Just the Pen

she/her☆ writer☆ feminist☆ bisexual https://linktr.ee/lovelym0xie

[justthepen]

Moxie G.

I write books and make videos about them. Books and movies are my inspiration. https://ko-fi.com/lovelym0xie

[nariarts]

Longtime readers may be aware of how much I relish an excuse to bully a company, so I'm sharing the wealth;

Clothing company Patagonia is currently suing drag queen Pattie Gonia for "irreparable” harm to their brand.

To be clear; Pattie named herself after the region in South America.

So Pattie is asking people to politely ask Patagonia to drop the lawsuit.

I'm extending the invitation to all of you, because suing a drag queen for 'infringement' in the current political cultural landscape is vile. Especially a drag queen who has raised millions of dollars for non-profits, uses her platform to raise awareness for climate activism, and fully aligns with Patagonia's apparent climate-conscious mission statement.

They're claiming they're suing for $1. They're actually asking her to stop using her name, and pay over $1 million in legal fees. They're straight up harassing her.

In contrast, drag queen Jan Sport has a Jansport bag line. It's that easy to just... work with a queen.

Anyway. Be respectful(ish), but feel free to be annoying on Patagnoia's socials, asking them to 'DROP THE LAWSUIT'

I think they have a twitter and tiktok too!

[thedreadvampy]

Everywhere I go I'm reminded how much the desire to punish homelessness and migration and other Undesirablenesses make society markedly worse for everyone

like why is the park locked after 5pm so I can't go and sit under a tree after work? to punish rough sleepers for the terrible crime of being homeless and alive

why do I have to buy a drink, beg for a code and fuck around with an awkward keypad for 5 minutes in order to take a piss? because fuck homeless people

why do I need to provide proof of address and photo ID to do everything? because we had to create a really hostile environment for migrants

why can't you sit anywhere? well because god forbid people sleep when they're pushed out of shelter. can't risk that.

every day governments, councils and businesses make your life worse as a side effect of making vulnerable people's lives WAY worse. if you're ok with that you're a fucking idiot and if you're in favour of it you're a vindictive cunt cause again literally the ONLY payoff for your life getting worse is other people's lives getting worser.

[transsexual-feminism]

Today I wanted to talk about Kyle Bassinga. Kyle was a 21 year old man from Georgia, whose family described him as "a kind, thoughtful, and smart young man who loved nature, music, and the people around him". Kyle Bassinga was killed on February 18th 2026, just ten days after his birthday. He was found hanging from a tree in a park.

The police ruled it a suicide. The family and local community demanded an investigation. The police refused to change their ruling.

I know this website it too white for this to really go anywhere, but an understanding of the present reality of white supremacy in the United States is just so important to transfeminism here. Lynchings never stopped, white supremacy never went away, you just stopped looking.

[depsidase]

[ahungrygurl]

Obaida needs our help. He is a 19 year old living in Gaza. His tent is falling apart and needs food for his siblings and mother. The duty fall on to him as his father was killed and his brother was severely injured by the occupation. I have personally verified his conditions and they are horrific. Let’s help him out.

Link to his blog 👇

Tumblr is a place to express yourself, discover yourself, and bond over the stuff you love. It's where your interests connect you with your

Link to his campaign 👇

Helping Obaida Jaafar

My name is Obaida, and I write these words with a heavy heart. I lost my father, who was our only support in this life, and now we have no o

[justthepen]

Surround Sound Part 2 | Dixie

Surround Sound Part 2 by Dixie on Patreon. Join Dixie's community for exclusive content and updates.

[enasfamily]

Save my orphan children

I am Inas, a mother of two young children: Muhammad, 7 years old, and Hala, 5 years old. They should have been living their childhood like all children—safe and warm in the embrace of their father. But the war has stolen that dream from us😭😭😭

Six months ago, my husband Anas, a kind-hearted man who endured a life of poverty, was killed by a random shell while on his way to work as a taxi driver. Since that tragic day, I’ve been left to carry the unbearable weight of life alone.

I held a diploma in international secretarial studies and was about to start a job to help support my family. But the war shattered not only our home but also my hopes and dreams. We’ve been displaced six times and now live in a tent that offers no shelter from the bitter cold or the ever-looming fear.

