NutMeg

Hairy, lesbian feminist . Please note: My posts are queued, so even if I'm posting I might not be online

[basemall]

[master-of-slave]

Las latinas de Orange is the new black

[el0tr0lad0]

LOVE

[kropotkindersurprise]

The Gulabi Gang, or Pink Gang, is an all-women vigilante group in India.

"Yes, we fight rapists with lathis [sticks]. If we find the culprit, we thrash him black and blue so he dare not attempt to do wrong to any girl or a woman again," boasts Sampat Devi Pal, the group’s founder and head.

Devi first discovered the power of the stick in the 1980s when she used it against a neighbour who abused his wife. Devi’s intervention had the desired result and the recalcitrant husband was forced to mend his ways. More importantly, Devi’s model of delivering alternative justice inspired a movement that now boasts of a network of 400,000 women - dressed in pink sarees and all wielding a stick - across 11 districts of India’s largest province of Uttar Pradesh.

From fighting violence against women, preventing child marriages, arranging weddings of couple in love despite local resistance, to ensuring delivery of basic rights for the poorest of poor, the Gulabi Gang’s vision is to ‘protect the powerless from abuse and fight corruption’ has found easy resonance across much of India’s hinterland, blighted by unending reports of sex crimes and gang rapes.

"When a woman seeks the membership of Gulabi Gang, it is because she has suffered injustice, has been oppressed and does not see any other recourse," says Suman Singh, the group’s deputy commander, from Mahoba district. "All our women can stand up to the men and if need be seek retribution through lathis," she adds.

"The Gulabi Gang has stepped into the vacuum left by the state and offers an alternative means of attaining justice."

[article]/[video]

[assignedmale]

Assigned Male - A webcomic about a transgender girl

Last update for Intersex Awareness Week.

In a recent interview, doctors at Sainte-Justine’s hospital in Montreal admitted that they still perform genital mutilations on intersex minors. Write to them to ban that practice : http://www.chusj.org/en/About-us/Contact-To-get-here/You-can-write-to-us

[thenaervassa]

Less queer baiting more queer dating.

[gardnerhill]

Kitty Winter: Elementary 1, BBC Sherlock Nil.

Elementary’s treatment of Kitty Winter has once again shined a spotlight on BBC Sherlock’s shortcomings when it comes to dealing with anyone who’s not a white male, especially anyone who’s a woman. (I discussed both series’ treatment of race in a previous entry.) 

Kitty Winter in Canon (“The Adventure of the Illustrious Client”): A “fallen woman” in Victorian parlance; a former mistress of the villain who was socially ruined by him, and who avenges herself at the end. Both Holmes and Watson sympathize with her and protect her afterward. (Subtext: Arthur Conan Doyle’s sympathy for women’s plight due to Victorian rules about class and finances, supported by his treatment of other female characters throughout Canon.)

Kitty Winter on BBC Sherlock: A vicious, gossip-mongering reporter who’s a slash fan (“You and John Watson, just platonic? People want to know”) and stupidly gullible protector of Moriarty, instrumental in ruining Sherlock’s reputation. Despised by Holmes and Watson. (Subtext: Steve Moffat’s misogyny, supported by his treatment of other female characters in his stories.)

Kitty Winter on CBS’ Elementary: A spy on Watson who begins as an adversary but who’s actually a new protege for Sherlock, not afraid to contradict the Dynamic Duo (” ‘We’?”) and go her own way when she thinks she’s right. She is respected and protected by both Holmes and Watson, even though her abrasive personality does not lend itself to warmth or niceness, normally a requirement for sympathetic TV women. (Subtext: Rob Dougherty’s respect for strong and outspoken women, supported by his portrayal of Joan Watson.)

[chrryblssmninja]

More or less agree with this.

[ladyloveandjustice]

I really love that Kitty has joined the show, it’s really great to see Joan being protective and supportive of another woman. I know that the writers have described them as “co-parenting” her sort of, and it’s so great they’re so committed to helping her.

[doctorgaylove]

sorry to be ignorant, but why is erika moen so disliked in the lgbt community (or just the lesbian community)? what did she do?

Well, there was of course, this LUG comic, which had several unsavory elements including her husband calling women at a Pride parade “dykes” and acting like they’re so scary to a poor straight man, the pair of them making rude remarks at a woman right in front of her and the woman’s reaction played for laughs, the contrast of “I love my boy” (for a straight relationship) vs “I love PUSSY” for a gay one, etc. Furthermore, LUG as a concept is kind of bullshit and the comic doesn’t really say “stop calling people LUGs and let everyone do what they want” but rather “LUGs exist but don’t call me one!”

Her most famous comic is Queer, which, again, ends with her and her husband at a strip club making rude remarks about a stripper in an ~empowering~ way, as well as playing into “mean dyke” stereotypes, plus a sort of labels are for soup cans kind of notion, which is just kind of irritating all around and implies that anyone who is not like her is less enlightened.

