Only monsters here...

[resiliencebeast]

Equity Education and Mutual Justice Resources: The Book List

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W.E.B. Du Bois On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care by Victor Ray

You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience by Tarana Burke (Editor) Brené Brown (Editor) Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

So You Want to Talk About Race By Ijeoma Oluo

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Mutual Aid, Direct Action, Organizing, and Community Building

Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes

Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law by Richard Rothstein and Leah Rothstein

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Pyotr Kropotkin

Living at the Edges of Capitalism: Adventures in Exile and Mutual Aid by Andrej Grubačić

Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want by Ruha Benjamin

We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

Practicing Cooperation: Mutual Aid beyond Capitalism by Andrew Zitcer

Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies by Andrea Ritchie

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Colonialism Education

The Poverty of Growth by Olivier De Schutter

Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell, Karen Chilton, et al.

The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism by Aaron Vansintjan, Matthias Schmelzer, and Andrea Vetter

Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill, Mitchell Plitnick, et al.

Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism by Elmar Altvater (Author), Eileen C. Crist (Author), Donna J. Haraway (Author), Daniel Hartley (Author), Christian Parenti (Author), Justin McBrien (Author), Jason W. Moore (Editor) (Also available as a PDF online)

Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Fuels Extinction and What We Can Do About It by Charles Derber, Suren Moodliar

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder History and Political Science

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Black Marxism, Revised and Updated Third Edition: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition by Cedric J. Robinson

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

Palestine: A Socialist Introduction by Sumaya Awad (Editor) and Brian Bean (Editor)

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (this technical book also has an organizing guide and study guide)

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

Time's Monster: How History Makes History by Priya Satia

We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley

Indigenous Knowledge

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (there is also a version of Braiding Sweetgrass for young adults)

Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec

Indian Givers: How Native Americans Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford

Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources by Kat Anderson

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez Disability Education and Rights Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk

Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid by Shayda Kafai

Pandemic Solidarity: Mutual Aid during the Coronavirus Crisis by Marina Sitrin (Editor), Rebecca Solnit (Editor)

Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire by Alice Wong

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Refusing to Be Made Whole: Disability in Black Women's Writing by Anna Laquawn Hinton

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price (this author also has a guide on the same topic)

Queer Issues

We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation Hardcover by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution by Susan Stryker

Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman by Leslie Feinberg

Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising That Changed America by Martin Duberman

Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J Brown

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook by Ashley Molesso and Chessie Needham

They/Them/Their: A Guide to Nonbinary and Genderqueer Identities by Eris Young

Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman

This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson (Author) and David Levithan (Contributor)

Nonbinary For Beginners: Everything you’ve been afraid to ask about gender, pronouns, being an ally, and black & white thinking by Ocean Atlas

All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

Gender: A Graphic Guide by Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele (Illustrator)

Resources for Kids and Parents

The Every Body Book: The LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Rachel E. Simon (Author) and Noah Grigni (Illustrator)

This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids: A Question & Answer Guide to Everyday Life by Dan Owens-Reid and Kristin Russo This Book Is Feminist: An Intersectional Primer for Next-Gen Changemakers by Jamia Wilson and Aurelia Durand (Illustrator)

Unlearning White Supremacy and Colonialist Culture

The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin Diangelo

Black Rage by William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

How to Understand Your Gender: A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are by Alex Iantaffi and Meg-John Barker

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell (Author) and Aurelia Durand (Illustrator)

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock

Gender Trauma: Healing Cultural, Social, and Historical Gendered Trauma by Alex Iantaffi

The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing, and Social Justice by Staci Haines

Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad

Articles and Online Resources (Including Research Articles)

White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun, at dRworks (This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture that show up in our organizations and workplaces.)

