hallo

ange | 21 | she/her

[gahdamnpunk]

But women discrimination is a myth right??

[metoo-3]

Imagine how many people’s lives they ruined. There were probably so many women that went in there knowing they destroyed that test. Yet, when they got their results back…they had to be so confused and disappointed. Mentally and emotionally, that had to be quite the blow. Anyway, this is evil.

[futureblackwakandan-deactivated]

This is so evil lmfaoooooo like the world really hates women and we can’t even do anything about it. How depressing.

[pocketsized-prophet]

Not just the lives of the women though. Think of the people their medical advancement, learning, studying, could have gone on to save. Think of the lives they could have helped.

[rock-fish-deactivated20201231]

think of the under-qualified men who got these positions instead and went on to kill people. the whole reason this was even discovered is this university was accused of doctoring grades to let the son of politically connected man enroll when he was not qualified. literally sabotaging communities.

[nnamtrah-blog1]

Reflection 6: 11.15.18 // “Radical Heterosexuality”

I was initially skeptical when I read the title of this article, and unfairly so. As a bisexual woman, I wondered, “What could possibly be radical about heterosexuality?” However, the more I read, the more I resonated with the pains of reconciling one’s feminist ideologies against one’s attraction to the very beings which represent the system that holds us back. The way Wolf deconstructs what heterosexuality should be for feminist women is compelling and important.

Quite often, I find myself humorlessly attempting to cope with the sexism around me with phrases such as “men ain’t shit,” “men are trash,” or “unfortunately, I’m attracted to men.” Each time, I will either apologize to the men present while telling them that they are the exception, and that they know I’m right. (The ones I continue my friendships with are typically the ones who agree.) While admittedly crude, I think this aligns with what Wolf speaks of: the idea of Men We Love versus Men We Hate.

The men I love are men who are willing to listen, to empathize, and to champion. These men, while at different stages of learning the world of women, have opened themselves up to taking that first step toward being a wonderful ally. I demand better from the men I care about since, conclusively, the ones who are willing to listen are the ones who are worth my time.

While the phrase “radical heterosexuality” is seemingly contradictory, it is radical in itself to change the rules of what a different sex relationship entails, ripping it from the heteronormative and oppressive canon society has accepted. Wolf speaks to something that should resonate with those who fight for the equality we deserve: we need to openly admit to our flaws, demand more from the men we love, and affirm the choices of not only women like us, but women who are different from us.

[nnamtrah-blog1]

Reflection 5: 10.29.18 // “Prison Industrial Complex”

Throughout my childhood, I’ve been fed the same lines that crime is just worse in “certain” neighborhoods, that “certain” races have more instances of crime, that prison is a place for bad people who break the law. Growing up, I’d simply taken the information at face value, accepting the racist stereotypes that were being touted around me without questioning it. It wasn’t until college that I learned that this racism was an insidious part of our society, a deliberate device meant to keep a marginalized class “in check” and working in favor of our capitalist nation.

America’s prison system is what it is today because its goal was never about stopping crime or rehabilitating people. As Angela Davis notes, imprisonment has become a means to “deal with” the issues that burden people in poverty. These problems are conveniently swept away under the rug of “crime,” justifying the unfairly high rates of people of color being imprisoned by attributing them as criminal behavior. Instead of putting resources towards public welfare, education, or other social services, these resources get allocated to prisons in an effort to combat crime. If this was truly the case, then why do why US prisoners account for 24.7% of the world’s population of prisoners? When compared to Sweden’s prison systems, where incarceration and recidivism are relatively low, it’s clear to see that our prison systems are not built with rehabilitation in mind. As noted by Davis, the prison industrial system leaves prisoners (who have a population of people of color at 70%) with little to no means to support themselves once they leave the system, dooming them to return to it.

These systems need to be questioned. People need to get informed, to learn the history of our prison systems, and take a long hard look at why it is what it is. The more I learn, the angrier I get, and I feel that’s a sentiment that should run through anyone who learns about the racist history and present of our prison systems. If we are complicit in this systemic dehumanization of incarcerated people of color, how is change ever going to happen?

[nnamtrah-blog1]

Reflection 4: 10.22.18 // “Our Bodies, Our Crimes”

It’s almost funny how some things never seem to change. The first part of Flavin’s book, Our Bodies, Our Crimes: The Policing of Women’s Reproduction in America, makes me angry. I’m angry because men have dictated reproductive rights at their own whims for hundreds of years. I’m angry because, as Flavin points out, one would assume we’d be at the progressive zenith at which these rights wouldn’t have to be fought for anymore, and yet we aren’t. I’m angry about the way women’s bodies have been used and weaponized for the advancement of those in power instead of for the advancement of women’s rights. We live in a climate today where a woman’s right to what she does with her own body is still not legally protected, where it’s an object of debate rather than an unalienable right. How a woman should decide what to do with her body is a thought experiment for most in power, not the harsh reality that it is.