My young children face relentless hunger that weakens their fragile bodies and a cold that knows no mercy for their small hearts. Each day, their cries for warmth and food grow louder, and each day, I feel more helpless to provide them with even the basics of life💔😭😭

I appeal to your humanity, to your compassion. We need your help to survive, to find a safe shelter, and to feed my children. Your generosity could be the reason Muhammad and Hala continue to live and find hope amidst this darkness🥹

Please, help me keep the light of these innocent children from being extinguished by this cruel world

Donation Link

Donate to Help Enas and her children in Gaza, organized by Gabriel G

My name is Gabe. I am from Portland, OR and I am raising funds on behalf of Enas Shukry I… Gabriel G needs your support for Help Enas and he

[tjalexandernyc]

Join me in being angry

I have been telling y’all about H.R. 7661 for a while now, and today I need to ask you for a favor. If you’re new to the newsletter or have

A special one-off newsletter this week about the nationwide book banning bill. I don't know what to do except keep screaming. Anyway, if you promise me you'll contact your rep I'll send you a character art card. Details at the link

[tjalexandernyc]

UPDATE, May 16, 2026, from Authors Against Book Bans:

HR 7661 is not dead. But thanks to your ongoing efforts, it is definitely losing steam. Your advocacy matters! The clear evidence is that the bill’s sponsors are shifting from promoting HR 7661 to instead promoting a new bill, HR 2617. HR 2617, the so-called “Say No to Indoctrination Act,” was introduced earlier this month by Representative Burgess Owens of Utah—one of the co-sponsors of HR 7661. This bill would forbid educators from teaching “concepts related to gender ideology,” with the aims of “defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the Federal Government.” As we have seen time and again, any whiff of gender essentialism in education inevitably leads to book bans. What we’re asking you to do now: Call your House Representative and tell them you oppose both HR 7661 and HR 2617. If your Representative is a Democrat on the House Education & Workforce Committee, specifically ask that they show up at the June 10th hearing ready to defend our students’ and educators’ access to books with a full spectrum of gender identities. And yes, it’s not a coincidence that this vote is scheduled to take place during National Pride Month. Conservatives apparently enjoy using that month in particular to speak out against LGBTQ+ people and issues.

Book censorship and transphobia work hand-in-hand, just like book censorship and racism.

[tjalexandernyc]

UPDATE, May 22, 2026:

HR 2616 has passed the House and will go to the Senate, same as HR 7661 before it. It needs to face the same kind of full-throated opposition. It would produce the same chilling effect on school libraries as HR 7661 with the added violence of forcibly outing students to their parents, knowing that a non-zero percentage of those parents will respond with abuse. That's the future these ghouls want.

CIS WOMEN: they are using you as an excuse to hurt children. Contact your senators and tell them to knock it the fuck off.

More info and suggestions on how to respond:

HR 2616, a National "Don't Say Trans" Bill, Passed the House. Here's What It Is and What You Can Do.

The House of Representatives passed bill HR 2616, a federal "don't say trans" bill that would harm kids and create mass censorship.

[rage-against-the-dying-of-light]

Fandom is weird now. It’s becoming less trusting and friendly, and the Orwellian surveillance issues that are currently running rampant in the USA and UK have bled over into fandom spaces.

I’d read the articles that young people have no privacy and have become so accustomed to it that they enact on themselves. Abstractly I knew this and had accepted it, but it’s only now that I’m seeing it become a major issues.

Obviously part of the problem is I need to become a trusted member of my new fandom. But fandom in general is becoming far more hostile to privacy than even just 5 years ago.

I’ve had to leave 3 servers that want to do age verification. And this is new. Not even 5 years ago when I started zines ppl just turning 18-20 were far more receptive to the ideas espoused by us older folks about not being surveilled. But now it almost feels like they *want* to be surveilled.

They’ve become so used to it from tiktok and their government that they crave it. I’d write a dystopia about it but unfortunately what even is there to say that hasn’t already been said?

If you’re 18-22 now and you’re reading this and willing to listen without immediately calling me suspicious: this is not normal. Age verification will not keep you safe and will not keep minors safe either. It will only lead to the normalization of further surveillance and erosion of your privacy.

I know it can be an unwieldy text especially if you’re not used to reading academic sources, but go read The Panopticon. Watch V for Vendetta or read the comic, read 1984. Watch The Lives of Others and understand the ways this modern era is not so different from the Stasi in the film.

Please.

I don’t want to see a rerun of the surveillance state anymore.

