radsmutt

hello xx. this page is pro-women. i support science and practical reasoning.  

[luulapants]

stop feeling hopeless, start getting ready

If you are in a red state, your state either has an abortion ban in place or is rated by the Guttmacher Institute as likely to enact a ban. Your focus should be on protecting yourself and others who need abortions.

stop using electronic period tracking apps or software

educate yourself and others about pregnancy prevention and join groups that are making preventative birth control more accessible

learn the nearest and most accessible routes to states where you and your loved ones can access abortion

contribute to mutual aid funds to help transport people over state lines if they are in need of abortion

consider joining The Satanic Temple so you can claim protections under the Religious Abortion Ritual if you are prosecuted for obtaining an abortion

keep a stock of by-mail abortion pills for yourself and/or others who may need them (you may need to travel out of state to obtain them)

form community provider networks and see if you or someone you know can be trained to use manual vacuum aspiration kits or a Del-Em

all of the above should be done in complete secrecy using verbal communication, end-to-end encrypted apps such as Signal, or a VPN

If you are in a yellow state, you currently have constitutional abortion protections but they are in jeopardy. Get active in local political groups NOW to fight back against constitutional amendments to ban abortion. Your focus should be purely on political action.

If you are in Michigan, you currently have a ban in place which is being challenged, and your governor is working to add abortion protections into the Michigan state constitution. Your focus should be on supporting the work that is currently under way.

If you are in a green state, your state has constitutional protections for abortion that are unlikely to be challenged. Your focus should be on helping others to enter your state for abortion care.

connect with abortion access groups such as Aid Access, Abortion on Demand, the National Network of Abortion Funds, or Just The Pill

volunteer to help people enter your state for abortion care, either with transportation help or letting someone crash on your couch

if you live in a green state with no current or predicted primary routes from other states for abortion access, you can focus your efforts on supporting political action in other areas

If you are in a purple state, your state currently has no constitutional protections for abortion but is unlikely to implement a ban. You have two focuses: pushing for constitutional protections AND helping others to enter your state for abortion care (see green state list).

[radsmutt]

Exclusive: Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Alito writes in an initial majority draft circulated inside the court.

there is a time for peaceful protests, and then there are also times for militant action. this country hates women and i’m so fucking angry.

[radsmutt]

31 Patriot Front members arrested near Idaho pride event

The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces.

Say what you will about cops at pride, but it’s fortunate these terrorists were stopped in time.

[radsmutt]

Only because everybody said it couldn't be done. See what the boys are adding you have to take away. They're adding their hips and the busts. And you're taking away and you are doing just the opposite. You're taking away from it. You're trying to compensate; in other words, your face doesn't match your body but when you're on stage it looks that way. Men's jackets fit loose but the pants were skin tight. And if I ever took my jacket off on stage the dirt was out. But you know the strange thing is I never moved any different than I had when I was wearing women's clothes. The only thing changed...they only saw what they wanted to see. And they believed what they wanted to believe. You couldn't fool children though. The little ones, never. You tell them, 'Oh, that's a guy,' and they say, 'Oh no, mm-hmm, that's a lady.' Some say sir and some say ma'am and that's the way it is. I never change the expression. It makes no difference to me.

Storme DeLarverie from Storme: The Lady of the Jewel Box

[radsmutt]

A Stormé Life

In this episode's final story, we profile Stormé Delarvarie, the activist, organizer, and celebrated drag performer who - legend has it - threw the punch tha...

“It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience – it wasn't no damn riot”

Headlines in 1959 referenced her and her band: “Jewel Box Revenue at Apollo Features 25 Men and One Girl”

I thought that was pretty badass.

[basedandradpilled]

need a radfem groupchat

it fits my emotional need for a safe little female only space where i can go to freely share when i’m truly disturbed by moid behavior without having to be defensive

ideally on every street corner there would be a women’s only little drink shop with couches, but discord could suffice

[mini-wrants]

Like women just lost 1st amendment rights lol.

