maehemsez

[laurenzuni]

Since writing the poem, To The Oklahoma Progressives Plotting Exodus, in 2010, there is this slightly uncomfortable but oh-so-sweet thing that happens where strangers come up to me at shows or email me and say things like “I love your poem about not leaving Oklahoma and staying to do the work,...

[amaditalks]

This is something that’s been churning around in my mind.

Our brains fill in “facts” that are not actually facts but inferences that we have drawn from the context of a given situation. It’s how we know, as an example, if someone is angry at the person that they’re with or if they are in danger...

[maehemsez]

So much truth in this. Assumptions will choke us all.

[maehemsez]

Le tigre - Bang! bang!

(Tape of news report: “In New York the shooting of another unarmed black man raises further questions about NYPD tactics. On Thursday an undercover police officer shot and killed Patrick Dorsman.”)

Murder is murder Why’re they confused? Another man dead I read it in the news Who gave them the fucking right To run around like they own the night?

Oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang!

Wrong fucking time Wrong fucking place There is no fucking way this is not about race Who’s gonna call 9-1-1  When they can’t tell a wallet from a mother fucking gun?

Oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang!

Bang bang daddy I want you dead Bang bang fucker get out of my head Bang bang daddy I want you dead Bring me Giuliani’s head

Oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang! Oh oh bang! bang!

(Tape of news report: “Since the shootings, police have changed their account of what happened that night. The shooting has angered many community members. Especially after four NYPD offices were acquitted last month in the shooting of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo.)

One. Two. Three. Four. Five….Forty one.

(The number of times that Amadou Diallo was shot by police officers.)

[maehemsez]

I have days where I feel totally surrounded by bullshit. By murder, misogyny, microaggressions. By completely insidious patriarchal structures designed to oppress. And I feel like it's impossible to make a damn bit of difference. Because everywhere I look some asshole is trying to tell me that the oppression I see can be righteously explained. And I can only tell people to fuck off so many times before I start to wonder if I *do* take things too seriously. That maybe I *do* go looking for problems.

And then I remember that I'm raising 2 kids. That I feel an imperative to teach them that their world is flawed. That I've had people tell me that my incessant need to pull the covers off of it all have helped give them a new way to see things.

The take away? DON'T STOP MAKING NOISE. You never know who might hear it.

[maehemsez]

From the ever fantastic Repeal Hyde Art Project.

[micdotcom]

Days after Michael Brown’s death, Ferguson looks like a war zone

A vigil held for Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager gunned down by Ferguson, Mo., police on Saturday in disputed circumstances, turned into what the media described as a riot on Monday evening.

But while national coverage has focused on the indisputably counterproductive violence and destruction committed by Ferguson residents during a moment of anguish, videos and photos taken from the scene show local police aggravating the situation as well.

Years of tension have reached a boiling point

[maehemsez]

Right now in #Ferguson

From last night in Ferguson. If it doesn't scare you, it should. 

[maehemsez]

Seen in Austin, TX

[maehemsez]

Mo’Ne Davis pitches Pennsylvania team into Little League World Series

She and a member of the Canadian squad become the 17th and 18th girls to participate in the tournament.

This is the best piece I've read about Mo'Ne Davis' achievement. One headline read, "Two girls prove Little League isn't just for boys" (implying that LL has, until this point, been just for boys?) the other, "Female pitcher Mo'Ne Davis lifts team to Little League World Series with 3-hitter," (because, of course, an athlete is male, unless otherwise noted). 

One article, in talking about the other girl headed to the LLWS this year Kayla Roncin, describes her as "better than most boys," rather than simply, "better than most players." Another says the girls are the 18th to play in the WS since it's inception 68 years ago, but fails to mention that girls were prohibited from playing in LL until 1974.

The Washington Post piece, linked, reports that a pitcher was instrumental in sending her team to the next round of play. Exactly like sports reporting should.

Incidentally, in 1950, 11 years after LL started, a girl tucked her hair up under her ball cap so she could play. She told her coach, at some point, that she was a girl and, after that season, girls were banned from play until 1974. 

