Nobody can tell me that Yavanna isn’t responsible for hobbits.

Intimidating women is a conservative cornerstone. Oppressing women, denying equality, it’s all in their ideology. But to intimidate a potential gun purchase? The threat of violence and retribution is inherent in [male] gun culture. The “make my day” narrative is too risky to chance with the modern gun owner.

Is it possible to be fat&fit? At 250 pounds, distance runner Mirna Valerio provides an inspiring example

“People always say to me, ‘Anyone who runs as much as you do deserves to be skinny.’ Of course, what they’re really saying: ‘If you do all this running, why are you still so fat?’”

[Read more at Runner’s World]

This is what I wanted to see. Fat black women exercising and just being great as fuck

Street harassment is not a compliment.

Did i reblog this already? Doesnt matter still relevant.

This is so real! Seriously. Cat calling and harassment aren’t people paying you compliments and saying good morning etc, harassment is when you’re saying something to me you wouldn’t say to your mother.

DEAF AWARENESS

October is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History Month. Reblog this if you do not care what sexual orientation your followers are, you love them for just being themselves.

A person can get pregnant using 5 simultaneous methods of birth control and I will support their choice to abort.

A person can get pregnant by having unprotected sex with 5 people in the same day I will support their choice to abort.

A person can get pregnant by being raped and I will support their choice to abort.

A person can get pregnant every two months and get 6 abortions every year and I will ALWAYS support their choice to abort.

I will never judge them because it’s their fucking life and choice and body and it’s super shitty to judge another person for making choices that do not relate to me or my life in any way.  That is what pro-choice means.

(ETA: and if you are still trying to make excuses in order to find the extenuating circumstances in which you should be able to judge them or that should prevent them from getting abortions, you aren’t not as pro-choice as you think you are)

still trying to fathom why this is such a difficult concept for anti-choicers to grasp

To Anyone Who Has Had An Abortion:

You’re not a monster. You’re not irresponsible. You’re not murderer.

You’re a wonderful person who made a choice out of responsibility desperation or need.

Never let anyone talk down to you and never let any of those insults get under your skin. You know your circumstances best, not some self-righteous greyface online or a “sidewalk counselor.”

What “I’m Pro-Choice” doesn’t mean:

What “I’m Pro-Choice” does mean:

The philosophy of this show is so on-point.

I feel stupid, what show is this?

Babylon 5, dw it isn’t that well known but it is a really good show

New comic! (link to comic)

Sorry this one’s a little late.

Trans people have to walk this really fine line with respect to acceptable gender expression. Deviating from what is considered ‘normal’ for their gender results in the credibility of that gender being called into question in ways that just don’t happen with cis people.

(while this happens with all trans people,  I’m going to focus on trans women for this post)

The truth is, while feminism is making awesome inroads in creating space for women to adopt a range of gender expressions beyond what social norms of ‘women’ have prescribed, so often that only applies to cis women. Trans women who ‘break’ femininity are regarded as essentially  'letting slip’ their 'actual gender’.

This is a symptom of the fact that trans people are largely still considered to be 'acting like ’ their gender - 'acting’ being the operative term. People see their gender as being something that sits upon a deeper truth - some less genuine, something deceptive.

There’s another side to this, of course, for trans women who adopt non-transgressive expressions of femininity - they’re accused (often within the feminist community) of reinforcing stereotypes, damaging the image of women.

So there’s really no way to win. Trans women who conform too much are essentially accused of being in bad drag, trans women who don’t conform enough are accused of a lack of commitment to their gender.

That great work we do, where we’re troubling what gender norms are, challenging sexist ideals, and taking control of our bodies? We need to make sure that we’re opening up those opportunities for ALL women. And we need to make that space available for all other genders, as well. I don’t believe in feminism that opens doors to some people while locking them for others.

(via beschaedigung)

that’s almost too cruel almost

I had to do this once with Privateer II: The Darkening. It gained a bit when he said “I bet you didn’t play it through, I bet somebody just told you how…” and I was able to smile gently and say “God, possibly, since I wrote the game.” And plainly the Deity was with me that day, as I happened to be carrying docs from my UK agent (who’d done the deal) that showed not only that I was the writer, but the five-figure sum I had been paid. …It was a happy day for me. Not so much for him. I’d never had a referent for the word “slink” for a full grown male before. As in “slink away in utter dejection.” I smiled for at least three days without stopping. And am smiling now… I had completely forgotten about this.

Reblogging because “I beat the game” is fantastic, but “I wrote the damn thing” is even better.

I’m not a gamer but I’ll always reblog these.

Vicious. I love it.

I Hate Children

Maybe I should clarify:

I hate the culture of children.

It’s not really children, per se.  Granted, I’m not fond of them being around, I don’t want one in my house or very often in my immediate presence, and I especially don’t like it if I have to watch one that can’t even talk coherently let alone understand what I’m saying, but all this is because I have no patience and no strong maternal instincts to speak of.

If I’m out in public somewhere and a child looks at me, I will smile at it.  If I see a video or gif of a child doing something adorable, I might coo and share it.  I don’t actively go out of my way to upset children or even discuss them with most people.

But I hate with all my being the culture that surrounds the concept of children.

There’s an overwhelming societal expectation of a beuterused person that they must not only have children (usually multiple), but that they must desperately want children, often to the exclusion of all else.  It’s tied very much into the notion that everyone is supposed to get married and promptly produce offspring and put themselves neatly into heteronormative traditional gender roles so as to be a good adult and a “productive member of society.”  Indeed, the mere presence of breasts and a presumed uterus is indicative that a person’s worth is whether or not they reproduce.