Reflections on Agroecology and Social Justice in Malwa-Nimar by Caroline E. Fazli

Mutual Aid Toolbox by Big Door Brigade Mutual Aid Resources by Mutual Aid Disaster Relief No body is expendable: Medical rationing and disability justice during the COVID-19 pandemic by Andrews, Ayers, Brown, Dunn, & Pilarski (2021)

A Marxist Theory of Extinction by Troy Vettese

Intersectionality Research for Transgender Health Justice: A Theory-Driven Conceptual Framework for Structural Analysis of Transgender Health Inequities by Linda M. Wesp, Lorraine Halinka Malcoe, Ayana Elliott, and Tonia Poteat Know Your Rights Guide to Surviving COVID-19 Triage Protocols by NoBody is Disposable

Finally Feeling Comfortable: The Necessity of Trans-Affirming, Trauma-Informed Care by Alex Petkanas (on TransLash Media)

'Are you ready to heal?': Nonbinary activist Alok Vaid-Menon deconstructs gender by Jo Yurcaba

Gender-affirming Care Saves Lives by Kareen M. Matouk and Melina Wald

What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis Hemphill

Note from the curator: Please use your local libraries when possible! Be #ResiliencePunk.

[suncaptor]

linked tree (includes options to donate to Ghanaian projects)

petition to show support

[resiliencebeast]

Boosting!

[mismedleym]

recollections

[mrporg]

[resiliencebeast]

My heart hurts on the daily, though the nightmares have lessened over time, from the loss of my baby, Siersha. Every pet loss has caused trauma, but losing a pet violently and not through planned euthanasia for QOL reasons caused PTSD (likely stroke/aneurysm while in my lap). Everywhere I go (and especially at home) I am reminded of her. This painting makes me feel less alone. She was beautiful and an FIP survivor (for 6-7 years!) after being in an early drug clinical trial. She was Velcro-ed to me and not a single "evil" bone in her body (evil meant in the affectionate way cats are devious in that lovable way).

[resiliencebeast]

Interrogating Gun Control in US-America

How does gun control intersect with disability, queerness, and other marginalizations? For me, it’s always been personal. I was in high school when the Columbine High School shooting happened. We wore ribbons pinned to our shirts in mourning and it was deeply impactful to everyone in my age group. I’ve had several friends lost due to gun violence. All of these things shaped my view on gun control – especially hand guns – when I was younger. I was more anti than I was pro.

More recently, there was a point in my life where I was camping alone a lot. My disability and chronic illness has contributed to a kind of housing insecurity that made this necessary. (I can’t tolerate the synthetic fragrance so ubiquitous in laundry products and staying long term in an apartment was causing me significant damage. So, I lived in my car part-time and bounced between campgrounds where I could get cell reception so that I could still work.). Long story short, while in one campground I was accosted by a man with visible neo-Nazi tattoos and an open-carry pistol on his hip. He threatened me verbally, threatened physical contact, trashed my property, and placed his hand on the holstered pistol while doing so. He threatened to shoot me while using a queer slur. A whole bunch of other strangers were watching (it was a busy campground) and did nothing.

I was able to get safely away from the situation, but it definitely left an impact on my psyche. Including a new fear of guns, specifically handguns. Association with that kind of violent person to the weapon was easy to make. I am sure many people who are not familiar with guns feel the same way even if they don’t have that kind of experience. Many city-dwellers and liberals in general seem to see guns as unnecessary and that only people who want to be violent or have violent fantasies are interested in them.

But as part of my own journey I’ve been doing a lot of reading on leftist theory. And listening to people who are more marginalized than myself (I’ll stick some recommended reading at the end here). I now see the freedom to own guns are a necessary right, and one we must protect.

I understand where liberals are sitting when they want to ban guns, restrict gun ownership and use. I used to be that person myself. I’ve changed. I believe my changed opinion is because I understand our reality better. (I also believe that the liberal view that “gun control is good” is by design and is another angle the bourgeois uses to pit working class people against each other – but that may be a topic for another detailed write-up.)

US-Americans make a mistake when we view guns and gun control in a vacuum. We must look at access and use of firearms in the context of the United States, its history, and the suite of horrors associated with the American Empire both domestic and international. Where our government and the people in power are invested in controlling and harming marginalized people. Where our military is bloated and used as a bullying force globally. Regulating guns has always been used as a tool to oppress marginalized people. And it still is! Gun regulation does NOT stop violent crime. We have ample research on what does stop or lessen violent crime: feeding, housing, educating, and giving people healthcare. But government policy does not commit to caring for people in these ways. Instead, money is funneled into policing. Also, as an aside, the majority of gun violence in the USA is self-harm—suicide! We know ways to reduce suicide as well and it's not with more regulation, it's with increased social support and saftey nets.

