If you have a cat please reblog this with its name please and thank you
almost home

oozey mess

ellievsbear
NASA
No title available
wallacepolsom
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
RMH
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blake kathryn
Misplaced Lens Cap
Today's Document

#extradirty
$LAYYYTER

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we're not kids anymore.
noise dept.
Cosimo Galluzzi

⁂

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
seen from Australia
seen from India
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from India
seen from India
seen from Spain
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Sweden
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Poland

seen from United Kingdom

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Australia
@zispot
If you have a cat please reblog this with its name please and thank you
you gonna bac up your claim that cisgender straight people who lack sexual attraction have always been queer? or is speaking out your ass all you can do
Sure! Let’s go! I’m always up to stretch both my lgbt history muscles. Sorry if it took awhile but I am passionate about this stuff and wanted to do some good writing and find some really great sources for you! 😊
In 1869 a humanitarian and journalist named Karl-Maria Kertbeny published pamphlets to oppose the sodomy law in Prussia. In these pamphlet he is widely regarded as beginning the terms “homosexual” and “heterosexual” in the academic mainstream; though, it is likely these were lgbt terms used long before that time. In this same pamphlet advocating explicitly for gay rights, Kertbeny refers to those who engage only in masturbation and not in sex with others as seperate from straight people, coining an entirely different term: “monosexual.” Now, this term is outdated and widely used the m-spec sub community to refer to straight, gay, and lesbian folks lacking multi-gender attraction, but he states very explicitly in all his work that this term is meant to refer to people we would now understand to be asexual.
A little later, in the 1890’s we have sexologist, founder of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, and an openly gay man himself, Magnus Hirschfeld. He published his work “Sappho and Sokrates”: a pamphlet he wrote with the task of explaining the lgbt community to straight people. He makes multiple references to and defences of what he called “anesthesia sexuals.” Again, an outdated term, but as you can see, both gay advocates and straight allies referenced us as being part of the community like it was nothing.
Meanwhile, we have the lovely Emma Trosse, an academic peer to Hirschfeld. She discussed gay rights—especially the rights of lesbians and non-binary people—very openly and wrote multiple papers on the subject. But at her heart, Trosse was a researcher, and so her most famous work, naturally, was an indepth study of what she referred to as “counter-sexualities” as stand in for what we now know as the broader lgbt community. In this work she coins the phrase Asensuality, stating “the author has the courage to admit to this category” officially coming out in her own study! Damn lady! We love her. The Schwules Museum (literally the Gay Museum), a famous German LGBTQ+ museum dedicated to collections focusing on the history of lgbt research, features her work prominently. She also holds the distinction of having been banned as a “degenerate” author in Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, and Russia for that very work. On top of that, she was the first woman on record to have a treatise in defense of lgbt people and our community published in 1895, even before her colleague Hirschfeld had his first works published.
As you can see 19th century Germany was a hub of lgbt theory, research, and activism still studied by lgbt historians today. It is widely credited as being a period of time that brought our history into print and the mainstream. And ace people, as I noted before, have been involved both in mention and in activism from the beginning according to both prominent allies, gay folks, and ace folks who were scholars during this period.
But, now lets move over with a bigger hop to the sexual revolution in America; which mirrored the German one in many ways! This is the period of time a lot of people, especially americans, think of as the start of our mainstream history—which as you can see a very americancentric idea, but I digress. Even here we have asexuals represented among the community by diverse members of the community.
You’ve probably heard of the Asexual Manifesto, written by Lisa Orlando and published by the New York Radical Feminists. A very important document to ace-spec people, it defines us as a sexuality seperate and distinct from straight; but you aren’t interested in what we have to say about ourselves and our experiences so lets move on to other lgbt people validating us.
