Talking about my fitness, exercise, nutrition, and my own body journey doesn’t magically imply in any way shape or form that there is anything wrong with fat, with eating what you want, and living however you damn well please. There is not a single …
Posted for commentary! I instantly unfollowed Laci Green after that post. Just because you aren’t outright saying that people should do what you are doing to “love your body” doesn’t mean you aren’t just perpetuating the same old fat shame bullshit. If you are really interested in creating a “shame free space” then you should check yourself when your audience calls you on something. Her response shows that she has no intentions of actually unlearning or working on the shame that it is hoisted upon people for a whole array of reasons by society. Don’t hold yourself out as shame free as though you can just automatically decide that’s what you are. Do the work on not using shaming language that we learn inherently just in being alive in this world or the descriptors to your blog are just hip keywords that mean nothing.
Racists never want to believe that they are racist. They are constantly redefining what racism means so that they can escape meeting the definition while simultaneously engaging in the behavior.
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| — | Son of Baldwin (via intoxicatedspirit) |
Angela Davis - The Prison Industrial Complex (17 parts all MP3 files)
01 - On Becoming An Activist.mp3
02 - Race, Class & Incarceration.mp3
03 - Young Black Men & Prison.mp3
04 - Technologies Of Punishment.mp3
05 - The Specter Of Crime.mp3
06 - Political…
Cece McDonald stood up to bigots and survived a hate crime. Now she’s in the county jail waiting to be tried for second degree murder. This is a story about intersectionality – what happens when a young trans woman of color goes up against white supremacy, misogyny and transphobia. It’s a story about what happens when you have to fight for your life.
It began last June, the night of the 5th, when Cece and her friends – all young, black and queer – decided that they wanted to walk to the grocery store. The grocery store in question is in south Minneapolis just off Lake Street, the busy, polluted, vital artery running from the wealthy white neighborhoods by the lakes through blocks of working class, multiracial, immigrant businesses before it ends in upmarket gentrification at the river. To get to the store, the group had to walk past a dive bar called the Schooner. Dean Schmitz and his friends were standing outside the Schooner’s side door. All were older – Dean was 47 – and all were white. When they saw CeCe and her friends walk by, they started yelling – “faggots” “chicks with dicks” “n*****s” – a litany of vile abuse targeted at a group of much younger strangers. CeCe McDonald has a strong sense of justice – she decided to confront Dean and his friends. So she and her group walked toward the bar.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about CeCe. She’s 23, a college student in fashion design, a trans woman, Black, femme, very funny and widely known to be a generous person – a woman who housed and took care of her chosen family of younger queer and trans folks. Her friends call her Honee Bea. CeCe is someone who fights for social change who even from jail has been urging her supporters to help other victims of white supremacy – including the family of Jaime Gonzalez, who was killed by the Texas police while he was at school. She is someone who has faith in herself, in her community, in her values. “Love is inevitable and overcomes any and all things,” she writes. CeCe and her friends are brave and tough, strong enough to walk around being visible in a world that attacks and criminalizes you if you’re young and African-American, and doubles the assault if you’re young and African-American and trans and femme.
You probably know – if you’re trans you definitely know – that trans women of color face incredible, staggering rates of violence and homicide. In most places it is essentially legal to discriminate against trans people in housing, employment and social services. As a result, trans people, especially trans women, are socially vulnerable in all kinds of ways – and vulnerable turns into “criminalized”, whether it’s because you can’t change your legal documents to match your gender or because you’re homeless and panhandling or because you’re doing sex work to make the rent…or because you have to fight to keep yourself safe. Trans people are ten to fifteen times more likely to have been incarcerated than cis people. Nearly half of all African-American trans people have spent time in the prison system. Seventy percent of the GLBTQ people murdered in 2010 were people of color. Forty-four percent were trans women. If you’re vulnerable, you have to wonder – will someone assault you? Will you survive? Will anyone help you? That’s a pretty heavy thing to carry around in the back of your mind every day.
Her trial begins April 30th. Please send as much support as you are able, and in whatever forms you are able.
TW: cissexism; dysphoria
I just received the GoGirl as a donation to review from my lovely friend Alix - and I must say that I love the product, but really dislike the fact that all of the company’s media outlets are ONLY geared towards cisgender women. If you visit their website (located here), everything is pink and purple and just seems overly gendering and stereotypical in regards to gender norms.
It really is all in the product’s name - GoGirl - so I understand directing attention to cisgender women, but by doing so they are completely neglecting transgender* folks.
Honestly, I personally do not care that the product is called the GoGirl or that I currently own a lavender one. Being a genderqueer guy, I am comfortable with all that. In fact, when I peed standing up for the first time I shouted, “You go, girl!” in my head. But that is just me and my own experience.
For trans* guys like myself, visiting the website can be off-putting, awkward, and unwelcome. It can even be dysphoric and triggering for some. The GoGirl company should be inclusive to ALL of their customers (and potential customers).
If you agree, please let them know what you think.
You can visit their facebook page here (where I have already commented on this issue):http://www.facebook.com/GoGirl
You can tweet them here: https://twitter.com/#!/Go_Girls
You can view their youtube here:http://www.youtube.com/user/GoGirlTeam
Or you can leave a message to Sarah (the owner) here:
1-877-447-5007 (toll free)
If possible, I would like the messages to please be civil and to the point. It would be great if this company became more inclusive, because let’s face it - the GoGirl is one of the cheapest, most effective and useful STP devices on the market. It would be great to see GoGirl making an effort to be more inclusive! If this happens, I would love to help support and promote them some day!!
Please help spread the word about this, folks!
