[exdivine]

In 1995 a Woman Received a Phone Call That Stunned Her—and Ignited a Scandal That Haunted America for Years

She went to a clinic for help getting pregnant. She got something far different.

"The journalist was calling about the fertility clinic where Ballou and her ex-husband had sought treatment almost a decade earlier. The FBI had obtained a list of patients whose eggs had been stolen by those doctors. Ballou’s name was on it. Someone had put her eggs into the body of a stranger, and that stranger had given birth to a son."

[exdivine]

Balmaceda settled back in Chile, working at a prestigious fertility practice. Two of his kids stayed in the U.S. One is the actor Pedro Pascal. Balmaceda was able to move back to the U.S. after pleading guilty to tax fraud in 2022. Now his son occasionally brings him to red carpet events.

[exdivine]

Pedro Pascal says his father was "courageous"

Pedro Pascal praises his father on SNL

More of Pedro Pascal on his father

Pedro Pascal is happy to talk about how awesome his dad is. Not one word about the women his fathers abused or the embryos he sold to unknowing parents. Pedro Pascal is a POS.

[soapstore]

how did we go 10 years back on the discourse wtf "but what if she wants to dress sexy" was the mra argument back in 2014 what is going on. no it is not subversive for a video game women to be dressed unpractically sexy no it is not for anyone other than the heterosexual male gamers shes not real shes designed by men. idk can women just exist im just tired we had so much discussions about these arguments on this site 10-15 years ago

[thesinisterspinster]

Because men recycle the same old arguments until one sticks. Currently it's gender is real and sex isn't. Outdated sexology from 100 years ago but it's working to strip women of their rights and keep them in a state of fear.

[thefrenchrad]

[gnomebutch]

I don’t agree with capitol punishment but if someone vents about an abuser of theirs and say they wish they would suffer and you go on a speech about rehabilitate justice you are a horrible person idc. a leftist utopia where rapists get to walk around freely isn’t an actual utopia for anyone except rapists

[friendlyfreakazoid]

“We’re all the same in the eyes of conservatives!” Um yeah so that’s a problem. The fact that gay people are viewed the same as zoophile pedo bdsm freaks is a problem. The solution is absolutely NOT to try to normalize zoophile pedo bdsm freaks, the solution is to draw a clear line between gay people and zoophile pedo bdsm freaks. Attempting to appropriate gay rights activism to legitimize dangerous sex pests by acting as if both groups are intrinsically linked is homophobic.

[lizbethborden]

I really really really think “trauma” and talking about “trauma” is an opiate for women and a way to derail class consciousness

[lizbethborden]

@laurierrose Sure! What’s crazy is, I actually remember the exact context of why I said this; it was because I had just watched Demi Lovato’s documentary on her own life. (Disclaimer: I could be conflating some stuff, in terms of what info was in it vs. what I found out from other sources later–it’s been a long time since I watched it, but I do remember the effect it had on me.)

In it, she talked about having an eating disorder, being addicted to drugs, experiencing bullying, mental illness, and toxic work environments as a child star, to the point of being raped by a co-star, who never saw justice and wasn’t even removed from the project. This doc was also after her phase of identifying as nonbinary and using they/them pronouns, which, the sociological reasons there jump out I think.

In the documentary, I remember being struck about how every single thing she talked about was, “my trauma, my trauma, my trauma.” Every experience either went back to her past trauma or was in itself a trauma. There was no particular commentary in terms of gender–being targeted specifically as a female person, for sexual assault, damaging standards of thinness and beauty, etc–nor even commentary in terms of child actors as a group, their vulnerability to harm and exploitation. She was just narrating a story of harms done to her as a kind of explanation to the public, but with no particular analysis.