Kinsey—himself an m-spec or multisexual person—recognized us in his research, which he picked up from at the point our lovely Hirschfeld left off, basically. This was later expanded on by Michael D Storm, author of Theories of Sexual Orientation. He reimagined the Kinsey Scale as a two dimensional map, which became the beginnings of the modern Kinsey Scale used in the lgbt community today. He posited it was better able to distinguish asexuals from m-spec people as it defined them less based on sexual preferences, or lack their of, based in gender (which would put both sexualities squarely in the centre of the 1D scale), and more on their self described experiences of attraction. So that’s right, you read correctly; the latest rendition of the Kinsey Scale was created in response to a piece that was published after Kinsey’s original studies specifically to better include asexuals who were already featured in the study and scale.
Then we move to the “The Sexually Oppressed.” Published in 1977, it was a book that did exactly what it set out to do: describe people who were oppressed by heteronormative society and their struggles. It was published by social worker, Harvey L. Gochros and featured the work of Myra T. Johnson in a piece describing the way in which mainstream culture affected asexual women specifically, and how straight feminists often shamed and gatekept them from liberating movements, while straight men continued to be an omnipresent threat via corrective assault and forced institutionalization. It was actually a text book in my college, very good read—goes into the ableism present in sexual oppression as well. I highly recommend it.
Also, just as a bonus, I’ve included an extra link below to “On the Racialization of Asexuality” by Ianna Hawkins Owen. She goes into depths about how the allosexual vs asexual discourse we see starting in America in the 70's—which has turned into the modern global “ace discourse” of today—started with nationalist discussions that have their roots in white supremacy, the white construction of binary womanhood, and chattel slavery. An offering from my university days.
Anyways, I hope you and any other lovely readers who come across this enjoy and educate yourselves a bit. Knowledge is power!
P.S. I could not find “The Sexually Oppressed” available online for some reason (but mind you, I am very bad at computers) so I linked a website that should show you the nearest library in your area that carries it. It’s a very popular social work read.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/asexuality-history-internet-identity-queer-archive.html
http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~pbarfuss/Asexual-Manifesto-Lisa-Orlando.pdf
https://books.google.ca/books?id=XbgTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT113&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://books.google.ca/books?id=IH2GCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA122&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.worldcat.org/title/sexually-oppressed/oclc/925168401&referer=brief_results
Decided to answer a very stinky ask for pride month! Some more asexual and aromantic history below, with some sources for both a quick read and a less quick read.
Also, be warned, my nerves are frayed, and I was certainly less polite this time. Sorry for that, guys 😔
I really do try to keep my cool, but the sass slips when it becomes obvious someone isn’t actually interested with the factual answer to their question, y’know?
https://anam-writes.tumblr.com/post/653574281024897024/its-crazy-how-none-of-the-sources-you-linked
it’s crazy how none of the sources you linked actually say cishet aces were considered lgbt, just that having no attraction to other genders
What a saga. But honestly, guys, I’m just here for some nice pride month time! Ace history, scrumptious, and super intersectionally relevant.
https://anam-writes.tumblr.com/post/653579554112274432/thr-golden-orchid-society-was-for-all-women-who
thr golden orchid society was for all women who didn’t wanna get married and wasn’t an lgbt group. what’s next you’re gonna claim aces are l
Hey, @rittz! Hope you don’t mind me responding to you here so I can keep everything nice and orderly on my end.
There’s an issue I have with this argument, you see. And it’s one I see a whole bunch.
“Linking the asexual community’s history to century old lgbt+ movements does not have bearing on contemporary discussion,” (if I may paraphrase) is a common view.
And while you and others are sort of correct, you are sort of not. It wouldn’t necessarily be relevant on its own; but contextually, it is.
If it was a matter of my saying “17th—20th century China had a prominent Lesbian-Asexual woman’s alliance in the Golden Orchid” then your point would make sense. Asexuals were prominent figures in one queer community, one time, in one culture? That would be nothing.
But it’s consistent. Throughout history, everywhere you find queer people you find asexuals among them.