[maehemsez]

I had an abortion*

*this post originally was posted in May 2012. I’ve made minor edits to it, and reposted because I believe that it’s necessary to put it back out there. I don’t like the rhetoric of abortion shame, and I will not participate in the stigmatizing and shaming of a neutral medical procedure.

_________________________________________

I had an abortion.

I’m not going to tell you how old I was when I had it.

I’m not going to tell you what the circumstances around the pregnancy were.

I’m not going to tell you whether or not birth control was used.

I’m not going to tell you whether it was a wanted or an unwanted pregnancy.

I’m not going to tell you if it was my only, or my fourth.

I’m not going to tell you how far along the pregnancy was.

I’m not going to tell you whether there was a genetic abnormality, or whether my life was endangered by the pregnancy.

I’m not going to tell you any of those things because I think answering those questions, creating the situation from which my experience unfolds offers someone, everyone, anyone, the chance to say, “She deserved to access abortion,” or “How dare she get pregnant and have an abortion,” or find some pity in their heart for whatever piece of my experience offers them the opportunity to justify their judgment, or their sense of false safety.

When I was in high school we had a speaker come to talk with us about HIV and AIDS. He told us about what living with AIDS was like. What it was like to defecate in his bed at 3am and be unable to move by himself and having to call for his parents to come clean him. To live with the stares that people gave him when they saw the sores on his arms. To be asked, over and over and over, “Well, how did you contract the disease?” He said it was a question he never answered. Because the answer would muddy his message with pity or feelings of safety. How he contracted the disease was irrelevant to the fact that he had it.

This is how I feel about my abortion. None of the, “How did it happen?” matters. It’s irrelevant.

What matters is that I was able to access abortion when I needed to. When I wanted to. When I was pregnant and had the need to no longer be pregnant. When I was desperate to not be pregnant.

I walked past anti-choice protestors with signs, I heard them shout, “Don’t do this! Think of your baby! We’re praying for you!” I pushed past them as they blocked the sidewalk.

The facility that did the abortion had a wonderful hand-holder. I clutched her, and she asked me if I was okay. If I needed anything. She tucked the stray hairs from my ponytail behind my ear and told me that everything was going to be all right.

When it was over, I threw up.

I do not regret my abortion.

[maehemsez]

On activism

Last night's victory in Texas was possible because 1 woman, Senator Wendy Davis, stood, for close to 11 hours, and gave a voice to hundreds of other people. When her time ended, Texas Senate Democrats picked up and took the delay until almost the end. But at the end it was citizens of Texas, it was people like you and me, who defeated SB5. By using their voices, by making noise, from the gallery of the Senate chamber, they made it impossible for a vote to to be taken. It was THEIR voices that closed the deal.  And I believe, firmly, that the presence of those people, of those activists, those thousands of Texans, from Thursday of last week until last night, was the fuel the Democrats in Texas needed to rise up for this fight.  The victory in Texas, coupled with today's SCOTUS rulings remind me, and I hope remind every one of you reading this, that activism changes things. That just because someone, or some people, say that something is going to be a certain way, doesn't mean that it can't be changed. It doesn't mean that it is good. It means that, at the time, it's popular. And like banana clips, we should all remember that popular isn't necessarily the best determiner of worth.  Activism makes laws, breaks laws, and changes laws. Be there. Bear witness to change. 