[boybeetles]

The main reason I’m pushing for people to stop using the term ‘pedophile’ and instead use the term ‘child sexual abusers’, is because since all discussions of child sexual abuse focus on this idea of an evil person who is just out to get kids because they are sexual attracted to them, it makes it hard for kids who where sexually assaulted by people who don’t fit that description to realize they were sexually assaulted.

It didn’t register for me until recently that my experiences of being forced to strip naked multiple times at the mental hospital to be ‘checked’ when I was 14 was sexual assault, because the people who did it were nurses/doctors who clearly didn’t find me sexually attractive but instead used it as a form of humiliation and control towards children they deemed as ‘unruly’ and ‘uncooperative’ (ie. children who asked to be treated like people). I thought only people who fit into this idea of a child attracted pedo could be child sexual abusers, so I thought my experience didn’t count.

Stepping away from the idea that there is a pedophile boggieman and instead highlighting that anyone can be a child sexual abuser will help more people realize that their experiences are sexual assault.

[mikumiotics]

I'm sure this post is full of commentary, so sorry to OP for piling even more on.

I just want to add that so many people focus on the "pedophile" boogeyman because they are way more upset by the thought of someone being sexually attracted to children, rather than actual literal CSA. It's the reason why you see so much energy and focus on "kill your local pedophile" pedojacketing harassment campaigns rather than you know... actually listening to survivors and advocating for youth liberation. No one gives a fuck about kids, but will gleefully fantasize about what they would do if they "caught a pedo"

[dragon-in-a-fez]

casual reminder that research is pretty clear that the best way to prevent sexual offending by people who actually are pedophiles is to make it safe for them to seek therapy and other support, and very much NOT to drive them underground through threats of violence and persecution, and there's like, one organisation that has ever tried to do that and it's gone about as well as you'd expect.

so many people care more about having someone to blame and punish than about actually making anything better.

[what-even-is-thiss]

“Why do Americans not simply overthrow their government?”

Well have you ever tried to overthrow the American government? Why aren’t you doing it if it’s so easy, wise guy?

Also given the state of the country right now the people who do take over after the smoke clears are uncomfortably likely to be fascists anyways.

[what-even-is-thiss]

The people in this country right now that are willing and crazy enough to attempt an overthrow of the US government already tried and failed, if you’ve somehow blocked January 6, 2021 from your memory. Somebody died during their attempt, actually.

[nyokoko]

And it wasn't even an organized attempt. They were shot by a security guard.

If the leftists attempted to organize any kind of militia to overthrow the government the United States would turn the same apparatus that's been steamrolling the Global South for DECADES upon its own.

We see this every time Black people turn out just to protest. Do you think the National Guard is here to protect from foreign invaders???? No, the US has spent much of its existence organizing its apparatus to prevent a true overthrow. That is why we are seeing the infrastructure of the surveillance state being set up in real time, and that is why the CIA dedicates its time to seeding dissent and fracturing leftist movements.

That is why they are fighting so hard to keep Black people--who have historically been the strongest organizers for civil rights in this country--oppressed and suppressed to prevent any kind of pushback. Because unlike a lot of leftist spaces, the American government understands that Black liberation means the entire infrastructure will crumble in a domino effect.

People need to understand that in the world of oppressive systems, America is literally the Final Boss. So no, we can't just get up and go to Capitol Hill and "overthrow the government." This isn't a fucking movie, and this isn't a matter of simply removing the people in power.

The whole system has to come down, and in its place must come something better, and that requires a harder fight.

Even if we were to do something like this, it's more than likely to lead to the Balkanization of America than any kind of socialist-communist paradise people seem to think will magically spring up in the wake of the fall of the empire.

[mayeshaj]

Hi, I started this fundraiser, Help Prevent My Eviction and Homelessness, on GoFundMe and it would mean a lot to me if you’d be able to share or donate to it. https://gofund.me/5876135f8

Donate to Help Prevent My Eviction and Homelessness, organized by Mayesha Johnson

I've made some mistakes this year and I am currently facing an eviction. I d… Mayesha Johnson needs your support for Help Prevent My Evictio

[anothergayghoul]

"People are not property!" - *loud cheering*

"This includes prisoners! They are not suddenly property of the state when they're convicted!" - *a little less cheering*

"And that includes children who are not their parents' property!" - *almost no cheering*

"What? I thought we said people aren't property?"