And then there’s this infamous comic, which fetishizes trans men, implicitly plays into stereotypes about trans men not being real men, and once again has the trans man’s reaction to being objectified played for laughs—that last one seems to be a pretty common theme with her. (As you can see on the page, she did apologize for it, but there you go).

There’s also this racism collage she did, of which I was able to find [1, 2] It seems she tried to purge the comic from the Internet which is why I couldn’t find the whole thing, but the gist is that she was raised racist and taught to fear black men and so she decided to make a collage of racist stereotypes because apparently that would be helpful or something. It does not seem that she apologized for this one, nor did she keep it around as she did the trans men comic.

Anyway, that’s why some people don’t like her. A lot of people do like her (for example, Buzzfeed LGBT) so I wouldn’t say she is universally despised by any means. Personally, I’m not a fan.

[morningchorus]

she also did a guest strip comic for penny arcade where she’s telling someone else’s kid about sex and it really struck a lot of people, myself include, as fucking creepy and gross.

[that-green-evening]

Her ongoing sex toy comic is frequently disgusting and idk there’s just a lot of little things that make it obvious that she is super homophobic and transphobic e.g. She did a comic where she is explaining to a trans man what a clitoris is… Like she’s trying to be all inclusive and avant garde like “ah yes this’ll be so queer if I condescendingly explain it to a trans man and not a cis woman or man” but like obviously doesn’t know any trans men? bc probably 99% of hormonally transitioned trans men are going to be fully aware of their genital situation bc of the nature of transition… Also she has so many comics where she implies that she’s “queerer” than ppl in same gender relationships by virtue of being straight married to a straight cis dude. In sum she’s kind of the unholy avatar of every super homophobic bi woman in a straight relationship who talks over gay and lesbian ppl and bi ppl not in straight relationships

[bhuttu]

and she’s so smug as she uses the lgbt community to build her name as she sells us out.

[marshmallowfluffwoman]

Transformation Tuesday! The “Before” photo was taken in 2008 when I was 17. This photo was taken during a time when I was calorie counting, to the point that I limited myself to around 1,000 calories a day. I lost 70 pounds and weighed in at 150. I wish I had more full-length photos to show you, but unfortunately I was so insecure and embarrassed of my body that I required most of my photos to be chest-up. Also, I would have never been caught dead on the beach in an actual swimsuit. On the right is my “After” photo, taken in 2014 at age 23. During the time period in between the photos, I began my radical journey of self-love and body acceptance. I don’t owe it to anyone to be their version of aesthetically pleasing, I don’t owe it to anyone to lose weight, and I don’t owe it to anyone to be ashamed of my body. Who I am now—all 220 pounds of me— has more confidence and zest for life than I ever did before.

[sazquatch-blog]

Sexualising professions conventionally dominated by women through ‘sexy teacher,’ ‘sexy nurse’ etc. tropes, serves to diminish women’s labour by reducing it to a sexual fantasy that exists to titillate men. This removes any reference to how difficult these professions are, and reinforces their status as ‘lesser’ careers, thus contributing to women’s work remaining underpaid and disrespected.

[blackhistoryalbum]

Sisters in Space | NASA

First African-American Women in Space (Top To Bottom)

#1 Dr. Mae C. Jemison, September 1992 #2 Stephanie D. Wilson, July 2006 #3 Joan Elizabeth Higginbotham, December 2006

[cartoonpolitics]

A new report has found that proposed textbooks for Texas students are inaccurate, biased and politicized .. (story here)

[knowledgeequalsblackpower]

Keep in mind, the Texas books determine the textbooks of many other states. The findings:

A number of government and world history textbooks exaggerate Judeo-Christian influence on the nation’s founding and Western political tradition.

Two government textbooks include misleading information that undermines the Constitutional concept of the separation of church and state.

Several world history and world geography textbooks include biased statements that inappropriately portray Islam and Muslims negatively.

All of the world geography textbooks inaccurately downplay the role that conquest played in the spread of Christianity.

Several world geography and history textbooks suffer from an incomplete – and often inaccurate – account of religions other than Christianity.

Coverage of key Christian concepts and historical events are lacking in a few textbooks, often due to the assumption that all students are Christians and already familiar with Christian events and doctrine.

A few government and U.S. history textbooks suffer from an uncritical celebration of the free enterprise system, both by ignoring legitimate problems that exist in capitalism and failing to include coverage of government’s role in the U.S. economic system.

One government textbook flirts with contemporary Tea Party ideology, particularly regarding the inclusion of anti-taxation and anti-regulation arguments.

One world history textbook includes outdated – and possibly offensive – anthropological categories and racial terminology in describing African civilization.

A number of U.S. history textbooks evidence a general lack of attention to Native American peoples and culture and occasionally include biased or misleading information.

One government textbook … includes a biased – verging on offensive – treatment of affirmative action.

Most U.S. history textbooks do a poor job of covering the history of LGBT citizens in discussions of efforts to achieve civil rights in this country.

