“When I was about 20 years old, I met an old pastor’s wife who told me that when she was young and had her first child, she didn’t believe in striking children, although spanking kids with a switch pulled from a tree was standard punishment at the time. But one day, when her son was four or five, he did something that she felt warranted a spanking–the first in his life. She told him that he would have to go outside himself and find a switch for her to hit him with.

The boy was gone a long time. And when he came back in, he was crying. He said to her, “Mama, I couldn’t find a switch, but here’s a rock that you can throw at me.”

All of a sudden the mother understood how the situation felt from the child’s point of view: that if my mother wants to hurt me, then it makes no difference what she does it with; she might as well do it with a stone.

And the mother took the boy into her lap and they both cried. Then she laid the rock on a shelf in the kitchen to remind herself forever: never violence. And that is something I think everyone should keep in mind. Because if violence begins in the nursery one can raise children into violence.”

Astrid Lindgren, author of Pippi Longstocking, 1978 Peace Prize Acceptance Speech  (via i-contain-multitudes)

etrianodysseyobsession:

babyfacerae:

eccentric-nae:

dickscentedroses:

eroticallyyou:

eccentric-nae:

psychedelicfelon:

All facts though 🤷🏾‍♂️

Because [cishet]men don’t have or really understand indepth friendship. They depend on ALL of their emotional support from their parents (read: mothers) or their spouses (read: wives). So when they are expected to care about the well being and feelings of a woman they aren’t fucking they think the world is ending.

I GUARANTEE somebody got their feelings hurt after reading this LMAO

^Facts

For those who didn’t understand

10/10 post

“Women aren’t vending machines you put compliments into until sex comes out.”

The NHL and Bettman want an openly gay player to parade around so they can say “Look, we did it!” without actually caring about the player’s thoughts and feelings on the matter, or even if the player was actually ready to come out publicly.

yolowoho:

Yup! Like the co founder of Outsports wonders why they don’t want to come out to the media when he describes them like this

“All professional sports leagues are quote-unquote ready for an out player. But the gay athletes are just afraid. They’re cowards,”

Cyd

Ziegler told the Blade.

“The gay athletes in the major men’s professional sports today are cowards. And even worse than the athletes that are active in sports are the dozens or hundreds of gay athletes who are retired who won’t come out,” he said.

“I mean, they have nothing to lose in the sports world,” Ziegler said.

“At this point the most important thing any of these advocacy groups can do is identify professional LGBT athletes and work with them to come out publicly. I don’t think any of them are doing that,” he said.

That is so horrifying that the only thing they think of is how to get those players to come out, not to make them feel safer or more accepted. They want those clicks and positive press, and don’t truly care about the athletes’ comfort. 

And Bettman and co. desperately want those brownie points as more athletes from the big sports leagues come out and the NHL stays silent. The only thing that matters for them is that a player comes out, so they can say they’re inclusive without having to any more to actually combat the NHL’s issues. I’m going to quote a section that article Pain and Consumption: What Society Really Wants From an Out, Gay Athlete:

White, cis, gay men are simply the most marketable athletes within the LGBTQIA spectrum – much in the way that white, cis men are generally considered to be the most valuable demographic in mainstream culture.

A white, gay, cis, male athlete in a major sports league could be consumed in a variety of ways. He could be worn like a badge by his employers and by the league he plays in, like a human version of adding the rainbow flag to a corporate logo. 

He most definitely would be used to illustrate the diversity of a specific organization and league, without having that team and league do the hard work of challenging and changing the intertwined systemic issues of racism, religious discrimination, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia that are endemic to the sports entertainment industry. 

Even when he doesn’t come out, he is still available for consumption, as we saw recently in the infamous and dangerous piece in which a straight Daily Beast reporter used Grindr to profit and capitalize on the sexuality of gay athletes while simultaneously jeopardizing the safety of those athletes.

And that about sums up how the media and these leagues treat and view closeted and out lgbtqia athletes and why no NHL players have come out yet. 

Spanking Linked to Mental Illness

fandomsandfeminism:

The use of physical punishment to discipline children has been linked to a range of mental health problems and is strongly opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. However, in surveys a significant number of American parents report spanking or slapping their children. The study, “Physical Punishment and Mental Disorders: Results From a Nationally Representative U.S. Sample,” in the August 2012 Pediatrics (published online July 2), examined whether harsh physical punishment, such as pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping or hitting, is linked to mental disorders even in the absence of more severe child maltreatment (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or exposure to intimate partner violence). Researchers in Canada examined data from a U.S. epidemiologic survey from 2004 to 2005. Harsh physical punishment was associated with increased odds of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, and several personality disorders. Researchers found 2 percent to 7 percent of mental disorders were attributable to physical punishment. Study authors conclude pediatricians and other health care providers who work with children and parents should be aware of the link between physical punishment and mental disorders. From a public health perspective, study authors conclude reducing physical punishment may help decrease the prevalence of mental disorders in the general population.

Semi-Regular reminder that spanking as a form of discipline for children is ineffective and potentially incredibly harmful.

Don’t hit kids.

