and trans peoples’ aren’t.

Consequently, there are only two scientifically informed, logically consistent options:

Accept that nature is more complex than one learned in 5th-grade science class, and chromosomes can’t tell someone’s “real” gender. DNA is a truly wondrous molecule, not some Magical Essence of Gender.

OR, double down and demand to see everyone’s karyotype. Refuse to respect anyone’s gender if the results aren’t what one expected. Insist that all cis people with “mismatched” karyotypes must transition against their will, and be transphobic toward them until they do.

In other words, transphobes claim to be authorities on X and Y chromosomes, yet have no clue what they’re talking about.

Cisnormative society has a bizarre obsession with finding the One True Indicator of Biological Sex. Chromosomes are just the latest answer. In the past it’s been ovarian/testicular tissue, or penis/clitoris size. What will it be fifty years from now? But whichever One True Indicator is the current fad, there’s always at least one intersex condition which contradicts it, thus exposing how ridiculous and arbitrary these indicators really are.

Not that transphobes let facts stop them, of course. If someone doesn’t fit either One True Sex, they just don’t count! (I’ve literally heard this.) Cis people with reproductive, endocrine, or urogenital disorders still “count,” of course. An XY man with a small, hypospadic penis? An XX woman born without a uterus? Eh, just a man and a woman with minor quirks. A non-XX woman or non-XY man? They ~don’t count~, because ~disorder~. What an odd coincidence that this magical gender-invalidating power of “disorder” only applies to people who threaten the all-important binary. Circular logic at its finest: the binary is real because anyone who disproves it doesn’t count, and they don’t count because if they did, they’d disprove the binary!

That isn’t science. It’s not nature, or reason. It’s bigotry, plain and simple.

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

I always see so many social-justice type things that are like, reassuring people in the oppressor group that no, we’re not trying to take anything away from you! Your life will be pretty much the same but better if we achieve our goals!

Which, in a sense I guess that’s true, because a fairer world is better for us all – but honestly, yes, we are trying to take things away from you, and achieving our goals will mean your life is different. Because people in oppressor groups have not been pulling your/our own weight this entire time.

Men, abled people, cis people, white people, straight people, rich people, non-intersex people, etc., all benefit from oppression. As in, there are things we/you have that we/you literally only recieve as a direct result of oppression, and in a world without that oppression, we/you will not receive those benefits!

Privileged people will have to give up being centred more, trusted more and deemed more competent than anyone else; having emotional work performed for us/you quietly and without recipricocity; having our/your interests prioritized over everyone else’s; being treated as the default from which everyone else is a variation; and a million more unfair advantages.

Ending oppression will require people in oppressor groups to actively give up all kinds of benefits that stem directly from oppression. There will often be things that oppressors didn’t even notice was a benefit of oppression that will now have to be relinquished. It’s difficult work, and it absolutely will affect your life. But it’s necessary and important work.

If you’re only interested in ending oppression with the caveat that it not affect your life whatsoever and you’ll never be inconvenienced by people gaining back rights they should always have had – you’re not interested in ending oppression, and you should make an effort to cultivate that interest.

[ginnydiarchive]

Okay, here’s the problem with the idea that oppressed groups can “alienate allies” by not being nice enough:

You shouldn’t be an ally because oppressed groups are nice to you. You should be an ally because you believe they deserve basic human rights. Hearing “I hate men” shouldn’t make men stop being feminist. Hearing “fuck white people” shouldn’t make white people stop opposing racism.

Your opposition to oppression should be moral, and immovable. Your belief that all humans should be treated with equal respect shouldn’t be conditional based on whether or not individual people are nice to you.

[bonghag]

so i made a post complaining about the lack of posts for islander wlw so im making it myself.

heres to all the lesbian, bi, butch, femme, trans, ace, queer pacific islanders, to the butch chamorros, the femme samoans, the trans hawaiians, the lesbian tahitians, bi maori women, etc. i love you all and we’re so beautiful and strong and amazing and we deserve visibility

[bonghag]

ok for non islanders to reblog!! not okay for terfs + racists

[profeminist]

Crisis Safety Manual for Muslim Women

This Crisis Safety Manual has been edited for clarification. An earlier version may have misled readers to believe that we recommend removing the hijab.