Greek Antiquity, the cult of Dionysus being one of the more sexually liberated political-religious groups. They were associated strongly with sexual fluidity: sapphic love, achillean love, bisexuality, and asexuality as well. So much so, that among the many Masks of Dionysus in Ancient Greek culture and literature, there were aspects of him defined solely by either his bisexuality or his asexuality. Thus, chapter 4 of this handy book about archeological knowledge on all things Dionysus, the Cult of Dionysus, and the Theatre Dionysia, being called “The Asexuality of Dionysus.”
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Masks_of_Dionysus/O_QkAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=isbn:0801480620
So, an ancient group of gender and sexual fluidity and diversity prominently features asexuality. Okay. Let us go on.
That comes far before the Golden Orchid Society, which we already discussed.
If you scroll all the way up, you see I give a timeline in my first post about the prominence of asexuals and asexuality in the queer community during the LGBT+ golden age in 19th century Germany. But to summarize:
The most famous gay scholar of the time—openly gay man, Magnus Hirschfeld—publishes “Sappho and Sokrates” as a defining document for straight people to educate themselves on queer folks with. Who does he include ion there? Trans folks, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and—you guessed it!—asexuals! His contemporary colleague, Emma Trosse, wrote most frequently in defense of who she saw as being the most underrepresented in her community: non-binary folks and lesbians. And guess what? She was asexual. She wrote a paper on “counter-sexualities” at the time and came out in her own paper. Her work in the modern day is featured in the Schwules Museum, literally translated to the Gay Museum. So, clearly this asexual woman, married to a man was considered to be part of the community in her time AND our time, including by her more famed gay colleague, and the Gay Museum in Berlin.
(You can find all those links up at the top post)
Then I got up to America’s own lgbt+ renaissance. The Asexual Manifesto, the Kinsey Scale work, and subsequent rework, and testimony from members of the bisexual community all place us firmly in the lgbt+ community from the year 1940—1990.
(You can find links to Kinsey’s work, the context for it, the Asexual Manifesto, and more up at the top again!)
And here are references to the fact that, at the time of the original pride movement, we were considered a subsection of bisexuality, because we were mistakenly being defined by our lack of gender preference and sexual fluidity instead of our lack of attraction in general, with some choice quotes.
“Many bisexual respondents described bisexuality as a potential or as an essential quality that many people possess, but that only some people express through actual feelings of attraction or sexual behavior.
“According to this definition, people can be – and are – bisexual without ever experiencing an attraction to one sex or the other and without ever having sexual relations with one sex or the other.
“In contrast to lesbian respondents, most of whom define a bisexual as a person who feels attracted to or has sexual relations with both sexes, very few bisexual women define bisexuals as people who necessarily have these actual emotional and physical experiences.”
https://books.google.ca/books?id=RhWntJf7EpIC&pg=PA207&dq=%22many+bisexual+respondents+described+bisexuality+as%22&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22many%20bisexual%20respondents%20described%20bisexuality%20as%22&f=false
And an extra goody from an article by the Gay Liberator, 1971 “Trans Lib includes transvestites, transsexuals, and hermaphrodites of any sexual manifestation and of all sexes—heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual.”
https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=BDHIIHBB19710101.1.10&e=——-en-20–1–txt-txIN—————1
Then we have today, where you really just have to look around to see asexuals. We’re here, hi! Go to pride and you’ll see us. Join an club and you’ll see us. Hang out in a sapphic server and you’ll see us. Talk to me right here! (Hello! I’m right here, being on the ace spectrum.)
So you see the issue I’m having correct?
“It doesn’t matter that asexuals were prominent members of a sexually fluid movement in ancient Greece, we’re talking about today!”
“It doesn’t matter that asexuals were prominent members of a queer feminist group from 16th - 20th century China, we’re talking about today.”
“It doesn’t matter that asexuals were apart of the 19th century queer golden age in Germany that first brought our movement in mainstream print, we’re talking about today!”
“It doesn’t matter that asexuals were part of the movement for pride and queer liberation from the 1940′s to the 90′s, and that asexuals alive today are old enough to remember being part of that movement. We are talking about literally right NOW kinda today!”