And it’s this idea that infests every conversation about health or future or family.  It’s this concept that makes those of us who do not want children (especially biologically) have to constantly brace ourselves for potential arguments when we talk about any of these things.

It’s the reason I had to switch doctors when my first one kept insisting that “the ideal” was for me to “remain a virgin until marriage and then marry a virgin before having children.”  It’s the reason people with vaginas require checkups for “reproductive health” to make sure everything is “functioning correctly for reproduction” instead of just to make sure things don’t hurt/aren’t infected/need attention.  It’s the reason we see language used like “baby-making” for het sex with no stated reproductive intent, why the term “biological clock” is still exclusively used in regards to reproduction, and why there is an over-emphasis on pregnancy and reproduction language in sex (“baby goo,” “baby batter,” “gonna make a baby in you,” etc.).  It’s why there’s still so much debate over who gets a say in pregnancy, why pregnancy is still terrifyingly often referred to as a punishment or as a means to control the beuterused.  It’s the reason why family, friends, and even strangers feel completely within their rights to ask you about your reproductive plans, to make you justify all of your life choices to them at a moment’s notice, to question your thoughts and beliefs as if they know you better than you do yourself.

It’s the reason why the questions are so intensive when someone asks for lasting birth control.  It’s the reasons why we are told over and over the rate of regret, the success stories of people who changed their minds, the horror stories of those who didn’t.  It’s the reason why, when you state that you have a “phobia of pregnancy” in the hope that it will make people stop asking you without making you explain yourself or justify your feelings for the umpteenth time, the only advice you get is, “Well, that needs to be fixed before anything else.”

It’s the reason why “because I don’t want children” isn’t enough.  It’s the reason why adoption is never seen as an option because “you’ll want some of your own someday.”  It’s the reason why people put such value on “extending the family line” and “continuing the family name.”

It’s the reason I have to say I hate children for people to stop questioning me.  It’s the reason I have to monitor my conversations with certain people because they’ll say, “Ah, see, you DO like kids!!”  It’s the reason parts of my dysphoria kick in hard when I see the sort of things mentioned above.  Because, unless something happens to remove or damage a uterus, it is not only expected, but demanded of you to know why you’re refusing “the most precious gift on Earth,” “your womanly duty,” “the greatest love you’ll ever know,” and so forth.

It’s the reason why “I hate children” is rolled off my tongue more and more until finally people just stop talking.

But I don’t hate children.

I hate the culture of children.

I hate the misogyny that surrounds pregnancy.

Most of all, I hate the people who perpetuate this culture, who deny someone else the right to say they don’t want to be part of it, who threaten to make them part of it.

But, you know, it’s so much easier to just say I hate children.

There is a sentence in this that I felt a burning need to address. It’s “Because, unless something happens to remove or damage a uterus, it is not only expected, but demanded of you to know why you’re refusing “the most precious gift on Earth,” “your womanly duty,” “the greatest love you’ll ever know,” and so forth.” Having a damaged uterus does not make you immune.

I’m not going to go into detail, but certain things happened to me as a child and as a result, my entire uterus is a ball of scar tissue. It only works well enough to make me an invalid for a week every month or so. It will never be a productive uterus, and I have absolutely zero problem with this. It means I no longer need to justify my lack of offspring to people like my mother. However, when it was discovered in my late 20s that I was unable to have kids, I requested a hysterectomy because menstruating is such a painful experience for me. I was actually happy about it, it was the magic excuse that would get everyone off my back about biological clocks and crap. I shit you not, the following is the actual conversation I had with the surgeon.

“So, since none of it works or will ever work, can you take it all out? It would be nice to not have to worry about any of this again.” “Uhh.. No.” “Why not?” “You’re under 30 and don’t have children.” “What does that have to do with anything?” “You might want to have children in the future.” “But even if I did, you just told me I can’t. You JUST said that I can’t even have eggs harvested for a surrogate. Is changing my mind going to magically make it all work?” “No.” “So can you take it all out?” “No. You might want children one day.”

It continued in this fashion for a good 20 minutes before she got angry at me for not wanting to become a mother and left my hospital room.

My uterus is such a mess that it has hospitalized me more than once, it doesn’t work properly at all, and yet I’m not allowed to have it removed because… honestly I’m not even sure how to finish that sentence.

Misogyny doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’ve even had medical professionals who know this story tell me that popping out a sprog would cure my depression. It’s outright idiocy. At this point, for me, whether I want children or not is irrelevant. I physically cannot reproduce, and yet the Culture of Children you talk about is so bad that it forces me to suffer through needless pain that could be easily prevented with a simple, common surgical procedure. Any time I ask for that surgery, I’m met with nonsensical cries of “BUT BABIES”.

Thank you for being vocal about this kind of thing.

And thank you so much for sharing!

This kind of thing fills me with rage, because it just illustrates how our knowledge of ourselves and our own bodies, even when completely backed up by doctors, is still ignored and outright rejected because of this nebulous idea that “Well, you’ll want children one day.”  Even when going up against logic and plain fact, the “woman = children” (for the value of women that most medical providers only accept) correlation is so strong they don’t even think of going against it and will actively fight you if you reject it.

I really hope no one is immature enough to think that this post is trying to say that having children is bad, or that people who have children or bad. That’s not what this is saying at all. It is saying that not everyone wants to have children, and that that’s okay. -V