[charlesbronsonpinchot]

“To all those who don’t think the rape joke was a problem, or rape jokes are a problem. I get it, you’re a decent guy. I can even believe it. You’ve never raped anybody. You would NEVER rape anybody. You’re upset that all these feminists are trying to accuse you of doing something or connect you to doing something that, as far as you’re concerned, you’ve never done and would never condone. And they’ve told you about triggers, and PTSD, and how one in six women is a survivor, and you get it. You do. But you can’t let every time someone gets all upset get in the way of you having a good time, right? So fine. If all those arguments aren’t going anything for you, let me tell you this. And I tell you this because I genuinely believe you mean it when you say you don’t want to hurt anybody, and you don’t see the harm, and that it’s important to you to do your best to be a decent and good person. And I genuinely believe you when you say you would never associate with a rapist and you think rape really is a very bad thing. Because this is why I refuse to take rape jokes sitting down- 6% of college age men, slightly over 1 in 20, will admit to raping someone in anonymous surveys, as long as the word “rape” isn’t used in the description of the act. 6% of Penny Arcade’s target demographic will admit to actually being rapists when asked. A lot of people accuse feminists of thinking that all men are rapists. That’s not true. But do you know who think all men are rapists? Rapists do. They really do. In psychological study, the profiling, the studies, it comes out again and again. Virtually all rapists genuinely believe that all men rape, and other men just keep it hushed up better. And more, these people who really are rapists are constantly reaffirmed in their belief about the rest of mankind being rapists like them by things like rape jokes, that dismiss and normalize the idea of rape. If one in twenty guys is a real and true rapist, and you have any amount of social activity with other guys like yourself, really cool guy, then it is almost a statistical certainty that one time hanging out with friends and their friends, playing Halo with a bunch of guys online, in a WoW guild, or elsewhere, you were talking to a rapist. Not your fault. You can’t tell a rapist apart any better than anyone else can. It’s not like they announce themselves. But, here’s the thing. It’s very likely that in some of these interactions with these guys, at some point or another someone told a rape joke. You, decent guy that you are, understood that they didn’t mean it, and it was just a joke. And so you laughed. And, decent guy who would never condone rape, who would step in and stop rape if he saw it, who understands that rape is awful and wrong and bad, when you laughed? That rapist who was in the group with you, that rapist thought that you were on his side. That rapist knew that you were a rapist like him. And he felt validated, and he felt he was among his comrades. You. The rapist’s comrade. And if that doesn’t make you feel sick to your stomach, if that doesn’t make you want to throw up, if that doesn’t disturb you or bother you or make you feel like maybe you should at least consider not participating in that kind of humor anymore… Well, maybe you aren’t as opposed to rapists as you claim.”

—

Time-Machine (via a comment at shakesville.com)

Single greatest argument about this I have ever heard. 

(via justintheallan)

[maehemsez]

There was this piece I read a year or so ago that I've been trying to find that talked about bystanders and empowerment and how when guys do that macho-asshole-posturing thing and tell a rape joke, or talk about how fucked up the woman they had sex with last weekend was, and everyone laughs (nervously or otherwise), and no one says, "Woah, dude..." the behavior is implicitly validated, and there's no check for it. 

Like a toddler testing boundaries of acceptability, we all float these things out in conversation to see how people react. And if no one checks these guys, the questionable behavior that maybe the guy knew was wrong but wanted to see what his friends said, stops seeming extreme and becomes normalized. 

I remember seeing this BS in high school - sitting with a group of friends at lunch on the lawn and the guys making rude comments about the bodies of women as they walked by - they were surrounded by their female friends, which didn't stop them from commenting on the relative "hotness" of other women - and me constantly telling them to stop acting like assholes. It's everywhere and the more we (the collective, societal we) talk about it, everyday while we're watching tv, the more it drops into consciousness.

Someone has to say something. Every time.

I also want to say that this doesn't just go for men. Women are perpetrators of rape culture too. Using gendered slurs to denigrate other women, participating in body shaming, bystander silence because women are raised to believe that we require male validation and approval to be okay, etc. are all, IMO, on the rape culture spectrum. Kyriarchy (née patriarchy) affects and hurts everyone.