“While we at Muslim Girl believe that the safety of Muslim women is the utmost priority, we do not believe that women should feel pressured to either remove or wear their scarves. If you believe your wellbeing is under direct threat, please take every precaution necessary to stay safe and contact 911 in case of an emergency.

With the influx of Islamophobia-related crimes in the United States these past few months, it can be an extremely scary and nerve-wracking experience to leave home and brave the world as Muslims today.

Because of the crimes of extremists across the globe and right here in the U.S., Muslims are being unfairly given the assumption and stigma of being suspicious, dangerous and a higher risk to those around them. With the addition of online hate, anonymous phone calls and protests outside of religious institutions - we shouldn’t feel as unsafe and on edge as we have to be now.

It is vital for us to keep in mind that we are in no way, shape or form responsible for all the extremism and atrocities that are occurring globally and we have nothing to personally apologize for as Muslims.

However, as Muslim communities face backlash from the ignorance caused by the media, extremists in the name of our beloved religion, along with bigots who simply look for an excuse to show their racist colors, it is crucial that we all take the necessary precautions and keep safe.

Despite our disappointment that this list needs to exist, we’ve gathered some tips on how to keep yourself safe in public, at home and on your way to work.”

Read the safety manual here and please share!

[bodypositivesuggestions]

FAT PEOPLE LOVING THEMSELVES DOESN’T PROMOTE OBESITY.

FAT PEOPLE DESERVE TO MAKE HOMES OF THEIR BODIES AND LOVE EVERY INCH OF THEM.

FAT PEOPLE DESERVE TO EXIST WITHOUT YOUR HATRED ANYWHERE NEAR THEIR RADIANT SELVES.

[dope-n-diamond5-deactivated2018]

Perfect. But maybe just say ‘larger’ instead of fat next time xx

[peppylilspitfuck]

FAT IS NOT A DIRTY WORD

[geekandmisandry]

Anybody who is offended by words is weak.

Anyone who doesn’t recognise the power of words is willfully ignorant.

[froborr]

“Sticks and stones are hard on bones Aimed with angry art Words can sting like anything But silence breaks the heart” -Phyllis McGinley

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me think I deserved it.” -Randall Munroe

[dea-certe]

Sticks and stones can break your bones But words have toppled nations

[gayharoldfinch]

“The pen is mightier than the sword”

[artofagoddess]

Sticks and stones can break your bones But words will scar your psyche.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[teddytheebear]

[image: screen cap of a Facebook post by Dan Olsen, which says:

“Many of you are just now becoming familiar with Milo Yiannopolous.

Many of my friends and I have been dealing with him in some capacity or another for years now.

He’s not a “provocateur”, he’s a neo-Nazi recruiter. His “speeches” are training rallies for teaching college assholes how to recognize and harass their vulnerable classmates. His recent sessions have focused on “how to spot a tranny” where he outs a trans student at the school, and “weeding out illegals” where he outs undocumented students and teaches douchbags how to report them to an increasingly hostile and violent immigration system.

His core supporters are radicalized white boys who spend their time on message boards building elaborate fantasies about violence. These collection of boards are the same ones that Dylann Roof (Charleston church shooter, 9 dead), Elliot Rodger (Isla Vist shooter, 6 dead), and Alexandre Bissonnette (Quebec mosque shooter, 6 dead) were active on. One shot a medic two weeks ago at a protest.

This isn’t about speech: he’s showing people how to hurt their peers by hurting one on stage. He promotes a platform of genocide. This isn’t about disagreement. He’s not proposing an acceptable alternative. He’s promoting, and training, for an ethnic cleansing.“]

[floozys-deactivated20180908]

my feminist goal is not to convince men that girls are of value, my feminist goal is to achieve a future where the judgement of our value isn’t in the hands of men. 

[floozys-deactivated20180908]

and this goes for, especially goes for, trans girls, girls of colour, disabled girls and LGBTQA+ girls. 

girls, all girls, and if you believe otherwise don’t reblog this.   

[inclusivefeminism]

If your art and activism is only for abled, sighted, hearing people, your art and activism is neither radical nor intersectional and certainly not inclusive. It’s nothing new.

[radfem1993-deactivated20201105]

Sexism in the Age of Trump

REBLOG IF YOU OPPOSE TRUMP, SEXISM, AND MISOGYNY

TW// Donald Trump, patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, violence.

The beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency marks the beginning of an open war on all women in America. Whereas before, the patriarchy attempted to conceal their sexism, it is now totally open. The only option left to us is to RESIST, by any means necessary.

I’m not interested in your insistence on “non-violence” or “reasoned debate.” You don’t have conversations with people who disagree with your basic human rights, who disagree with your right to live, who deny your very soul. Let me repeat, for those who didn’t get it: YOU DO NOT DEBATE WITH PEOPLE WHO DENY YOUR HUMANITY. My humanity WILL NOT BE DENIED!!

If violence is necessary to force your opinion on others, then do it. We are right, we are on the right side of history, and that gives us the right to impose our beliefs on the racists, misogynists, sexists, Islamophobes, xenophobes, and anyone with the privilege to benefit from these systems of oppression that now dominate Western society.

TAKE YOUR “COOPERATION” AND “DEBATE” AND GO FUCK YOURSELF.

I’m not fucking interested. My opinions and rights will not be denied.

@prochoiceforlife @profeminist @feminismwecandoit @feminismandhappiness @feministlikeme @feministsagainstviolence @feminism-and-flowers @intersectionalfeminism101 @spectramora @intersectionalwoman @patriarchysmashingvegan @misandry–mermaid-blog @misandry-and-reverseracism

[foxjevilwild]

Chelsea Manning is being freed in May!

2017 is already starting on a small upswing.

[foxjevilwild]

She’s already served 7 years of a ridiculously cruel 35 year sentence, mostly in solitary confinement, at a men’s military prison. She’s endured mistreatment, psychological abuse, and a near total refusal for most of that time to attend to either her mental or physical care. She’s attempted suicide several times due to the mistreatment.

Her punishment was meted out as ‘an example’ by the military to discourage whistleblowing - she was made the cautionary tale to keep others from spilling damaging secrets about the way the military operates - in the case of what she leaked, we wouldn’t know as much as we do about the Drone program in Yemen, the targeting of civilians, the official policy of the military to ignore torture in Iraq/Afghanistan and a few other nasty things they didn’t want getting to light.

She embarrassed them publicly and diplomatically by revealing some of their more abhorrent practices and so they targeted her (unjustly in my opinion) and slapped on the largest sentence they could muster (without outright killing her).

Her actions were done out of a sense of ethics and to reveal that corruption and criminal behavior being perpetrated by the US military. While what she did is technically illegal I do not believe it unjust - and the extent and nature of her ‘punishment’ has been far too severe.

I do not support the criminal prosecution of whistleblowers like Manning or Snowden who are acting fairly responsibly, and ethically, in their sense of moral duty to reveal corruption and criminality within the institutions they were part of.

There is an adage about shining light into dark corners that I think applies.

[bree-3po-deactivated20190814]

Thank you because I didn’t have the energy to answer this.

[shut-up-hippie]

oh ffs this wasn’t a reply on my notes? Thanks OP for this tho

[brownpositivity]

milk and honey, rupi kaur

[intersectionalfeminism101]

[[Image Description: an abstract sketch drawing of a woman with her back turned and her hair up on the right side of a white background. to the left reads a poem in black text:

“our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry”

women of colour - rupi kaur”]]

[star-wars-discousre]

You are LGBT if..

You are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. That’s it. Aces aren’t LGBT.

[feminismandmedia]

I mean for one your forgetting a bit of that. Like the Q+.

Mod Bethany

[star-wars-discousre]

The full acronym is LGBT.

[smallhorizons]

I love me some ahistorical bullshit

The “full” acronym at one point was “GL”, after lesbians fought against male homosexuality being the “face” of the movement (i.e., the Alliance for Gay Artists (AGA), founded in 1982, was renamed the Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Artists shortly thereafter; and the Gay Activists Alliance never included “Lesbian” in their title).

The “full” acronym at another point was “LGB”, only after bisexual activists campaigned fiercely to be included, and is often still not even included in acronyms

The “full” acronym at yet another point was “LGBT”, only after trans activists campaigned fiercely to be included

Queer was added to the acronym after it was reclaimed and re-politicized by ACT UP off-shoot Queer Nation in the early 1990s. LGBTQ has been a thing since the 90s.