As a policy expert, when I look at ANY regulation restricting something, especially rights of individuals, I find it’s important to interrogate the impact of said regulation. The following are the “tests” I use, as applied to gun regulation:

1. Who decides?

Above all we have to ask "who decides" where the regulation will apply and how the language could be applied (not just how the policymakers say it will be applied). This question is pertinent if you restrict gun ownership due to “mental illness” or any other qualities an individual might be labeled with, including self-identifying labels. “Mental illness” is a common one I see when discussing gun control measures. But what counts as “mental illness” and who makes that assessment? Do we really want our government deciding what constitutes “mental illness”? Right now our government wants to qualify trans people as “mentally ill”, potentially restricting them as a whole class from gun ownership because “they decide” what mental illness is. Mental institutions and the mental healthcare system were and are weaponized against marginalized peoples. The links between structural and social determinants and mental health are also well documented. Also if a law puts cops in charge of dictating who can get a gun – LEOs are notorious for their bias against BIPOC, queer people, etc.

2. Who does the burden fall on (both financial and practical)? Any law that puts a financial burden on obtaining a firearms is burdening marginalized communities more (have you heard the adage that “if the punishment is a fee, that act is only illegal to poor people”? Yeah). Think about this factor with other laws, like restricting birth control or abortion rights. Even being required to travel to a certain location or fill out a form burdens some individuals far more than others. These barriers will have little impact on wealthy individuals, but they can be prohibitive for working-class people—who are also statistically more likely to be victims of violent crime and therefore have a strong interest in timely self-defense options! Restrictions on specific items, like suppressors, "high capacity" magazines, or whatever else, will also impact marginalized people more because of unequal enforcement.

3. What are the exemptions?

Often, exemptions can shine a light on the actual (not stated) goals of a restriction. For gun control, LEOS are often exempted in regulations despite of the fact that they are more likely to commit domestic violence than the general population. BIPOC people are also more likely to face police violence than white people so exemptions on gun restrictions for LEOS serves to shine a light on the underlying police-state and how the goal is actually to disenfranchise marginalized people.

4. Do the stated goals of the law match real-world effect?

Often the stated goal of gun regulation is to help violent gun crime. However, we have enough research now showing these laws have very little impact on violent crime. Feeding, housing, education, and providing safety nets for everyone is what reduces violent crime. Why does the USA funnel so much money into policing and the military if the people in power actually wanted science-based crime reduction? Why does the USA not fund healthcare, when we have many people dying because they can’t afford their medication or treatments? The answer is clear that their stated goal is not not the actual goal. And that’s shady.

5. Is it arbitrary or otherwise not common sense?

In my work in policy I see regulation that happens simply for it to seem like governments are “doing something” or so that policymakers can keep their base satisfied by throwing them a bone. By in large policymakers either do not understand their own lawmaking and/or they simply do not care. Many of them are outright malicious and know that the arbitrary regulation is potentially harmful or will cause more confusion. One area I’ve seen this come up is with California’s weird gun-control regulations. For example, they do not allow any guns that are not on their “list of approved firearms” but that list is not based in any real-world reasoning about those specific firearms. They also don’t allow suppressors even though the main real-world impact of suppressors would be to help protect the hearing of gun hobbyists (who are the majority of gun users). Guess what? A hit man won’t care about suppressors being illegal because murdering people for money is already illegal with a much worse penalty! The law is completely arbitrary and mostly impacts law-abiding people.

6. How do you keep the law from being discriminatory when we live in an unjust society?

Gun control has a greater burden on marginalized people in this country (both marginalized gun hobbyists AND every other marginalized gun owner). You cannot stop far right extremists from accessing and using weapons, because they already have them, and the US-American white supremacist culture encourages them. Far right extremists have been arming for a long time. You can’t un-ring that bell in the US! IN this real-world context you can’t now restrict guns up without using policies that would without question be turned on marginalized groups. Those policies are already being turned on marginalized people! For example, gun ownership regulations intended to target transgender people. And the overall history of racist gun laws. There is also the institutional bias in law enforcement and the "justice" system where people from marginalized groups are more likely to be impacted by unjust enforcement of gun control measures. Criminal records and background checks also disproportionately impact marginalized folks through racial profiling, police brutality, unequal conviction rates, false conviction, over sentencing, and cultural stigmatization.