[renthony]

I was 12 when the first of my siblings was born, so I have very vivid memories of the way my mother was excluded from a lot of spaces because people find children annoying.

If you think "children should not be allowed in this space," you HAVE TO reckon with the fact that you are now excluding parents (and very often women specifically) who don't have access to childcare. You are isolating people who are poor, or rural, or single parents, or any number of other factors that might prevent someone from having on-demand childcare. You are cutting them off from being able to exist in public. You are denying parents and children the ability to fully participate in society.

My mom spent several years only leaving the house to buy groceries or take me to school, and even then, people would still come up to her to complain TO HER FACE about how she shouldn't bring a crying toddler to Walmart. Entitled strangers would literally try and demand that my mom leave and come back without the kids.

"Why can't your husband watch them?" Because he was at work, usually working extreme amounts of overtime so we didn't get evicted, because landlords don't like it when you stop paying rent.

"Why can't you send them to daycare?" Because that costs money.

"Why can't your teenager stay home with them and babysit?" Because I also deserved to be able to leave the house for something other than school, and taking me to the grocery store was how my mom taught me to manage a household budget, shop sales, and meal plan.

"Don't bring your kid in public if you can't CONTROL them and make them stop crying!" Kids cry when they're upset, and being dragged around a store is upsetting! Don't be an asshole! Children are human beings who are still learning how the world works, and they don't have a lot of agency. You'd cry, too.

"Spank them until they learn to stop crying!" That's just straight-up child abuse, Jesus Christ.

What the fuck was our family supposed to do? Never go to the grocery store? Starve because strangers couldn't handle a toddler existing in public?

[neurotypicalabusesurvivor]

This is a friendly reminder that none disabled people often do benefit from the same accommodations disabled people benefit from.

[yeahokayillreblogthat]

Yeah okay I'll reblog that!!

[multishipperpirateking]

My dad used to work for Vodafone and likes to tell a story about when he was working on a voicemail transcription service.

And there was a woman there who was some form of disability advocate (it was the 90s so her existence in the company was a minor miracle) and apparently she completely blew his mind on that project.

See, he'd imagined that this service was exclusively gonna be for deaf people. Obviously very useful for the very small number of people who couldn't hear their phone, but why would you even own a mobile phone if you couldn't hear?

But she described to him all the times he might want to read a message instead of listen to it. Maybe he was in a loud football crowd. Maybe there was important info that he needed to copy down that was spoken too fast. Maybe he was holding his sleeping newborn (me) and didn't want his phone to be loud and wake them up.

This doesn't feel as revolutionary as all that to those of us that have only ever known phones with the ability 'send text message', but given the timing and placement of this conversation I wonder if this woman and this project is *part of the reason text messaging exists*. The first text (SMS) message was sent by Vodafone UK in 1992 - where + when this conversation was happening - and then for a long time it was supported exclusively for 'messages from the carrier', and this project was an early potential extra use of the SMS protocol.

So Yeh, building for disability is kinda handy..

[the-fallen-blue]

can you imagine how often you would use sign language if everyone knew it

[dogmotif-deactivated20240505]

the main problem i have with america is that nothings old as hell there. i cant be so far away from a castle it damages my aura

[chillyfeetsteak]

man people really just say stuff on here huh

[lame-kid-on-couch]

Noooo haha don't spread racist ideals and colonizer propaganda by idolizing white european aesthetics above all else and denying the life and accomplishments of native peoples on their own lands

[brehaaorgana]

People have been living in the downtown area of Tucson, Arizona for at least 4,500 years. The greater Santa Cruz river valley has been occupied by humans for 12,000 years.

You see this?

That's not a river. That's the South Canal in Mesa, Arizona (Phoenix metro area).

This is a view of the East and South canals. At least half of all the Phoenix metro canals were originally built by the Hohokam (from roughly 200-1400 CE), and are still in use (restored) today.

Phoenix, Arizona actually has more miles (kilometers) of Canals total than both Venice and Amsterdam. No, really. Phoenix has about 180 miles of canals, many of which are built on ancient canal foundations.

below is an aerial view photo taken in the late 1930's of one branch of Phoenix's canal systems:

Also have the "Montezuma Castle," if you need a castle:

I don't need to look at some 12th century European castle to see age.

[fakepsuedonym]

@isuggestlandback

[isuggestlandback]

I HAVE A SUGGESTION