[mini-wrants]

I’m actually not kidding right now.

1 out of every 6 United States women have been raped or have had attempted rape in their lifetimes.

But only 6% of rapists ever spend a single day in jail.

If you’re not allowed to even allude to your abuse without facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit…you don’t have the right to free speech anymore.

[radsmutt]

It’s worse-- according to the CDC, it’s now every 1 in 5 women, which is almost a quarter of the women, which (if my math is correct) is 33,500,000 women a year.  If a rape victim comes forward (as we know, not all rape cases are reported, and I’m sure we’ll see even less after this trial), there is only a 50% chance that the rapist will be arrested. That’s ARRESTED, not even considering prosecuted or imprisoned.

I completely agree with the above-- the depp vs. Heard trial has only encouraged women to keep their mouths shut in the case of rape or assault, otherwise will face consequences for even hinting at something. If the man is wealthy or powerful enough, consider their first amendment right revoked.

[radsmutt]

peaking

I thought I had already peaked last year. But this year’s Pride coupled with the Amber Heard trial on top of everything else wrong with the world is pushing me to a breaking point that I thought I had already surpassed. I am usually not a confrontational or aggressive person. I do not have a big, online social media presence (mostly because I despise it and am old enough to remember life without it). I just got back from a camping trip. I left town to camp because I could feel myself entering that dark place in my head. Camping helped but I’m back now and the current news is propelling me right back there. I’m posting this (even though I know this is a new baby blog without a lot of followers) because it would really help to talk to someone like-minded. I can’t take anymore of my other social media sites. The majority of people on IG and FB (which I just reactivated for marketplace purposes) either don’t care or are dangerously left. To the point that I want to throw my phone at the wall and scream “THAT’S NOT TRUE.” It’s only June 2nd. Two days in and already this rage. Already the posts about Marsha and Stonewall and everything being directed towards “queer” people. I feel isolated in my own community and no one here understands. I feel silenced and alone. Maybe there are other radfems and lesbians out there who can message me and we can get through this month one day at a time.

[radsmutt]

Opinion Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.

I was exposed to abuse at a very young age. I knew certain things early on, without ever having to be told. I knew that men have the power — physically, socially and financially — and that a lot of institutions support that arrangement. I knew this long before I had the words to articulate it, and I bet you learned it young, too.

Like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim.

Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.

Friends and advisers told me I would never again work as an actress — that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me. Questions arose as to whether I would be able to keep my role of Mera in the movies “Justice League” and “Aquaman.”

I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.

Imagine a powerful man as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to patch up holes — not because they believe in or even care about the ship, but because their own fates depend on the enterprise.

In recent years, the #MeToo movement has taught us about how power like this works, not just in Hollywood but in all kinds of institutions — workplaces, places of worship or simply in particular communities. In every walk of life, women are confronting these men who are buoyed by social, economic and cultural power. And these institutions are beginning to change.

We are in a transformative political moment. The president of our country has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct, including assault and harassment. Outrage over his statements and behavior has energized a female-led opposition. #MeToo started a conversation about just how profoundly sexual violence affects women in every area of our lives. And last month, more women were elected to Congress than ever in our history, with a mandate to take women’s issues seriously. Women’s rage and determination to end sexual violence are turning into a political force.

We have an opening now to bolster and build institutions protective of women. For starters, Congress can reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act. First passed in 1994, the act is one of the most effective pieces of legislation enacted to fight domestic violence and sexual assault. It creates support systems for people who report abuse, and provides funding for rape crisis centers, legal assistance programs and other critical services. It improves responses by law enforcement, and it prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ survivors. Funding for the act expired in September and has only been temporarily extended.

We should continue to fight sexual assault on college campuses, while simultaneously insisting on fair processes for adjudicating complaints. Last month, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed changes to Title IX rules governing the treatment of sexual harassment and assault in schools. While some changes would make the process for handling complaints more fair, others would weaken protections for sexual assault survivors. For example, the new rules would require schools to investigate only the most extreme complaints, and then only when they are made to designated officials. Women on campuses already have trouble coming forward about sexual violence — why would we allow institutions to scale back supports?