“It doesn’t matter that asexuals were a subsection of the bisexual community that only recently split off!”
And then, finally, the ask from that original nonny up there: “can you back up that cis straight people lacking sexual attraction have always been queer?”
Essentially, well sure, aces are here now, but it’s not like they ALWAYS been here!
When we point to ourselves as part of the community today, we are asked when we got here. When we point to how far back we’ve been here, we are asked, “how is that relevant to today?”
Because we were asked how long we’ve been here.
So if I’m answering in a LOOOOOOONG way, I hope you’ll forgive me. Because it’s clear that you need a line drawn between where we were, and where we are. I’m not sure if that’s because you were not present to the beginning of this conversation, or if it was because you were unaware of the history.
Asexuals have been in lgbt history for as long as there has been lgbt history. And we are present in the community today. The question is not, whether we are here, have been here, or not. The question is, are you going to accept that, or not?
Thank you for reading. I know it was a long reply to a short comment. But I hope it was useful.
This is all amazing, and I appreciate learning more queer history so much, but I would just like to say:
It literally does not matter if asexuals have “always been” part of the LGBT community or considered queer. It’s obvious from all of the above information and sources included that they have always been part of the LGBT community and queer, but it still Does Not Matter.
Even if asexual people didn’t exist prior to 2010 (which is obviously not true, but some exclusionists really are that dense) it Still Does Not Matter.
It’s both impressive and compassionate of people, particularly aspec people, to inform exclusionists how wrong they are, but most exclusionists have already decided to be ignorant the rest of their lives and are never going to accept even the most indisputable, justified and valid reason you could offer them as to why aspec people are LGBT and queer.
But you know what? Asexuality is literally, definitively, factually a different sexuality than heterosexuality, and any sexuality that is not heterosexuality is not heterosexuality. That’s literally all there is to it! And if it’s not heterosexuality - it’s queer. End of story. Period.
Die mad about it.
I love this! Love, love, love. 100% agree!
I would like to add though, strategically using my info dumps on acephobes—even politely—is not so much any attempt to change their minds. Exclusionists gatekeep for illogical reasons, and so logic will not be what makes it otherwise.
But so often I find their voice and rhetoric so LOUD that a lot of people, along with learning allonormativity from society, will unintentional absorb exclusionist’s beliefs.
The number of times I’ve spoken to a well meaning, inclusive person who says “Oh wow! I didn’t know ace folks were LGBT+! I heard they weren’t, but cool!” or “Oh yeah! I heard ace and aro folks are LGBT+ now! Welcome!” is proof of this. And, unfortunately, that means the average LGBT+ person can be misinformed, and thus perpetuate our erasure from history entirely on accident!
Only reason I add this, is because I see the pattern of feeding into persistent anons as harmful to the self, and have seen other be concerned for me.
So basically, don’t feed the acephobes? But also, if an acephobe thinks they can step on you to make you a platform for their anti-historical rhetoric, reverse uno is an option. Just speak out to all the non-acephobes you think would enjoy a helpful tidbit!
Might as well post this here too. I really should revive this blog.
Anyways, new avatar. UwU <3
EVERYONE STOP AND LOOK AT THIS
Have you ever heard of Shaun Keenan? Probably not, but you have now.
Amazing art of dinosaurs in the wild American West? Yes please!
There’s so many he’s done and they’re all just the best aesthetic.
What I never knew I needed but a void has definitely been filled.
Go to his website and give some support!
http://shaunkeenan.com/
I love these
From a Clocktown guard
the people of DC are beautiful
batman: what’s the situation?
commissioner gordon: Harley and Ivy have hijacked an AM radio station and taken the employees hostage
batman: what are their demands?
commissioner gordon: they haven’t issued any. they, uh.
batman:
[commisioner gordon turns on the radio]
harley: —you gotta walk away, sweetie. His family sounds completely toxic, if not outright emotionally abusive, and he’s too enmeshed to see it.
caller: no, you’re right. you’re right. I gotta do it.
harley: you got this, honey. now, stay on the line a minute, I’m writing down some the names of some books for you and you can get those from Ivy after we’re done. okay! our next caller —
[commisioner gordon turns off the radio]
batman: what station is this?
commisioner gordon: WGTM.
batman: the one that rebroadcasts rush limbaugh?
commissioner gordon:
batman:
commisioner gordon: you know what, i probably didn’t need to call you for this.