It struck me at the time, and it’s stuck with me since then, that framing life events like the ones she experienced as “trauma” is a way of shrinking and psychologizing and personalizing a phenomenon that is larger and political. “The personal is political,” right? Except that it seemed to me then, and to a large extent now, that what had previously been understood to have political dimensions (maybe that’s a fantasy, maybe it was never thought of that way) had been shrunk down to individual instances of harm with no particular pattern in the larger society and no particular social meaning. This was just stuff that was done to her. And why her? There was nothing in it about being a young girl specifically in an extremely vulnerable and exploitable position under the thumb of one of the largest media companies in the world. Just about her trauma.

She had kind of been the biggest example of this phenomenon that I saw at the time, but especially in this fairly early Tiktok/other shortform media just-after-covid era, I felt I was seeing this therapized language absolutely everywhere. This is right around when terms like “gaslighting” got super popular and present in the public consciousness as well. All of this is still everywhere tbh, and shows up in a million different places, because therapyspeak, whether we like it or not, is embedded in our day-to-day language and is what we’re using to describe everything.

And the reason I called it an “opiate” is because it actually is really, really comforting and soothing to have the word “trauma,” whether for her or any other woman. The word “trauma” acknowledges not just our pain but its intense reverberations, and allows us to describe harm in terms that expresses fully the psychological ramifications of that harm. But the way it was and, I feel, still is used is as a way of shrinking our suffering, a way of minimizing it to our immediate context. It just so happened that the man in your house was the one who beat you–that just so happens to be your trauma. No analysis, politics, statistics required. Hope that makes sense

[kkoffin]

It’s funny that when you address the fact that men have more physical strength than women, people act as though you’re saying women are inferior. Like do you people think gorillas are superior to humans? maybe in a boxing match, sure, but I don’t see gorillas running successful democracies and building rockets to take them to the moon.

[gender-machine-broke]

“Ohhh so you think women are just useless little fragile waifs who can’t take care of themselves and should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen” no. Literally no one said that either. Women have several physical advantages over men including flexibility, more dexterous hands, and better resistance to famine and disease. But in a world where everything was designed for men and their bodies and men regularly use their greater physical strength to terrorize women, pretending there are zero physical differences between the sexes is not the more feminist stance. It puts women in harm’s way

[bushpropaganda]

exactly!!! painting physical strength disparities as anti-feminist only serves to aid male violence and victimize women. you teach a woman that she's as (physically) strong as any man, and she will be woefully unprepared when she's in a situation where it's her strength against his.

if you've ever had to fight off a man, either for your safety or another woman's, you would realize how insanely strong even the most sedentary man is. in addition to natural upper body strength, they have longer arms, larger hands, and stronger grip strength—it's easier for them to grab you, and when they do, you are not getting away without fighting dirty.

it's why women's self-defense classes teach unique incapacitation methods that do not rely on upper body strength, but on weak spots, dexterity, and making use of our legs.

i want all these feminists who have an issue with this to ask a man in their lives to subdue them without holding their strength back. then i want them to try and get away. then i want them to come back to me with how it went.

now, imagine a situation where a man's full intent is to hurt you, where he is exercising the full extent of his strength in an attempt to victimize you, and ask yourself how that would go.

instead of pretending that the strength disparity doesn't exist in an effort to prove women's value, stop making physical strength a defining factor of worthiness.

[a-lesbian-feminist]

We also know that young girls are prevented from being as physically active as their male peers. A decent portion of the male-female strength disparity is that young girls are deprived of food to make them skinny, put in clothing that restricts their movement, and excluded from physical activity, while boys experience the exact opposite.

Pretending that the strength disparity does not exist is just turning a blind eye to this form of discrimination, and it denies us the chance to work on it.

[akajustmerry]

In light of the no.1 trending topic on this site, I'd like to inform youse that Kitty Kendall, one of the survivors who bravely spoke out against Neil Gaiman and accused him of rape in 2025, has said here and here that if you are looking to support her and other survivors, you can make a donation to OurVOICE (the counselling service Kendall herself used) or your local rape crisis centre. If you can't make a donation, you can help to ensure people do not forget what Kendall and other survivors have gone through and continue to go through as they pursue legal action, and that Gaiman has already spent a lot of money in the attempt to sue these women for speaking out.