ONE Archives, which is the largest repository of LGBTQIA+ materials in the world and was founded by some of the principle members of the early (1950s-60s) homophile movement, which led to the gay rights movement post-Stonewall, uses the full acronym LGBTQ on their website and also freely uses the word “Queer” interchangeably.

As of 2014, NOW (National Organization for Women) agreed to switch to use of the full LGBTQIA acronym, and it likely isn’t the only large social rights organization to have done so

Many LGBTQ+ magazines use LGBTQ, including One (which has existed in some form since the 1950s) and The Advocate, use LGBTQ or LGBTQIA as the full acronym and regularly use “queer” as a phrase (and, in fact, some articles have welcomed asexual people and their narratives as part of the queer experience).

The acronym is constantly evolving. It’s not static. To claim otherwise is blatant ignorance. The modern-day LGBTQ+ community is a result of decades of political activism, social inclusion, and community outreach. It’s not a rigid structure that operates by a strict set of rules about who can and cannot join.

[star-wars-discousre]

The full acronym is LGBT. Cishets don’t belong in the community. Aces aren’t inherently lgbt. We don’t want our oppressors in our community.

[smallhorizons]

“we don’t want our oppressors in our community” 

as if trans people don’t already have to deal with their oppressors (cis people) being in their community

as if LGBTQIA+ people of color don’t have to deal with LGBTQIA+ white people in the community

as if LBTQIA+ women don’t have to deal with GBTQIA+ men in the community

as if disabled LGBTQIA+ people don’t have to deal with able-bodied LGBTQIA+ people in the community

the LGBTQIA+ community is huge and consists of people with multiply-overlapping identities and privileges. we all (unless you’re a cis, able-bodied, wealthy, white gay man) have to deal with a member of our oppressing class in the LGBTQIA+ community

[corbinite]

Even cis, able bodied, wealthy, white gay men occasionally have oppressors in the restricted lgbt community if straight trans people are included (although this is more rare; the only example of a homophobic trans person I can pull up is Caitlyn Jenner, my point is just that intersectionality means this is possible all along in a number of ways and accepting another dimension of intersectionality to the acronym isn’t anything new)

[geekandmisandry]

Reblogging for the historical smackdown.

[intersectionalfeminism101]

and this fool is STILL going off in the notes about how “aces aren’t inherently lgbtpn no matter what you type on the internet lmao”

well by that logic, aces ARE inherently LGBTQIA+/MOGAI no matter what you type on the internet lmao :) and there’s really nothing you can do about it except cry about the cishets on your tumblr. like please

still no research or facts, just plugging one’s ears and repeating the same old, tired, INCORRECT notion that aces don’t belong in the community despite tons of evidence and research being presented. i think OP intended to go back and forth forever on this, but it’s pretty clear they’re not shit if all they can say is “well they’re not cuz I say so, SO THERE lalalala” in the face of well thought-out responses. 

edit: my comments may be “bullshit” but at least i’m not a bigoted aphobe LOL. this may come as a huge surprise for some of you, but criteria for belonging in the LGBTQIA+/MOGAI community isn’t limited to “opposite” gender identity and sexual orientation??? gasp!! “opposite gender” LMAO okay you just keep on with your bad binary self and we’ll be over here supporting actual inclusion and intersectionality and not being terrific assholes about it.

[sunbathe]

it’s also fucked up that fat people literally fear going to the doctor for anything because they know the first thing out of their dr’s mouth no matter what their ailment is, is gonna be “lose weight lol” broken leg? lose weight. rash? lose weight. whooping cough? lose weight binch!!!!! like we get it. but can you just write my prescription you bitch so i can go eat a salad and not call you again until im about to die of the plague????

[sourcedumal]

I would not be surprised if someone did a study and found an increase in misdiagnosis of fat patients due to doctors focusing solely on weight loss as a panacea and ignoring other vital issues

[staypuftmarshmallowqueen]

In fact there are plenty showing this kind of thing, so you’re right on the money.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11477511

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12266/abstract

NYT article from September which cites these 2 studies.

[vaspider]

Have I told the story of how a fatphobic doctor misdiagnosed a tumor in my spine for years and might have cost me the ability to walk lately?

[intersectionalfeminism101]

I’d highly recommend Big Fat Science for anyone interested in learning more about the intersections of medicine and fat people’s experiences.