Elements of the Texas curriculum standards give undue legitimacy to neo-Confederate arguments about “states’ rights” and the legacy of slavery in the South. While most publishers avoid problems with these issues, passages in a few U.S. history and government textbooks give a nod to these misleading arguments.

[jessicavalenti]

I know a woman in her 30s: she’s married, she has a toddler, and she desperately wants a second child – but a dangerous medical condition means that having another baby would be life-threatening. Despite being careful, she got pregnant. She had an abortion because she wasn’t willing to risk her life and leave her child motherless, but she still feels a deep sadness. I know another woman, in her 20s, who had a shitty boyfriend (but no kids) when her birth control failed and she found herself with a pregnancy she knew she didn’t want – a pregnancy she wasn’t ready for. She was upset about the situation, but had no doubts about what she wanted to do and, after the abortion, no regrets. She rarely thinks about the pregnancy or the abortion anymore. If you’re like a lot of people, you probably have much more sympathy for the first woman than the second. Though the majority of people in America and Northern Ireland and so many other places believe abortion should be legal, too many of us still think about reproductive rights as if there’s a hierarchy of good and bad abortions – the kind that women “deserve”, and the kind women should be ashamed of. But those two women? They’re both me.

It’s OK to tell your abortion story, my contribution to #1in3speaks  (via ithotyouknew)

[ursamajori]

when I say “everything is better with lesbians” I don’t mean grossly over sexualized lesbians who just do the nasty all the time to please straight men I mean cute girls having adventures together and falling in love and giving cute kisses and having cute cuddle sessions or badass girls having adventures and kicking bad guy ass and falling in love with each other

[lenarise-deactivated20191107]

#THIS IS CARMILLA#WATCH CARMILLA

[asafo2020-deactivated20171024]

Chuck Berry

Rock n Roll was originally Black music.

[king-emare]

thank you

[mentalhealthfemme]

Yes, him and little Richard never get their due smh

[missarrozcongandules1991]

except…chuck berry didn’t invent rock n roll…

Sister Rosetta Tharpe predates both chuck berry and little richard by quite a few years

Two of Tharpe’s hit songs were released in like 1944-45 when Chuck Berry was a) incarcerated and b) still a high school student, Tharpe basically discovered Little Richard, and she’s referred to as the godmother of rock n roll

lol just

throwin that out there

[christel-thoughts]

^^^EXACTLY

but Sister Rosetta was a woman and queer… so Black men will totally overlook her.

[veryfemmeandantifascist]

rock music was created by a black bisexual woman

[spenshi]

Boy and girl make eye contact: holy sHIT they’re so in love. when’s the wedding omg

Girl kisses girl begging her to stay while song about romantic relationships plays in the background: lol but it just platonic tho

[yoursocialconstructsareshowing]

But confusingly, misogynists are sometimes men who speak softly and eat vegan and say “a woman’s sexual freedom is an essential component to her liberation. So come here.” It’s a tricky world out there. And while I’d prefer a critical approach to gender from men I elect, read and even bed, in my experience, the so-called feminist men I’ve met deep down have not been less antagonistic or bigoted toward women. What I see over and over again is misogyny in sheep’s clothing, and at this point, I would rather see wolves as wolves.

"Stop fawning over male feminists" (via hereticswords)

Yes this. All too often they end up being the worst offenders because a.) they assume they’re excluded from your critique of patriarchy and have not done the work of internalizing it and decentering themselves and b.) they expect a cookie for the most basic allowances and understanding and get irritable and shitty (saying stuff like “well your attitude isn’t helping your cause!” or “you should be grateful for allies like me!”) when you don’t give it to them. They are the worst because they have some of the language down and have abstractly accepted some of the concepts but they’ve done nothing to really attack and dismantle their own privilege. Not only that, they’re smug little shits. I really just don’t care for men in feminist spaces at all unless they stfu and listen.

(via shannibal-cannibal)

Ugh, men.

(via existentialcrisisfactory)

[mulaneysbutt]

I need to focus on my re-election campaign. Clear my schedule.

[jessicavalenti]

I discovered that TED and TEDWomen have never featured a talk on abortion. …When I asked around, the consensus was that the omission was simply an oversight. But it turns out TED is deliberately keeping abortion off the agenda. When asked for comment, TED content director and TEDWomen co-host Kelly Stoetzel said that abortion did not fit into their focus on “wider issues of justice, inequality and human rights.” “Abortion is more of a topical issue we wouldn’t take a position on, any more than we’d take a position on a state tax bill,” Stoetzel explained. She pointed me to a few talks on women’s health and birth control, but this made the refusal to discuss abortion only more glaring. In the last three years, the United States has seen more abortion restrictions enacted than in the entire previous decade; the United Nations has classified the lack of access to abortion as torture; and Savita Halappanavar died in Ireland because a Catholic hospital refused to end her doomed pregnancy. Just how is abortion not an issue of “justice, inequality and human rights”?

The Empowerment Elite Claims Feminism, my latest at The Nation (via jessicavalenti)