[bookhobbit]

this is sort of vague because I'm not sure if I can make it make sense but I wish more 101 nonbinary activist materials focused less on just "gender isn't binary" and more on "the fact that gender is a social construct means it is constructed differently in different cultures and is in a constant state of change like everything else about a culture"

like...it's not just about updating the gender system to recognize non-binary genders but also about recognizing that the social construction of gender is extremely responsive to time/place and this is true even for "man" and "woman" which means that there's no reason to invalidate anyone's expression or feelings about their gender, no matter what gender it is or how familiar it is to you

[bookhobbit]

a further thought: this is also why I don't think gender abolition is a useful goal, because, as Rikki Anne Wilchins put it, gender is primarily a system for creating meanings, and if you actually tried to totally erase the concept of any gender at all from the world, that would involve erasing a huge amount of cultural meaning, probably without actually fixing inequality tbh

on the other hand, if you acknowledge that there are as many gender systems as there are cultures, and that there are probably as many variations on even the normative genders as there are people in that culture who belong to them, then gender essentialism loses the vast majority of its power because if the meaning of gender changes across cultures (even across relatively small cultural shifts), then that means they're not inherent moral truths of the universe, they're ways of performing particular cultural meanings

and this makes non-binary genders, and nonnormative gender expressions, no less concrete than binary genders with normative expressions, not by saying "actually a non-binary gender is a concrete object with xyz characteristics" but by saying "all genders are arbitrary", which creates room for essentially infinite space and self-determination

I have no idea if any of this makes sense, I just visualize, like, a garden

[yuyuuyuyuu-deactivated20230726]

i am FULLY against the sentiment that we don’t owe anybody anything. we owe people common decency. we owe people respect if it has been given to us. we owe people apologies & explanations when we hurt them. i don’t care.

[quotefeeling]

“Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just… start.”

— Ijeoma Umebinyuo

[kaijutegu]

you don’t need to ask for jane anymore: a guide to coming to chicago for a safe, low-cost abortion

A lot of people in the US are super worried about the Supreme Court axing Roe v. Wade, but what they might not know is that some states have laws in place that will protect the right to reproductive choice and abortion if that happens. One of these states is the state of Illinois. In 2019, a law was passed that protects abortion rights within the state even if the federal right to an abortion falls. This means that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will still be a protected right in Illinois. Even before Roe, Chicago was a haven for safe abortions- you just called and asked for Jane.

Now, safe abortion access is the law of the land in IL, and there are several groups who can help you. This post is long, but I think it’s worthwhile. Even if you don’t read all the way through it, maybe save it for later. You or someone you know might need it. If you want to stop now, the TL;DR is this:

f you’re a minor and you can’t tell your parents, get a waiver of notification from the IL Judicial Bypass program.

Schedule your appointment.

Contact abortion funds to get financial aid. Your home state might have s fund, and the Chicago Abortion Fund can help.

Secure housing for the procedure through the Midwest Access Coalition or by talking to the intake staff at the clinic of your choice.

I’d like to start by saying that the closer to home you get your abortion, should you need one, the easier it will be for you… probably. It depends on your individual situation AND your safety. If I still lived in Indiana and I needed an abortion, I’d probably leave to get it done, even though there are abortion providers in Indiana, because Indiana is super hostile and there’s lots of clinic protestors- for example, when I was taking my GRE my senior year at Notre Dame, the testing center was in this little strip mall in Mishawaka next to Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the PP in Mishawaka does not provide abortions, there were protestors who yelled at me for going in there. I wasn’t even going to PP. I’d like to say that I said something devastatingly cool but I just ran in flustered. Point being: It really, really would have sucked if I was there for healthcare instead of a standardized test for graduate school. And that’s a very tame, mild situation! Real abortion clinic protests are often much more devastating! 

ANYWAYS. The less you have to travel, the easier things tend to be, if it’s safe to get an abortion where you are and if your state will have protected abortions if Roe is overturned. If you’re not sure what might happen in your state in that case, this map has a clear, succinct overview of the legal status of abortion in each state and all US territories. You will want to click through to that link, because this image isn’t interactive.

[ID: a map of the US with states and territories sorted by their legal protections for abortion into four categories: expanded access in the case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, protected, not protected, and hostile. IL is highlighted.]

So let’s say you live in any of those red states. (Yellow and blue are safe- abortion access is protected there.) Let’s say, worst case scenario, Roe gets overturned and you get pregnant and you want to terminate. You will be able to do that in IL, and it’s relatively easy to do that in Chicago for a relatively low cost and with the benefit of a robust support network of people who want to reaffirm your reproductive choices.