[balkanradfem]

I saw a video today about why making an OnlyFans was a bad idea for women, and it had something insigtful in it I never actually thought about. It was re-told from someone's personal experience and it wasn't what I'd expect to happen.

The woman in the video explains that a lot of women's expectations was to only be doing it for a short while, until they get out of a bad situation, and then quit, being more financially stable and on their feet. She explains that even if you have only 12 subscribers, that is 12 m*n who are used to having continuous intimate access to you, and if you one day decide to stop, they are immediately going to get offended and upset. Because they've been paying for this, they'll feel entitled to keep having continuous access, and they'll find a way to make it happen.

She then goes on to say that if you want to make money at all, you'll have to show your face in the videos, and they'll be able to use AI tools to find your identity almost immediately. What happens next is they find your friends, family members, and your job site, and blackmail you; you either return to onlyfans, or they send the content to everyone you know. And if you say no, they will harass all your friends and family, and if you get any kind of job, this will get harassed too. Women then face the immense pressure of having not just themselves, but everyone in their life harassed to the point where they can't stand it anymore, and return to OnlyFans just to make it stop. They'll become isolated and have everyone in their life turned against them.

This effectively stops them for having any other kind of job or profession because it's impossible to stop the subscribers from finding out and sabotaging the entire thing. She explained a woman was put through this and forced to continue onlyfans, when she only had 12 subscribers. Two of them were blackmailing her. So thinking you can try it out and get out, you can't really, it's not just that the content might get out, but you're entire family and friend group and coworkers and job site might get involved.

The other meaningful fact she brings on is that you are unlikely to reach any success if you look like an adult women; it only works if you can pass as a child. I can't link the video because in the other half she berates women, and I don't want that content on my blog, but I found this story important, because it wouldn't cross my mind how big the danger is. I didn't know that if you get even one crazy subscriber, it's impossible to quit.

The other thing I saw women who previously had an OnlyFans account say, is how awful it was for their mental health, and the perception of their own bodies. They noted that even if it felt okay at the start, it keeps feeling worse and worse and they were deteriorating the entire time it was going on. It's impossible to not be affected. And the general, putting yourself in the harm's way, getting stalked, having to move often, having m*n break into your place, and delude themselves into thinking you want them and are specifically interested in them so any invasion in your life is welcome and warranted, is something women might not be aware they're exposing themselves to.

The woman in the video did note that most women don't even decide to do it themselves, but get groomed and pressured by promises of money and then someone else profits off of them. I think women should know exactly what it is and what is likely to happen to them, on top of the violation of intimacy they know they'll have to endure if they join.

[badassdemonsword]

Heated rivalry shouldve been about 2 ugly old guys that play mahjong then maybe id consider watching it

[krownest]

i don't remember them playing mahjong but they do other old man things like going to the wet market together and drinking soup and taking walks. anyway go watch suk suk / twilight's kiss

[krownest]

"ok but where's the old chinese lesbians" go watch all shall be well. it's by the same director and the old chinese lesbians are also at the market

[poniatowskaja]

Last week, the High Court of England and Wales ruled against a mother's appeal against a decision not allowing her to change the surname of her child. The child bears the surname of the father. The father raped and abused the mother, and threatened the child, the mother, and the child's grandparents. The child, who is 5, has not seen the father since late 2021, 4 years ago. The initial trial judge ruled that changing the child's surname would “constitute a further rupture in the link she has to her father in a way that is not justified or proportionate” (!) and that the surname "is a part of her identity and provides an important connection to her father and paternal heritage." The court refused to overturn this, arguing "no real prospect of success" in challenging the decision. What about the connection to the mother and her maternal heritage? The mother who is actually involved in raising her? The mother with whom she has an actual ongoing relationship and against whom no abuse is alleged? Rather than an abusive man she last saw as an infant? Charlotte Proudman, who represented the mother, said, "This is abusive, state-sanctioned harm. You are forcing a child to bear or to continue to retain the father’s surname, the man who raped her mother. That is abuse facilitated by the court."