As you can see, there are lots of pitfalls to gun regulation when taken in the context of the USA we live in, not some fantasy country. I was coming from a place of privilege when I didn’t consider these externalizations previously.

Instead, I used to view things from a very black-and-white mindset. I was trained to accept the formula of: violence = bad. Gun = violence. Gun = bad. Outlaw gun, problem of violence solved! Meanwhile, things like forced poverty, prison culture, police over-funding, healthcare costs, and other systemic issues were rarely part of the conversation around violence.

In our current reality, the cause of violence is not guns or even mental illness. The primary issue is a system built on injustice, exploitation, and bigotry. Until the intersecting lines of systemic oppression are resolved, the violence will not stop. If guns are a tool our oppressors use against marginalized people then members or allies of targeted communities are better off having the option to be armed. The fear of guns is rational and to a certain extent, even protective. It’s the same with using a chainsaw or toxic chemicals: you want to take precautions, use the proper PPE, and avoid become careless with something that can cause harm.

After my experience with a violent person in that campground it felt rational to be even more afraid. But I also noticed that I was transferring my fear of a persons actions to the tool he was using to threaten and bully me. My mind gets really stuck on a problem when I don’t know the “why” of things, and it started translating into a kind of PTSD around this incident and guns in general. I wanted to address that fear and try and get some data I could use to work through the “why” I was ruminating on. So I went to a meetup of my local Pink Pistols club. I was introduced to handguns by an experienced person who I had a baseline of trust for (due to being part of Pink Pistols, which is a queer group). I held and fired a pistol for the first time. Any PTSD I had around handguns was cured due to this first experience. Within a matter of seconds of picking up that first pistol and then use it to target shoot. PTSD gone (I wish all trauma was so easily addressed).

Because handling and firing a gun gave me the profound understanding that I will never understand someone who would try to harm or even threaten a person using a gun, just because. Because I am not that kind of person. The weight, the feel, the smell, everything about a pistol feels like a dangerous tool. Not unlike other dangerous tools. There was a gravity to holding a gun. And trying to understand someone who would intentionally try to harm someone or even just intimidate them with this deadly weapon, for no reason other than bigotry, hatred, or malice, was a pointless effort on my part. Ruminating on the “why” was a waste of my resources. So I stopped that anxious rumination.

Yes, I know people can train to get around that sense of gravity and perhaps even killing people. But the point is it most often takes intense training to do so. That’s different than someone who would casually threaten and bully someone.

Now that I’ve gone shooting a few more times – because it was actually fun and I wanted to learn more – that profound sense hasn’t gone away. Instead, I am learning more about myself and my community as a result. I’ve seen queer people being neighborly and vice versa to people who I would otherwise consider a threat because of the shared gun hobby. Also, as a disabled person with a busy mind who finds it hard to relax, shooting demands the kind of focus and care that quiets everything else.

I am not advocating that every marginalized person goes out and buys a gun tomorrow. What I am advocating for is that you interrogate your beliefs if you are someone who has blanket-supported gun control measures in the past. Weigh your feelings within the context of the country you live in and its history.

And listen to marginalized people, first and foremost.

“Can the hungry go on a hunger strike? Non-violence is a piece of theatre. You need an audience. What can you do when you have no audience? People have the right to resist annihilation” ― Arundhati Roy

Recommended resources:

Escaping the Gun Debate Trap, a Ted Talk by David Yamane (can be found here) (from TEDxWakeForestU) and Gun Curious: A Liberal Professor’s Surprising Journey Inside America’s Gun Culture also by David Yamane

Jim Crow and the Racist Roots of Gun Control by Dave Kopel

Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States edited by Joe Macaré, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price with foreword by Alicia Garza

The Racist Roots of Gun Control by Clayton Cramer 

This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible by Charles E. Cobb Jr.

Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths, article by David Danelski for University of California, Riverside, referencing the 2023 study: Novel Estimates of Mortality Associated With Poverty in the US

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado (Author) and Jean Stefancic

Pink Pistols, a division of Operation Blazing Sword, is dedicated to the legal, safe, and responsible use of firearms for self-defense of the gender and sexual minority community. www.pinkpistols.org

[milquetoast-zeitgeist]

[i-add-sources]

Were Gay Concentration Camp Prisoners 'Put Back in Prison' After World War II?

An online comedy series highlighted the fact that the end of the war did not mean the end of persecution for many gay German men.

This is true

Reading tip: https://www.amazon.com/Einsam-war-nie-Lutz-VanDijk/dp/3896560972#detailBullets_feature_div. It's published in at least German and Dutch, don't know about english. Günter Grau does have some other English (translated) publications that might be worth reading but I have not read those myself.

[isuggestlandback]

I have a baby cousin who's Two Spirit.

Their parents are leftists, open minded, pro LGBTQ+, learned to use the right pronouns (to their face at least) all that jazz.

Their Auntie grew up in a remote area, little old fashioned, doesn't really "get" the non binary thing, and hasn't quite got the hang of the singular 'they' yet. But she tries.

When my cousin got injured and couldn't drive their parents shrugged and told them to quit their job.

Their Auntie drove them to and from work every day until they got their cast off.

Which family member do you think they'll ask next time they need help?

Do you want to be ideologically perfect, or do you want to help?

[probablyapinecone]

[isuggestlandback]

☝️☝️☝️

[resiliencebeast]

Important. Very important. And a good reminder to myself. Perfectionism is a tool of the oppressors.

[threefeline]

"You will often be subjected to uncomfortable situations in public and you should learn to navigate that" and "if you play your music out loud in a public hike then the other hikers should be allowed to hunt you for sport" are two sentiments that can and should co-exist

[goat-boots]

I copy pasted parts of this but I do hand letter everything, because while I'm trying to work easier as I'm chronically ill, I am still chronically stupid

[resiliencebeast]

Well shit, if this does not beautifully illustrate chronic illness...

[stimman3000]

“oh you wouldn’t identify as transgender if you hadn’t been exposed to other trans people and learned what being transgender was” you’re right! i’d identify as suicidal

[unknought]

social contagion is good actually

[tanadrin]

“better for people to be miserable in the right way than happy in the wrong way” is the inescapable conclusion of a lot of social conservatism

[gowns]

[black-sasuke]

Protect black women. Fuck the state of Georgia.

[gerbildine]

Same Georgia that, last year, kept Adriana Smith’s brain dead body corpse alive because she was 9 weeks pregnant, against her families pleas by the way. They even forced the babies birth date earlier because she was decomposing! As of 2 weeks ago he was finally taken out of NICU but is still to this day, entirely reliant on oxygen, because he can’t breath on his own. And who pays for this? The government and hospital used a dead black womans body for an experiment after all, so of course they’d at LEAST foot the bill right? Just kidding it’s the family that wanted to put their daughter and grandson to rest of course! It’s only $600,000+ USD!

​

​And to those of you who think you’re safe because you’re ready and wanting to start a family so obviously youre not getting an abortion anyway! So what?? Think again!! Because you can now be charged as a “would be killer” for using pain killers during pregnancy because the same ingredient just HAPPENS to also be found in abortion pills!

They literally used these women as experimental test runs for what they can get away with and they’re getting away with it!!

Justice For Alexia Moore and Adriana Smith

[elierlick]

The Department of Education worked with the far-right Family Research Council to officially designate March 12th as Detrans Awareness Day last year. But what actually leads people to detransition? It's not regret, but social stigma, incited by the very figures who claim to protect detransitioners. I want to hear their stories describing how the current moral panic influenced their decisions.

[resiliencebeast]

Another problem is that non-binary people who may have a non-linear idea of transition are often lumped in with de-trans people. For example, someone who goes on HRT with a plan to stop when they get to a certain point. I've also seen some trans people who thought they were binary-trans realize later they were non-binary which changed their physical transition goals. The hate, bigotry, and misinformation surrounding non-binary people is a problem. Non-binary people are transgender! Being transgender does not require ANY physical intervention! This is a mistake and highlights the transmedicalism and toxic binary that plagues all our institutions (and even the queer community tom some extent).