Those with authority (politicians, medical professionals, etc.) often go unquestioned as they are seen as the “experts” in certain regards. It’s people like this who hold the power to make decisions regarding people in marginalized groups. Without input from the group affected by the decisions of those in power, though, it’s evident that the decisions made never really had good intentions in the first place. As Flavin discussed, physicians in the late nineteenth century came down hard on abortion to in an effort to solidify their positions over competition such as midwives and homeopaths. Their so-called moral claims (concerns for women’s safety, concerns for the unborn embryo, etc.) were only made in an effort to secure the advancement of their professional goals, yet so many of these arguments have permeated into modern discussions on reproductive rights. A woman’s autonomy and right to privacy has been stripped in favor of arguments such as these.

I hope the fight will continue for reproductive rights, and that it won’t lose heat. It saddens me that we still need to fight for it, that it seems like a new barrier to reproductive rights seems to appear every few years, but it’s a necessary thing. It’s necessary for the justice of women who have been battered, women who have been coerced, women who are not ready, and especially women who just want a damn say in what they do with their own bodies.

[jxpper]

Show this photo to your daughters as they grow up.

Show them that courage is important, even in the scariest of situations. This woman stood up and faced her fears, spoke her truth in front of a group of men while balancing the world on her shoulders. She is a hero. She is a representation for all women who are done being assaulted and abused.

I Believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford

[nnamtrah-blog1]

Reflection 3: 10.1.18 // “Epistemological Violence”

It’s an easy thing to accept the interpretations of data as fact when those interpretations paint you in a superior or ideal light. In this article, Teo touches upon something that resonates with the experience of those who are part of marginalized groups: there is something inherently Other about you if you don’t fit the straight white male mold. Reading this article was upsetting because of how true it was. The results of many studies have been interpreted in ways that have justified the marginalization of and discrimination against minority groups.

Epistemological violence is embedded in our history and in our institutions. It justified the enslavement and segregation of black people, the lack of suffrage for women, and the lack of aid for gay people during the AIDS crisis. For all of these groups, there have been interpretations of them that have stated they were not worthy of freedom, the right to vote, or the right to live based on some pseudo-scientific “fact” that they were inferior to the majority group. Time and again, the narratives of minorities have been erased for not being the “right” one. The violence occurs when the results of studies get twisted to suggest certain groups are less worthy of basic human rights or decency, when those interpretations feed into the power of a group who already has power. As Foucault spoke of, it’s those who are in power who set the norm.

Diversity is necessary to shake up this norm. In academia, peer review is what keeps research checked. With more and more scholars of various backgrounds coming onto the scene, we have more opportunity for these interpretations to be caught as they occur. Just with articles like these, acknowledging the issue and calling it out, there is hope. Change is coming and hopefully, it’s coming soon.

[nnamtrah-blog1]

[c-rowlesblogs]

gay culture is silently tolerating your straight friends being attracted to the ugliest human beings you have ever seen in your goddamn life

[firesuns-archive]

the frustrating thing about biphobia is how casual it is and how most people perpetuate it without even giving it a second thought. like i’ve come out to two men that i’ve entered into romantic relationships with since knowing i was bi and both times there was the surprise and then the questions that were both incredibly invasive AND incredibly insensitive. like if i’ve been with a girl (no) and the follow up to this—how i could know i was bi if i’ve never been in a relationship with a girl. or if i had to choose who would i have a threesome with, AND if I’d be interested in eventually having a threesome with the person i was coming out to and someone else. if i’ve ever cheated on someone or if i ever would. like im so tired of this.

first of all this idea that everyone is entitled to a bi person’s sexual history, and that if they don’t feel like sharing their history or don’t have experience that the person prying deems bi enough on its own then obviously the person coming out is just misdirected. and then the idea that not only is everyone entitled to bi people’s sexual history, but also to their sexual preferences! intensely personal questions like what bi people prefer to do in bed is not something that you would ever ask a straight person upon finding out they were straight. it’s incredibly insulting and frustrating to find that even people who are supposedly progressive and open to the idea of bi people being actual people tend to fall back on these stereotypes that paint us as nothing but sexually deviant at best and as mere sexual objects at worst.

it’s shameful and makes my skin crawl to think that these negative stereotypes are what first come to everyone’s mind when someone mentions bisexuality. bisexuality is not inherently sexually deviant or dishonest or strange. it’s just a sexuality. and i wish that more people would be mindful enough to respect that, especially when coming in contact with a bi person who feels comfortable enough to come out to them and is then treated like a harmful stereotype.

non-bi people can reblog this.