First, if you’re a minor and you don’t want to tell your parents because it’s not safe for you to do so, get a judicial waiver of parental notification. The IL ACLU has a judicial bypass hotline. This will come at no cost to you. Do this ASAP, because it takes time to get it set up! You can do this by calling the hotline at 877-442-9727, texting 312-560-6607, or emailing [email protected].

Next, you need to get an appointment set up. You could get a referral from someone local to you, but this can be tricky- 87% of counties in the US don’t have an abortion provider, and google can lead you to a crisis pregnancy center. They will not help you. If you have a local Planned Parenthood, call them. Even if they don’t provide abortions, they can refer you to someone who can. If you’re coming to Chicago, which this post… kind of assumes you are… you can call any of these groups to talk about your options and what clinics can help you. I recommend starting with FPA or PP; those are two actual clinics. MAC and CAF are funds- they can direct you but they can’t schedule an appointment for you.

Family Planning Associates (FPA): 312-707-8988 or use their online schedule tool, found here: https://www.fpachicago.com/schedule-now/ Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF): Phone: [phone] (note: the helpline is only staffed MWF from 3:30-6:30 PM CST, or email [email protected] Midwest Access Coalition (MAC): 847-750-6224 or email [email protected] Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PP): 1-800-230-7526

You might want to shop around and see which clinic costs the least, and is the most practical for you to get to. FPA has a lot of patient resources, as does PP. Don’t be afraid to ask for financial assistance. The people staffing those organizations have extensive networks and deep compassion for their patients- if the clinic can’t help, they might know who can.

Once you’ve made an appointment, now’s the time to start gathering financial aid. Some insurance, including IL Medicaid, covers it. If yours does not, or if the copay is still too much, this is where abortion funds come into play. Many states have their own abortion funds for state residents, so you might have to look around to see who can help you. I’d start with the National Network of Abortion Funds.

You also need to figure out transportation and housing while you’re in the city to get your abortion. This isn’t super necessary if you’re just coming for the pill abortion, but if you’re coming for a d and c or other surgical procedure, you will be staying for a couple of days. THIS is why I’m writing this up, because abortion funds typically only are able to help cover the financial cost of the procedure. It’s expensive to stay somewhere and it can be absolutely terrifying if you’re on your own! Navigating while you’re in pain from the procedure can be an absolute devil of a time, too! However, Chicago has MAC (contact info above), which is a practical access fund, which means that they help pay for transportation to the city (bus tickets and train tickets) and around the city (volunteer drivers or volunteers who take rideshares with clients), food, aftercare medicine (painkillers, etc.), and housing, and there’s also free access to emotional support staff throughout your stay. This is not just open to IL residents; it’s open to anyone coming to the city for an abortion. ALSO if you go through FPA, they have a partnership with the Hampton Inn a block away from their location where their patients get a discount. If you go that route, just talk to FPA about housing and they’ll hook you up. This can be super helpful if you need some evidence that you’re on a “business trip” or something like that- if you are in a position where you need an excuse for your safety, that might work well.

Hopefully you won’t need this post- but if you do, I hope it helps. Feel free to share it around. If you have anti-choice opinions and you feel the need to share, don’t. This isn’t the space for it; you will be blocked and your comments removed. And then remember that criminalizing abortion won’t stop abortion. It’ll just stop safe abortions. Also, increased access to abortion, funnily enough, tends to be the thing that lowers abortion rates, because increased access to abortion comes part and parcel with increased access to birth control and general health and sex education.

[kaijutegu]

Reblogging this because it’s always relevant… and because an administrative decision by MAC’s incredible leadership means they don’t just do bus and train tickets anymore. They will also help pay for airline tickets if you need to fly. If you are in the US and need to come to Chicago for an abortion, MAC’s got your back.