[guerrillatech]

[hekatontarch]

[queertail]

The site is '12ft Ladder' found here:

12ft – Hop any paywall

Show me a 10ft paywall, I’ll show you a 12ft ladder.

[sola-whumping]

Reblogging this on ALL my blogs because holy shit is it useful

[resiliencebeast]

Adding to the tool set of: ConnectedPapers

SciHub

RemovePaywalls 12ft

Unpaywall

[resiliencebeast]

Okay, we love her. And love to hate her. She’s poisonous and will make your skin blister and weep and itch but she’s not afraid to show off anyway.

Other plants bloom in spring but her showing off constitutes glossy maroon leaves, glittering like rubies in the sun.

“Warning, do not eat!” Say the anthocyanins. “Protect me from UV!” Is the visual message. Almost the opposite of chlorophyll and I can’t help but wonder how my color vision transforms the landscape. Poison oak next to the purples, yellows, and whites of spring flowers.

[bobacupcake]

its a mystery

[resiliencebeast]

It really hurts to leave the places my dead cats touched with their lives. That shelf they destroyed. The nose-printed window glass. The places I will never vacuum because what if there is a long-lost whisker still lying there.

[resiliencebeast]

Banana Cake

"Oh wow, I've never seen vegan banana cake!" I was in a strange city. I was worn ragged after a long day of socializing with co-workers I rarely saw in person. Overall, things were going well. Even then I had a ton of health constraints, food allergies and reactions to the environment that made travel much more difficult. I can't travel at all anymore. This was one of the last times I did before disability and chronic illness shuttered those doors. There was still that sense of being unsafe in a strange environment that didn't come from being chronically ill. Instead, it came from being queer. Last time I'd traveled for work I'd been accosted simply because of my hair cut. Sometimes, I couldn't even identify how people knew. It was always hard packing for trips. Is this outfit too visibly queer? Do I care? Am I putting my workplace at risk by putting MYSELF at risk? I was in a big chain grocery store looking for food for the evening. Glancing over the baked goods int heir little clamshells. Vegan. Banana. Cake. "It's really good! We do usually stock it but it sells out most days." A store employee labeling bread into the case next to me said. Our eyes met. I registered the stickers they'd chosen for their name badge. The haircut. I felt immediate recognition and could see it in their eyes too. Queer person to queer person. Even though I was stealthing as hard as I could, they saw me. "Very cool," I said, "We don't get this in stores where I am from. I love cream cheese frosting but am allergic to dairy..." "Here," They grabbed one boxed slice of the banana cake and overrode the price tag with a red SALE sticker in from their wand. "I hope you stay safe in [their city]." They recommended a gay bar to me. A cafe nearby lodgings I could relax at. They smiled that smile and winked that wink queer people sometimes have for each other. The one that feels like a hushed 2am conversation during a sleepover with friends. I wish I could have told them in that moment that they would change me forever. In a small way, but significant. A pebble on the scale of my life that would start to tip things a new direction. In a way that made me come out to my work as trans and change my name. In a way that I kept allowing more of myself out into the world despite decades spent in the closet. Because queerness isn't defined by fear. It's really defined by connection to something that is inherently human. Community and solidarity and even joy in the face of oppression and bigotry. Yeah, it's imperfect. But humans are imperfect and messy and wrong sometimes too... and that's just part of the chaos that is life. And that night I sat on my uncomfortable B&B bed and ate spiced, vegan, 80% off, banana cake. And thought "somebody saw me" and remembered all the other times people saw me. I'll remember how that tasted for the rest of my life.

[lastoneout]

The proliferation of casual ableism on the internet is deeply exhausting and disheartening. Republicans aren't the only people who can backslide into fascism.

Anyway sorry, saw a video from a youtuber I liked where they say that there is no excise bar an emergency to not return your cart and those who don't deserve to be harassed and shamed and it was kinda a joke but like. Can you at the very least please say you don't mean disabled people when making these kinds of broad, sweeping statements?? Is that too much to ask.