[nnamtrah-blog1]

Reflection 2: 9.20.18 // “I Don’t Belong Here”

Men are allowed to be mediocre where women must be excellent, exceptional even. As mentioned in Fine’s chapter “Backwards and In High Heels,” a young female medical student warned her peer to not faint so she wouldn’t “disgrace the sex.” To be a woman in a room full of men is to have the burden of representing the whole sex, and this idea is perpetuated by the way our society is run. In “I Don’t Belong Here,” Fine mentions the microaggressions women go through as described by the Athena Factor report: being confused for a secretary or assistant, double takes at a lone woman in a meeting, condescending apologies directed towards women for “boring [them] with technical talk.” As stated by sociologist Shelley Correll, boys pursue things such as mathematics because they think they’re better at it than girls. It appears this is a sentiment that remains unchallenged and cross-dimensional for many boys as they grow into adolescence and adulthood. I’m sure many women have similar tales of getting mansplained to or overlooked by men at some point in their lives.

An example that stands out for me in my personal life is my experience with an old peer of mine when we were both pursuing music in high school. In our choir, I had been in a leadership position by my senior year. I had ten years of vocal background, attended all the rehearsals, and was active in the group. My peer waltzed in midway through the year, loudly asserted himself in the choir, and managed to snag a similar position to mine while doing a fraction of the work. In our private rehearsals together, he had taken to loudly and condescendingly explaining concepts and techniques to me that I had been studying for several years; it was a frustrating and frankly demoralizing thing to endure.

Finding a feeling of belonging in male-dominated fields is a difficult and, often, disheartening thing, but hope isn’t lost. Sapna Cheryan’s study shows just how shaky the foundation of the concept of women not belonging in STEM careers is: just a simple change of scenery can increase a woman’s desire and self-efficacy to pursue a computer science career. Also, once Carnegie-Mellon changed their admissions criteria from excluding applicants with no programming experience, the population of women in the program increased fivefold. The measures which gatekeep women from certain fields can easily be removed, providing a more welcoming (and ultimately, more diverse) space.

In her TEDx Talk, Debbie Sterling claimed that the next generation of little girls would feel a bigger sense of belonging in male-dominated fields such as engineering. With the direction society is going, she just may be right.

[transmlmz]

hot take but closeted lgbt people are so fucking brave. being closeted doesn’t mean you’re lying to yourself or to others. that’s bullshit perpetuated by cishets to make us feel bad about ourselves and there’s no shame in being closeted. coming out should be entirely up to you, for you to decide how to come out and who to come out to. no one else is entitled to that information unless you want them to be and whether you’re closeted to stay safe, because you’re unsure or not ready to be out, or you just feel more comfortable being in, you’re not hiding and you don’t deserve to feel guilty. i’m proud of you and hope you can come out when you’re ready or want to, and it’s safe to do so

[cwote]

women do not have to

be thin

cook for you

have long hair

wear makeup

be feminine 

be graceful

have sex with you

shave

diet

be fashionable

wear pink

love men

listen to your bullshit

[ninelittledevils]

Homosexuality no longer a crime in India, Supreme Court ends controversial Section 377.

[cinema-shots]

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

[palebrowneyesx]

Girls just wanna have fundamental human rights

[nnamtrah-blog1]

Reflection: 9.6.18 // “Backwards and In High Heels”

Fine raises an interesting question regarding the construct of gender differences, and how just a few words could amplify or diminish its effects. Studies that test the power of stereotype threat give us a glimpse into the strength of socialization. Fine considers this when she questions what would occur if the gender assumptions society held about women and their performance in math and science were reversed to have men be the incompetent and unsure ones. However, another thing to consider is if identifiers besides gender identity could take precedence over it in tests such as these.

Female participants in the studies cited performed better or worse depending on whether they were negatively or positively primed to think about their gender. The Stanford study stood out to me as it noted that Asian students were not part of the negatively stereotyped group. This statement brought forward a thought that had been lingering at the back of my mind throughout the article: I am an Asian American woman who was never taught that men were inherently better at math or science, simply that there were more men in the field than women. As Fine imagined in her article, I had grown up in an environment that didn’t shut down my confidence in mathematics. I wonder, then, how much of my performance in math and science is a result of my cultural and social background? As seen in the study where female students of a prestigious university were primed to associate themselves with a high profile university, performance was tied to that instead of any preconceived notions about gender. It would be interesting to isolate whether a specific identifier, such as ethnic identity or institutional affiliation, would be able to override the threat caused by gender identity when primed for a task.

[eliciaforever-deactivated201906]

Reblog if you’ve ever been told it was a “shame” that you cut your “beautiful hair.”

[lesbiansassemble]

And reblog if you rocked that short hair anyway.