I WOULD PAY MONEY FOR RADIO SHRINK HARLEY OKAY? I WOULD CALL RADIO SHRINK HARLEY OKAY?
“alright, babe, one more reminder that my license was revoked which means i have to tell you this as your friend and not as a mental health professional: you have two options here. one of them is safe, legal, and healthy, and will have lasting long term benefits. the other one is fun.”
reblogging for this extremely accurate addition.
Ivy’s segment is where people call in to ask why their succulent is dying and she yells at them for watering it too much.
oh, VERY good
A few weeks in Selina gets dragged into it, and starts offering advice on caring for cats with special dietary needs and stuff. It inevitably turns into Jackson-Galaxy-esque explinations.
"My cat keeps attacking my feet."
"How often do you play with him?"
"Not as much as I should, but he has a basket of toys right there where he can reach it."
"He wants to play with you. Grab a teaser toy or a laser pointer and go nuts. He'll wear himself out in about fifteen minutes and you can go back to work."
great, now i actively want someone to start a podcast that’s just in-character episodes of batman villain radio shows
sir these are my emotional support 120 tabs of unread fanfiction
Quick Reminder...
The COVID-19 virus has not changed
Your immune system has not changed
There is no vaccine
There is no cure
What’s Different?
Fewer government-directed restrictions
That’s literally it: fewer lockdowns, closures, and stay-at-home orders, often due to political pressure.
But COVID-19 is still here. It’s still contagious. People are still getting it. People are still dying from it. Just because it’s not as prominent in the news does not mean that this 2020 story arc has concluded!
Please
Wash your hands
Continue social distancing
Wear a face mask
Protect high-risk and vulnerable people
Self-isolate if sick, quarantine if exposed
Help flatten the curve and contain the outbreaks
Source: I am an actual contact tracer and I just got home from a very long shift where we are having to reach out to more and more and more people as they are exposed to people with positive COVID-19 tests.
Please stay safe.
With Rowling revealing herself as a full on TERF yesterday, I feel the need to say something about this whole thing… I mean firstly, fuck JKR, trans people are so valid. But lately I’ve noticed a growing subset of people who are either priding themselves on never having read Harry Potter, or shaming people who used to consider themselves huge fans of it, and I need to explain why that’s bad.
If you’re out here saying shit like “everyone who liked Harry Potter is probs a cop now”, or “Harry Potter was always trash anyway” that’s…. not it. It was popular for a reason. Millions of people, trans, queer, POC, Black, Jewish, etc. knew and loved it for years. If you’re only now saying it’s trash because it’s confirmed that the author is a bigot, that’s kinda fucked.
Firstly, you should be looking critically at all media you consume regardless of if you’re aware of the author’s viewpoints, secondly, you’re implying that everything made by bigoted, racist, homophobic people is automatically bad writing. Unfortunately, that’s not true.
You cannot only read stuff from “unproblematic” authors. It’s literally impossible. For one, authors aren’t always stupid enough to share their bigoted opinions on twitter for the world to see. And if you’ve read anything by a white person from the 19th (hell, 20th) century, they’re almost definitely a huge fucking racist at the very least. You can, and should, make an effort to consume media made by people of a variety of sexual orientations, gender identities, racial identities, etc. But this doesn’t ensure that all of those people will be perfect unproblematic angels either.
The fact is, bad people make good things. Bad people will make stuff you like. You cannot tie your sense of worth or your personal morals to whether or not you watch or read the “right” stuff made by the “right” people. And if you struggle with this, you’re not alone.