“In what world would a child want to have the name of a man who raped and abused the mother? How is that upholding important identity and links? It’s really harmful. It just shows that a rapist’s rights are more important than [the] victim and a child’s right to freedom.” (Article in the Times on this, archived here)

[bezoarcureforpoison]

Yes, it's very important to girls to maintain their identity as the product of rape. This has no negative impact on their psychological health whatsoever.

[hookedonyonics]

Feb 2026 Update: She's filed with the European Court of Human Rights! I hope she gets justice.

Give her back her name | Good Law Project

No survivor should face harm from the very system that is meant to protect them. No child should have to carry an abuser’s name. It’s time t

[avicecaro]

the other thing about claiming tradwives have a fetish is that it really reveals the issue in consent politics. the idea is that there is no actual moral value positive or negative in how these men treat women or even how societally women are denied rights; the issue becomes only whether or not she’s agreed to it, whether or not she likes it — basically, whether a man who wants to abuse and control a woman is able to find the right target, or can convince a woman to put up with it. it’s true that it’s consistent with the consent argument of bdsm. there’s no moral value in hitting your partner, only whether you are able to find an acceptable partner to hit. (it’s also consistent with consent models or rape law; there is no actual act or circumstance which constitutes rape, an act becomes rape if a man can’t find a woman able to be convinced to submit) it places the burden on the woman to prove she didn’t want what happened to her so that she can access intervention, provides no help at all to women who do romanticize or eroticize male violence and control, and still provides no meaningful definition of abuse.

[captainsjack]

not letting op leave these in the tags

[bushpropaganda]

saw this under a post arguing for transwomen in women's sports.

can we PLEAAAASSEEEE stop girbossifying the documented history of female oppression??? literally where did this idea come from and why do ppl keep repeating it like it's fact?

the category of women's sports was created because women weren't able to participate in sports. they weren't even able to play against men to beat them in the first place. women weren't even allowed to compete in the olympics until 1920!!! this is not a secret. the history is so well-documented that it goes all the way back to fucking artistotle.

the gall of these people to repeatedly lie about the origin of female-only spaces and their direct link to female oppression in order to argue for the erasure of those very same spaces is nothing short of malicious. i am so tired.

[hjellacott]

Feminism exists to help women like this journalist:

[thesinisterspinster]

This is how i feel like the us polital left acts. As long as it gets swept under the rug we can do whatever we want. She should sue the bbc for breach of contract they owe her lots of backpay.

[nansheonearth]

Radfems! You should all subscribe to:

Lesbian Connection

Bi Women Quarterly

Maize Country Lesbian Magazine

Sinister Wisdom

Carolyn Gage

We gotta get offline and meet in person. Connect with women in person. Meet in spaces that are safe, where you can voice your opinion, shout, sing, laugh, cry, and dance. 

These publications need financial support and some of them are looking for women to contribute. Subscribe to them. Read them. Write to them. Share them with your friends. Share them with women you don’t know. Things are happening outside of mansland. 

[lesbianpulpfiction]

There’s also Lavender Review

[laurierrose]

i feel like there’s not a great visual framework currently for feminists to identify one another. (this is on purpose btw.) “feminist” on a t shirt? okay that’s like anyone who shopped at forever21 in the 2010s. not feminine? maybe she’s a feminist… maybe she just doesn’t gaf. which is also very cool don’t get me wrong. but this passage from anaïs nin: the last days by barbara kraft gets at what i mean:

how do feminists find each other in public? women can’t cooperate if they can’t find each other. i could pass a woman in the produce section of the grocery store and she’s writing scum manifesto II in her mind and i wouldn’t know her!!!!

[willweird]

Radical feminist library

Radfem and lesbian library of KV - Google Drive

Radical Feminist Library - Google Drive