Trump wants to round us up into camps and torture us to "fix" us. We need allies and you wasting your time bullying non-disabled people helps no one, especially with how often disabled people—who're already denied full access to society—get caught in the crossfire.

[the-dovecote]

Can I ask what specifically might prevent disabled people from returning grocery carts? Is it an issue of mobility? I know when my grandma goes to the store she uses the cart as kind of a mobility aid (leaning on it for stability etc) is this something similar? I apologize if this seems rude or beside the point of your post, I'm just trying to fill in a blind spot since it isn't obvious to me.

[lastoneout]

It's not rude! I don't mind explaining.

Using myself as an example, I have a condition called polymorphous light eruption which is essentially an allergy to UV light that causes extremely painful and itchy rashes even with just a short 10 minute exposure which occasionally are bad enough I have to go to the ER, as well as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome which makes me extremely susceptible to heat, and spending too much time at high temps and/or in the sun can cause vomiting and even fainting. I also live in Arizona, where the UV index is basically never at a reasonable level and is consistently over 90F for 2/3rds of the year.

So, if I was shopping by myself, either with my wheelchair or without, I would need to ensure I spend as little time in the sun and heat as possible, as every extra minute is one step closer to me having a medical emergency. And it would be worse if I was in my wheelchair, I've used carts with it before but it's really difficult and that + the sun and heat means I would never be able to take it back myself. I also have pretty bad chronic pain that severely limits how many steps and spoons I get in a day. Some days I have plenty and I can run the cart back myself, but some days just that extra bit of walking could be agony or push me over my energy envelope and leave me bedridden for several days. If I only have enough energy or reserved painless step to feed myself OR take the cart back...I'm feeding myself, you know?

I do know some people use the cart as a mobility aid, before I got a wheelchair that's something I did a lot, but if you don't park near a cart return that does mean, unless you have your own aid, you have to walk back to your car unsupported. So while it works for some, for a lot of us that's still gonna make it hard to reliably take the cart back.

Those are just my issues tho. A D/deaf or HoH or even blind/low vision person probably doesn't want to spend too much time in a parking lot where they can't hear and/or see other cars driving past, same for wheelchair users as most cars legit cannot see us until it's too late. Someone with sensory issues could find a parking lot and grocery store extremely overwhelming, and most of us who have those issues are cognizant of avoiding a public breakdown because of the violence it typically invites down upon us. Someone with IBS or asthma or other medical conditions that can pop up suddenly and without warning might want to take the cart back but can't bcs within a few minues they went from fine to not fine and now need to go home or get medical help. Once pushing a cart on a snowy day across a lot gave me a near deadly asthma attack, and I know a lot of people who have fallen in icy or snowy lots who permanently worsened their health due to broken bones or other similar injuries. Falling would be a medical emergency for me.

And as much as it might seem selfish or over dramatic, at the end of the day I think a disabled person is well within their rights to prioritize getting what they need and getting home safely over being courteous by returning the cart. Also, most disabled people who can't take carts back know how it can be seen as rude or kinda dangerous for others, and thus try to put them somewhere out of the way. We don't tend to be the ones putting them where cars need to drive, that tends to be abled people who just don't give a shit and those folks def suck.

And honestly the solution to this isn't really shame or even just shrugging and giving up! Stores can hire more cart collectors and build solar panel shaders all over the lot because then there'd be less time with carts in the way and help reduce the use of fossil fuels, but also because that way a disabled person could easily request help getting their cart back so it's never in the way at all OR won't be at as high a risk of medical issues due to sun and heat exposure or BOTH. But they don't. It's an example of a business providing the bare minimum and letting individuals bear the responsibility of accessibility rather than themselves, the reason this sucks and who had the power to change things for the better.

It also doesn't just apply to disabilities tho. A parent with a small child doesn't want them in the sun and heat or rain or cold for too long or potentially running into traffic, but leaving them in the car isn't better bcs it takes a while for the heat/AC to work and also isn't exactly safe, so I wouldn't fault that parent for deciding to err on the side of caution and not take their cart back. The solutions I mentioned could help them too, and even help keep the cart collectors safer in extreme weather!