[kaijutegu]

In light of recent events.

https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a37668369/abortion-funds-crisis-where-to-donate-end-of-roe/

https://abortionfunds.org/

http://www.sparkrj.org/

https://keepourclinics.org/

https://www.nirhealth.org/local-reproductive-freedom-index/

[uroko]

Kaoru Honda

[supermoonscarab]

too much self reflection is not a good thing honestly. go outside and plant a garden and then cook yourself a homemade dinner then mop the floors and change your sheets and take a hot shower then you won’t care so much

[skorpyius]

it's not "strengths & weaknesses", it's just: things you were naturally good at, things that you worked on, things that you haven't worked on just yet and things that you can't work on because of some physical difference from people who can do that thing (which is not to be mistaken for incompetence on your part). don't think too much. one step at a time. everything's okay

[unfleshly]

mentally i'm still just a child watching morning cartoons

[skorpyius]

"morning cartoons" is a feeling

[frogndtoad]

that night, frog and toad were both happy

[kabaks]

you know what i’ve never seen. one of those really big trees. like the massive ones in california. i feel like if i saw one i’d start crying immediately

[kabaks]

trust me when i say i would be going absolutely apeshit if i was this kid

[kabaks]

tell me this doesn’t fill you with some latent animal urge to scuttle your way to the canopy and check for predators

[fandomsandfeminism]

We went there last summer.

The scale of these trees just…breaks your brain. Cameras cannot convey what it is like to stand at the base of one of these things. Each tree is the biggest fucking tree you’ve ever seen and theres just….an entire forest of the fucking things. Hundreds of years old, hundreds of feet high.

[asyayay]

i don’t know how widespread news of lebanon is currently, but we are watching a country fall apart, quite literally. fortunately for my family, we are seeing it from a distance. it is painful for us, but nothing compared to those there. it was hard enough to see our old apartment destroyed last year and the subsequent damage of currency collapse and pandemic. only 3 years ago, the lira was (for reference) 1500lira/1USD. now it is 20,000lira/1USD. just this week the bakeries have closed. people are desparate for medications from abroad. the american university of beirut medical centre has been rationing fuel. when it runs out, many patients will die immediately. i am turkish and my partner is syrian. we studied and worked in the usa but planned to settle in beirut, which felt for us like home. now we have little hope of that life. we know some people in lebanon begging for visas to syria. my little neice vomited in the car on the way to the syrian border because of the smell of garbage in lebanon. i was in denial for weeks because i’ve never (outside of my studies in history) seen such rapid collapse. i thought my family was spilling some nationalistic nonesense. but now there is no denying the dire situation. and what a loss. lebanon was the most progressive and accepting society in the region, even compared to wealthy countries nearby. it’s really shocking.

Over 150 patients will die when fuel runs out: Lebanon's AUB Hospital

At least 40 adults and 15 children on ventilators and other lifesaving medical devices will die on Monday once fuel runs out, the American U

Lebanon blackouts force hospitals, bakeries to shut or scale back operations

Lebanon's worsening fuel crisis reaches a painful crunch point, with hospitals and businesses either scaling back operations or shutting dow

[fusdoq]

Lebanese diaspora and friends are buying medications en masse and sending them to people there, it's a total collapse of the economy. everything is unbelievably expensive and people are starting to rationing food!!! hell absolute hell!

and last night, to add fuel to the fire, a big blast of a fuel tanker happened and over 20 people died, and tens of other are severely burned.

[uroko]

Keiichi T

[mjalti]

the way it always comes back to water, the way it all comes down to water,

[mapeauaime]

https://www.instagram.com/p/COwBRwCrG9n/

[lakemichiganbaby-moved-deactiva]

tbh i feel like ppl are like "shy" abt giving small amounts but most ppl will probably really appreciate even a 2 or 3 dollar donation on mutual aid posts and if more people had the mindset of oh, let me give this person like 2 bucks cos i can spare it, ppls stuff would get taken care of pretty fast if 40 ppl gave 2 bucks or whatever. esp since like lots of mutual aid is poor ppl passing money back n forth to each other. nobodys gonna judge u

[uroko]

Keiichi T

[antigonick]

hey pauline! i was wondering if you would be willing to write up a new fundamentals post for your antiquity section? the link to your old blog is gone :( and as someone who wants to take a deep dive in greek literature, i was wanting to know what “the fundamentals” were exactly. if you don’t have the time, would you mind giving out your personal favorites of greek literature if you have any? thanks for this incredible blog! :)

Hey there! I don't know why it's not working for you, but it's still... working for me? Let me put the links to the masterpost and to the antiquity section here for you (it's old though, I haven't updated that in years—take it with a grain of salt!)

THE WHOLE LIST is here.

and then:

• Where can I start? The fundamental works • Where can I start? The mythology-oriented works • Where can I start? Some non-greek mythology • Where can I start? Slavic mythology especially • Where can I start? The translation edition • A very touristic overview of Ancient Greek literature • Different texts for Antigone • Different texts for Elektra • Different texts and translations for The Odyssey