Okay this just annoys me. have you ever thought maybe everything is pink and purple because they think it’ll sell more? Because as a daughter of a graphic designer who has designed girl products plenty, he had to make everything purple and pink mostly. Why? Because it’s for commercial reasons. It’s not to fucking attack people. It’s a fucking colour, get over it.
Also, IT’S A DEVICE TO FUCKING PEE. It’s for women with VAGINAS to pee standing up. It’s called GoGirl for fuck’s sake. But hey, does that mean you have to be a female to use it? No. It doesn’t. Buy it anyways if you want. If you don’t like the fact it’s pink, fucking spray paint it or some shit. You’re the only one who sees what you do when you pee. No one else is going to see that it’s pink. It’s not fucking a personal attack to anyone. Why are you all getting so worked up about something that changes how you PEE? Jesus fuck.
I’m all for lgbt rights as I’m in that community, but I fucking hate the people who take something as a personal attack. Their product is for women with vaginas to pee standing up. What the fuck is so wrong about that? Why the fuck do you care so much about how you pee? IT’S PEEING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW YOU PEE AS LONG AS YOU DO IT.
People annoy me.
/end rant
Okay thatismah0ganyy, I am going to do this in bullet points for you since you missed the entire point of what was written and turned the post into something about you. So let’s address things one by one, shall we?
- You said: have you ever thought maybe everything is pink and purple because they think it’ll sell more? Because as a daughter of a graphic designer who has designed girl products plenty, he had to make everything purple and pink mostly. Why? Because it’s for commercial reasons.
I have thought of that, yes. That is why I said: “I personally do not care that the product is called the GoGirl or that I currently own a lavender one.” This is not the issue. The issue is within the very first statement that I made - the product is not inclusive to all of its customers. GoGirl HAS trans* guys who would like to use their products. However, visiting their social media outlets can be off-putting since they do not use inclusive language. Not to mention, GoGirl’s media outlets displaying everything in pink to better help sell their products. Okay, I get it - ‘commercial reasons’. It is capitalism at its finest. It does not change the fact that gendering products (that should be gender-neutral) to sell them in a sexist and condescending manner is WRONG.
- You said: “It’s not to fucking attack people. It’s a fucking colour, get over it.”
I am not attacking anyone - nor am I swearing or being disrespectful to you. You are not only being disrespectful to me, but to others in the transgender* community. I asked that people please keep messages civil. To my knowledge, you are the only person who has not been able to do this.
- You go on to say in typical cissexist fashion: “Also, IT’S A DEVICE TO FUCKING PEE. It’s for women with VAGINAS to pee standing up.”
There are men who have vaginas. For trans* guys like myself, I would like a device to allow me to pee standing up too - just like the cisgender women who benefit from the GoGirl’s use.
- ”It’s called GoGirl for fuck’s sake.”
I stated above that I do not care what the STP device is called. I even mention that, “I understand directing attention to cisgender women.” This does not negate the fact that the transgender* community is excluded.
- “If you don’t like the fact it’s pink, fucking spray paint it or some shit.”
I do not recommend doing things that would cause harm to my followers’ health or personal well-being. Also, do you know how terrible that would smell?
- “You’re the only one who sees what you do when you pee. No one else is going to see that it’s pink.”
That is a large generalisation to make. Put simply: it is not true for everyone. One of the main reasons folks acquire the GoGirl and other STP devices is the fact that you can take it anywhere. And again, I do not care that it is pink - or lavender (the colour that it actually is).
- You continue to say: “It’s not fucking a personal attack to anyone. Why are you all getting so worked up about something that changes how you PEE? Jesus fuck.”
I am not attacking anyone - nor am I getting worked up. I am perfectly calm right now, because these sorts of cissexist comments are so commonplace for folks like me that I almost feel like a zombie having to respond to them daily. This is not the case for everyone, though - and people have every right to get ‘worked up’ about these things.
- One of my favourite responses from ‘allies’: “I’m all for lgbt rights as I’m in that community, but I fucking hate the people who take something as a personal attack.”
Just because you are a member of a community does not mean that you automatically support them. And you are not for ‘lgbt’ rights if you only support some of the community. You may as well say that you support the lgb community - if that is in fact what you do. I would not know.
- Lastly, you write: “Why the fuck do you care so much about how you pee? IT’S PEEING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW YOU PEE AS LONG AS YOU DO IT.”
Good question. I will answer with another: Are you a transgender* person? If not, you can never know what it is like going into a bathroom (much less USING a bathroom) - a seemingly common and simple task for most - as a transgender* person. You cannot. You do not know the dysphoria or the danger that we face. And you will never fully understand our reasoning for how or why we do the things that we do.
In the future, I really would suggest taking the time to read the entire post before you make these accusations and generalisations about entire communities that you supposedly support. I am deeply saddened by your willful ignorance and general disregard for folks that are different and less privileged than you are. The trans* and queer communities already face enough prejudice and discrimination without you adding your two cents.
Good night/day - whatever it may be for you.
Sincerely,
P.S. Apologies for the length of this response, folks.
this is a great response riley. I am sorry you have to deal with this shit but you did it wonderfully
Please spread this. To not talk about gendered experiences of race is to erase the most subjugated voices.
#wearetrayvonmartin #iamtrayvonmartin #justice4trayvon
“NYS Senator Eric Adams and his colleagues memorialize Trayvon Martin during the March 26, 2012 senate legislative session” via Facebook
I LOVE THIS! I LOVE THIS WITH MY ENTIRE HEART!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to send them letters
As a person who loves acts of defiance…. I fuck with this.
Damn, that’s what’s up.
Okay! I see ya’ll
this is great ……perfect statement