But yeah all that to say no worries at all, these are blind spots for a LOT of people. I myself used to be a huge "if you don't take the cart back you're scum and there's no excuse" type person when I was younger and not disabled like I am now, but when I saw other disabled people gentely explaining that disabled people have reasons they can't always follow societal etiquette standards and I was like "oh...oh that makes sense actually fuck" and shifted my view, and becoming disabled drove it home. It's always good to seek info and broaden your understanding of the world, we all miss a lot more than we think.

Those are all the main examples I can think of rn tho, and I hope it was helpful! If anyone has anything to add feel free!

(Edit: I wanted to clarify "out of the way" does not mean in a disabled spot or accessibility lane, I don't fault disabled people too much for this, but when abled people pile carts up in those areas it makes the parking lot even less safe. But even then, the solution is making returning a cart as easy and safe as possible, not yell at those people who don't when that won't really make them stop. Yell at the grocery store!!)

[lastoneout]

@userlabel too correct to stay in the tags

[lingonberry24]

"also just like an able bodied person might look at a hiking trail and intuitively know its too much for them (even if they Could Do It), a disabled person can intuitively and automatically evaluate that [something else] is too much"

This is world-changing in terms of how I explain my disability to others.

[resiliencebeast]

@lastoneout explains the complication of disability with "moral tests" including returning a shopping cart so well. It's true that disabled folks often intuitively know if something is too much for them or too risky for them. However, it's also true that many disabled people override that intuition BECAUSE OF THE ABLEISM seen everywhere around them in their daily lives. Able bodied people need to speak up for disabled folks more instead of always leaving that advocacy to the ones most affected. Not only online like in the example of the shopping cart post, but among friend and family, workplaces, etc. For example! I have similar conditions with EDS, dysautonomia, polymorphous light eruption/anaphylaxis from UV light, mast cell disorders, etc. All of which are some flavor of "invisible" as I am not a wheelchair user (mostly because I can either walk or am fainting/in anaphylaxis, with little in-between). I have a disability placard (for parking) I use on the rare times I do my own shopping or out-and-about tasks (I normally cannot or do not go out in public due to anaphylaxis risks). But because I can walk I have been harassed and even assaulted due to that placard use. I have also been harassed and assaulted for wearing an N95 mask since the pandemic started (though I wore masks long before the pandemic). I don't use my placard when I judge I don't need it or am likely not to need it. Usually this is the case on days I am feeling good and the sun isn't out (even 2 extra steps on hot concrete can mean the difference between being okay and my heart stopping some days). Most chronically ill and disabled people have a fine-tuned risk analysis machine that is always working away in the background. Many of us ignore that risk analysis because of ableism and bigotry and pay for it with our won sweat, blood, tears, and sometimes lives. It's not enough to not judge others. You also need to challenge ableism where you see it in our culture. It's the only way to effect change.

[hapalopus]

I reeeeaaalllyy don't like how widespread gender realism is in supposedly feminist circles on this website. You are one step away from becoming a radfem.

[hapalopus]

"Woman" is a socially constructed category and "women" have nothing intrinsic in common, other than viewing themselves as whatever "woman" is defined as in their society, or being judged by the standards of whatever "woman" is defined as in their society. Gender is as "real" of a category as race or neurotype, which is to say, it's not objectively real at all. It's an artificial category created on the basis of perceived shared traits among certain people. The people came first, they were grouped into their artificial category later. There are no intrinsic differences between men or women or nonbinary or multigender people.

[hapalopus]

Do you actually believe gender is a social construct or are you just mindlessly repeating the phrase because it sounds cool

[dykepuffs]

Watching the queer way of interacting with gender go from "Gender is a social construct that can be fun to play with but at heart is a dangerous toy because it has been used for generations to oppress and divide people." To "Everyone has a perfect crystal of true gender which you must deeply introspect to discover, and you can be wrong about its nature." Has been a disaster.

[sodomit]

The merge of truscum "gender is your brain's sexual dimorphism" and radfem "gender is your material position under patriarchy" is surely giving interesting results.

[resiliencebeast]

OMFG this explains the ick I've been getting from a lot of feminist rhetoric lately.