I write this as a woman who had to change my phone number weekly because I was getting death threats. For months, I rarely left my apartment, and when I did, I was pursued by camera drones and photographers on foot, on motorcycles and in cars. Tabloid outlets that posted pictures of me spun them in a negative light. I felt as though I was on trial in the court of public opinion — and my life and livelihood depended on myriad judgments far beyond my control.

I want to ensure that women who come forward to talk about violence receive more support. We are electing representatives who know how deeply we care about these issues. We can work together to demand changes to laws and rules and social norms — and to right the imbalances that have shaped our lives.

[hypnictwitch]

“… Where I said “lesbian” the word lesbian was changed to “queer.” I was rebranded. I became the mythological “if the situation was right” lesbian. The appropriated slur “queer,” has become the popular descriptor of choice for a “yes” girl or a “maybe” girl— An “I’m not going to rule anything out because I’m open-minded” girl. It doesn’t carry the sting of lesbian. The stigma of lesbian. The boundaries of lesbian. Lesbian is a solid “No.” ”Not even if…” And that unwillingness to bend is the very reason lesbians are targeted with insidious psychological warfare.”

— Why didn’t you say something sooner? – You’re asking the wrong question, Julie Diana Robertson, Huffpost US

[trannosphere]

Breast-Feeding Mom Loses Discrimination Case Because Men Can Lactate Too

In a recent piece for the New Republic, Rebecca Traister argues that "pregnancy and immediate postpartum life itself plays a serious role in slowing pr ...

“In a recent piece for the New Republic, Rebecca Traister argues that “pregnancy and immediate postpartum life itself plays a serious role in slowing professional momentum for women for whom the simple—and celebrated—act of having a baby turns out to be a stunningly precarious economic and professional choice.” Just last week, the Supreme Court took a major step in keeping it that way, upholding a federal appeals court ruling against a breast-feeding mother, Angela Ames, who felt bullied out of her job with Nationwide Insurance. Part of the court’s reasoning was, according to Galen Sherwin of the American Civil Liberties Union, “that even if Angela had been fired because she was breast-feeding, that was not sex discrimination, in part because men can lactate under certain circumstances.”

Ames’ story reads as every woman’s worst nightmare of what coming back from maternity leave could be like. Ames alleges that when she returned to work, another employee’s things were in her workspace. When she asked for a place to pump breast milk, she was sent to a company nurse. Even though the Nationwide offices had a lactation room, Ames says she was denied access and told she had to fill out paperwork and wait for days for it to be processed in order for them to open the door to let her in. With her breasts swelling and uncomfortable, she says the only options offered to her were rooms that had no privacy.

At this point, Ames says she reached out to the department head for help in getting that lactation room door open, which is when she was met with a resignation letter to sign. Ames reports that her department head said, “Just go home to be with your babies.”

The court ruled against Ames’ claim of discrimination, saying she didn’t fight hard enough to keep her job and that she should have gone to H.R. before giving up. The ACLU and Ames argue that it’s hard not to feel permanently fired when your boss is telling you to go home and dictating a resignation letter for you. But while the case was primarily decided on this question of whether Ames fought back hard enough, the trial court also ruled that bullying women over breast-feeding cannot be considered sex discrimination, because men can, in theory, lactate, too.

Of course, whether men can squeeze breast milk out under some circumstances really should be irrelevant. Breast-feeding is clearly and almost exclusively associated with women in our culture—really, all cultures. The fact that the original court latched onto such a silly argument suggests an unwillingness to take Ames’ case seriously from the get-go, which casts a pall over the entire ruling. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has, by declining to take up the case, made it easier for employers to fire women for having babies, whether they put it that way or not.”

[radfemichigan]

“But women aren’t fired for being women anymore!”

Not to mention, this is literally what happens when you take away sex-specific language. You get obvious cases of discrimination being thrown out because “some men can do this”. 