[maehemsez]

This one is for Hillcrest Clinic in VA. 40 years of abortion services end tomorrow. “Thank you for your decades of dedication to providing safe abortion access in Virginia. I will continue to fight for protected access in your honor. Always fighting, Maehemsez” You should send one too. 1600 Little Creek Dr. #235, Norfolk VA 23518 #iwriteletters

[flowerpotrhinos-blog]

An Open Letter to the Democratic Party of Virginia

Dear Charniele Herring and the Democratic Party of Virginia, Before I begin, I want to say that this letter comes out of over two year’s worth of frustration and disappointment. You see, I used to be an intern at the DPVA. I enjoyed my time there, the people, and the experience. I am grateful and I learned a lot about the inner-workings of state-level politics. I held my tongue out of respect for those who gave me that opportunity, but now I cannot be willfully silent any longer.

I saw your interview on Rachel Maddow the other night, and something really struck me as being off. You mentioned that TRAP showed us just how important voting for McAuliffe will be in November. But where was the DPVA during the TRAP hearings? Why was there no DPVA assistance, promotion, or outcries against Cuccinelli’s politicizing of the Board of Health? How come NO Democrat lawmakers showed up to the Board of Health? Two Republican Senators were there advocating for the adoption of these policies. Was it too early in the morning?

How dare you force local activists to put 100% of the effort into fighting these regulations, only to use our efforts and ultimate defeat as a platform to promote the Democratic Party. How do you expect us to vote Democratic in November when we’ve seen no REAL attempts to fight for women’s rights?

On April 12, 2013, the Board of Health (now stacked with political allies of gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli) voted on regulations they knew would shut down at least 17 of the 22 abortion clinics in the Commonwealth of Virginia. According to polls, 58% of Virginians opposed TRAP regulations. The ONLY contribution that the members of the DPVA provided to help us was a joint letter from Senators informing the Board of Health that the Attorney General’s opinion on grandfathering was wrong.

This is not the first time you and the DPVA have done this. I’ve seen your and your colleagues’ interviews on the local and national news countless times after demonstrations that WE engineered. During the 2012 General Assembly, my friends and I marched 1000+ people into the Capital TWICE in protest of anti-abortion bills. Again, you all were the ones on TV speaking over b-roll footage of our efforts- efforts the Democratic Party did NOTHING to assist, promote, or even encourage until after they proved beneficial. We asked for your help. We wanted your participation. Instead, we were met with what amounted to “Good luck, we’re rooting for you!”

Virginia has been completely overrun with Republican conservatives sending us back decades on voting rights, minority equality, environmental protection, prison reform, and of course women’s reproductive rights. You blame your lack of seats as reasons for why you’re so powerless to stop these bills. I blame your lack of spine, conviction, and willingness to fight for a cause through to the last minute.

It’s time to take the white gloves off and loosen your neckties. It’s time to stop playing trivial political games on Twitter and Facebook to please your donors. You’re going to lose this election, and you’ll lose it because no one counts on someone who does nothing, despite their good intentions.

I vote. My friends vote. We just don’t know who for anymore.

Signed,

William Carino Local activist and organizer Co-operator of Active-RVA

[maehemsez]

Cosigned with enthusiasm. 

[maehemsez]

It's a Nellie McKay kind of day! 

Nellie McKay Sings about Feminism at Cooper Union Nader Open Debate Rally October 15, 2008 (by Joe Friendly)

[maehemsez]

As we think about reproductive freedoms this week, we must consider all their permutations, and the importance of a world in which the right to parent is protected just as fiercely as the right not to parent, or to choose to wait to become a parent. Disabled people need the full force and support of the reproductive rights movement, and so do their children

Written by s.e. smith

Disability and Reproductive Justice | Reproductive Freedom Week 2013

[maehemsez]

The risk of death associated with abortion increases with the length of pregnancy, from one death for every one million abortions at or before eight weeks to one per 29,000 at 16-20 weeks - and one per 11,000 at 21 or more weeks.

This is so, SO important to understand and educate people about. Because passing restrictions on abortion - making it harder to get an abortion - means that more abortions will be performed later in a pregnancy when the risk of death increases. 

Making it harder to get a 1st trimester abortion, one of the safest medical procedures out there, makes abortion more dangerous.

(Above stat is from Guttmacher.)