If you’ve ever heard of cognitive dissonance, it basically means that there’s a distressing situation that is creating inconsistency/conflict, so your brain makes an effort to try and restore balance. For example, you know that Harry Potter is a good book series and that JK Rowling is a bad person. But those opposing thoughts occurring simultaneously make your brain feel Bad so in order to get rid of that distress, you either start thinking “well Harry Potter wasn’t good actually” or “well JK can’t really be a bad person”. You’ll see this kind of thing happen all the time with fans of musicians who turn out to be shitheads. And it’s ultimately very harmful.
Make an effort to reconcile the conflicting thoughts in your head. And try not to hold yourself up as the pinnacle of unproblematicness, like in general. We all have stuff we need to work towards, and no one is completely free of biases and prejudice.
And if you’re a Harry Potter fan feeling guilty or uncomfortable because of JKR, here’s my advice to you:
It is definitely important to look closely at problematic aspects of Harry Potter that we, as children, may have overlooked. Initially I hadn’t considered that Cho Chang’s name was racist. I never thought about how the goblins running the bank could be seen as antisemitic. You’ve seen the posts/threads; there’s a laundry list of stuff wrong with these books that deserves to be pointed out. But not recognizing this stuff when you were literally in elementary school doesn’t make you a bad person.
The beauty of reading things while being socially aware means that we can look at something critically and still enjoy its content. No, this does not mean the author is totally dead and no you can’t keep saying “Hatsune Miku wrote Harry Potter”. You cannot ignore where the content came from and pretend that Rowling’s bigoted ideologies didn’t seep into her writing. Acknowledge that JK wrote Harry Potter, that you enjoy(ed) Harry Potter, and that JK is also a huge transphobe amongst other things. All of these things can be true simultaneously.
As for what you can do moving forward, 1. if you must, buy HP merch from indie creators and buy used copies/pirate the books, and 2. make an effort to read different fantasy books written by trans/nb authors. You cannot erase the fact that your childhood was shaped by these books, but you can ensure that your future is shaped by something different, and better.
To everyone else, don’t let your cognitive dissonance give you a sense of moral superiority. And lastly, fuck JKR and fuck transphobes :)
Archive.org is facing a lawsuit
tldr: the Internet Archive/WayBack Machine is super important in term of archived content, billions of stuff are on there, and with the current event happening in the world like stated above,without this tool, it will be hard to properly document what took place. It will be easy for certain people to rewrite history. Dont let them.
DONATE HERE (post dont get much exposure with working links sorry)
archive.org/donate/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IF YOU CANT DONATE THEN PLEASE SPREAD THE INFO
On twitter,tumblr,facebook,heck,anywhere you want,this needs to be talked about !
they’re being sued due to putting together an “emergency library”, essentially, in the wake of schools and libraries closing due to covid-19.
you can read about it in a few places. here’s one article on the subject, but there’s plenty to be found.
itch.io is offering a 743-game bundle including night in the woods, oxenfree, and overland, for as little as $5! just skimming the list, i also see tons of lgbt+ and poc-centric games available. 100% of contributions go to NAACP legal defense and educational fund and community bail fund. if there’s a game you were already thinking of buying, spend that money here instead and get an extra 742 as a gift!
Imagine if the garbage celebs who made that “Imagine” song cover had put half as much effort into their singing as these pro stunt artists put into their own quarantine content: a fight scene performed by over a dozen stunt artists, remotely.
i laughed so hard when the guy swung the kid lmfao
I’m still straight up DYING over that ngl
cursed biology cows? 🐄
all domestic cattle are all descended from the Aurochs, an enormous ice-age megafauna bovid that ranged from Europe to Asia to North Africa!
Aurochs were actually domesticated at LEAST twice in different areas more than 10,000 years ago, which is why Indian Zebu-type cattle look so different from European cattle!
they share a common ancestor but different roots.
more importantly though, it means that at least two separate groups of neolithic humans looked at a six-foot-tall jet black bovine rage machine and thought “gonna make friends with that”, and then they did it. those wild sons of bitches, they did it.