Women are the only ones who breastfeed and a woman was fired for this specific reason.

[old-school-butch]

And there we have it… the end game of genderism.

[oceanlesbian]

this is going to happen more and more, along with companies hiring more transwomen instead of women because you get more diversity rep now for that AND you don’t have to worry about those pesky females applying for maternity leave. go intersectional feminism!

[radsmutt]

“...that even if Angela had  been fired because she was breast-feeding, that was not sex  discrimination, in part because men can lactate under certain  circumstances.”

And men can get pregnant too, right? So if a woman gets fired for missing work because she’s pregnant and tries to sue, the courts will just rebuttal back with how it’s not discriminatory practices at work since there are no sex-based discrimination observed.

Also, perfectly iconic that the link’s image of a breastfeeding woman was removed for violating Tumblr’s guidelines. We really are living in the war against women.

[thehairiestfeminist]

Let me describe to you what kind of world gender abolitionists actually dream about: When a child would be born it’s biological sex, being an actual physical reality, would be noticed but not a single assumption regarding the child’s personality would be made based on it. Growing up, children would be free to chose what toys and clothes they prefer. If they want to play with toy trucks or dolls, it would be fine either way. If they want to dress comfortably or in frilly colorful dresses, it would be fine. Certain personality traits would not be encouraged in members of one sex and discouraged in the other. Females would be free to be strong, brave and assertive and males would not be shamed for being shy and soft spoken. No female child would be called a tomboy and no male child would be called a sissy. No kid would ever be bullied for what we in our gendered world call “gender expression”. When children would reach puberty they would still be free to dress how they want. Females would not be pressured to wear clothes that reveal their bodies and males would not be shamed if they chose to. Everybody would have a free choice of accessories, which would not be categorized as “men’s” or “women’s” but people could should whichever they liked. Or chose to not wear accessories at all if that’s what they are more comfortable with. Females would not be pressured to keep their bodies slim, soft and hairless. Males would not be pressured to be athletic and muscular. Expectations of femininity and masculinity upon the body would not exist and affect negatively people’s relationship with their own body. Everyone could choose a career without fearing stigmatization within that particular field because of their biological sex. The most important thing would be competence and not what someone has between their legs. Domestic work would not be considered “women’s work” and would be shared equally between the sexes. Biological sex would only be thought about when relevant. And everyone would be free to be themselves without ever having to worry about gender expectations. Nobody would feel the need to repress certain parts of their personality and exaggerate others in order to fit into some gender role that is being forced on them. Gender abolitionism is not about restricting people’s choices but about giving them greater freedom. - http://burningax.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/a-gender-free-world-boring/

[radsmutt]

[radsmutt]

[radfemetc]

[radfemetc]

Happy international pronouns day!

[radsmutt]

[radsmutt]

Inside the 1970s Abortion Underground

In 1971, Laura Kaplan joined a clandestine network called "Jane" that provided thousands of illegal abortions in Chicago. With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, she looks back on those days.

“...nobody remembered or was going to say how that transition from Mike to the women of Jane performing abortions themselves happened. But I think the point at which Jody was already learning was the point at which the larger group was informed that Mike was not a doctor. Because I think in her mind, she thought, if people are going to accept that we can do this ourselves, first they have to accept that the person we’ve been relying on — who’s extremely competent, and we have nothing but glowing reports from GYNs with post-abortion checkups — that he’s not a doctor. And in fact, at that meeting, it was like an explosion. People were flipping out. One woman said, “Well, if he can do it, and he’s not a doctor, then we can do it, too. And we could charge a whole lot less.”

“What we did was so exhilarating on some level. When you go through the mirror, when you break that barrier, the whole world changes. Plus, we were solving women’s real problems multiple times a day, 30 times every workday. It was real satisfaction, and a real sense of accomplishment and that we were doing the right thing.”

Also the fact that referrals were coming from professional doctors and police officers. These women are legendary. “Don’t mourn, organize.”