Spanking Linked to Mental Illness

cw murder, antisemitism, homophobia

that-hoopy-frood:

seinfeldbassline:

so a gay jewish college student was murdered by a literal white supremacist 

this is what “free speech” for nazis means. this is what being “tolerant” of the alt right means.

this is the danger of thinking antisemitism is not still a real, deadly threat.

his name was blaze bernstein. may his memory be a blessing.

(ok for everyone to rb, esp non jews)

I wanted to say a few words about this…

Blaze was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. We were classmates.

He loved to cook… I had to kick him out of the Writers House kitchen once because it was past closing time.

His pastries were amazing.

He was the managing editor of Penn Appétit, our premiere food magazine.

He was pre-med, but loved to write, and didn’t believe we should separate the arts from the sciences.

He penned “Picking Marbles from Dirt”, a piece about the joy he found in writing.

He was the first high schooler to be published in the Penn Review.

We read together during the Review launch. We were both fiction contributors.

He was smart, gentle, grounded, and kind.

He was a member of our community, our house.

He was loved by everyone.

He was my friend.

“Writing gives me my voice, which is why my stories are in a constant state of flux. Even if I don’t change a word or a single letter, they move with me down corridors of memory, through seas of emotion, and into worlds both real and imaginary. As I change, they change, but even after days or months or years I can still find a version of myself (a time traveler from the past, present, or future) sitting there in the text and waiting to speak to me.” – Blaze

Disability doesn’t come with extra time and energy

realsocialskills:

I’ve heard a lot of advocates of inclusion say things like “kids with disabilities work twice as hard as everyone else” or “my employees with Down’s syndrome never come in late or take a day off.”

This sounds like praise, but it isn’t.

The time disabled people spend working twice as hard as everyone else has to come from somewhere.

There are reasons why kids aren’t in school every waking moment. There is a reason why vacation time exists and why it’s normal to be late occasionally.

People need rest. People need leisure time. People have lives and needs and can’t do everything.

Being disabled doesn’t erase the need for down time. Being disabled doesn’t erase the need for play, or for connections to other people.

Working twice as hard as everyone else all the time isn’t sustainable. Praising disabled people for doing unsustainable things is profoundly destructive.

People with disabilities should not have to give up on rest, recreation, and relationships in order to be valued. We have limited time and energy just like everyone else, and our limitations need to be respected.

It is not right to expect us to run ourselves into the ground pretending to be normal. We have the right to exist in the world as we really are.

rainewynd:

staroidi:

How I Teach Men Not To Talk Over Me: from one feminist to another, when basic respect is lagging and conversations are impossible

I’ve done this to several men, and they catch on rather quickly. You’ll be able to have a conversation right then and there, and it works long term too – they might’ve forgot their manners by the time you talk to them again, but by repeating this, they’ll eventually learn to let you talk without you having to do this at the start of every convo. Source: I have a very stubborn older brother, who eventually learned too.

1. When they interrupt you, stop talking. Don’t try to raise your voice or battle them. Be completely quiet and wait.

2. Ignore everything they’re saying. Do not actually listen – just wait until they shut up. Don’t make a point of anything they say, do not answer to anything they say, do not refer to anything they say here. Literally do not listen a single word. Let them rant as long as they want.

3. When they finally shut up and wait for your reaction, say: ”I wasn’t done talking.”

4. Start over whatever you were saying when they interrupted you. I don’t care if it was a 10-minute explanation of rocket science. Start. Over. Repeat you original thought, but do not add anything related to what they just said while talking over you. That gives them the idea that it’s okay to interrupt you, you’ll still listen and pay attention and they’ll get their point clear without having to listen to yours. (It’s especially funny when you get done and they expect you to keep going talking about whatever they talked over you. The face when it sinks in that you didn’t listen a single word is glorious.)

5. If they interrupt you again, return to step 1. If you find yourself repeating the cycle over 3 times, tell them: ”you’re not letting me speak. Either you listen and wait for your turn, or our conversation ends here.” If they try to make excuses, laugh it off or keep interrupting, end the conversation. Prove them that if they wont let you speak, they’re not worth your time.

Why does this work? First, because sometimes talking over is internalized and men don’t actually notice they’re doing it. Being vocally called out makes them realize it and pay attention to it – especially if it happens more than once. Secondly, by refusing to aknowledge anything they say when they interrupt you, they’ll soon realize they will not get their own point across if they keep doing that. Peoole and especially men have the need to be heard and paid attention to when they talk – when you make it clear that by talking over you, they will not have your attention, they’ll learn to wait until you’re done, because they know that’s when you will be paying attention and actually listening.

Go my darlings. Have some actual conversations where your point of view is just as valid as his. Demand the basic respect of being heard. You can actually have some interesting conversations with men when they’re forced to listen too, when being louder is not going to make them feel like they’re dominating the conversation or winning the argument.

My favorite tactic is to look at them patiently, like they’re two years old and explaining that the clouds in the sky are puffy and look like dragons. It usually stops them cold.

deadcatwithaflamethrower:

demad69:

featheredclaw:

pilgrim-soulinyou:

jeremyyyallan:

fagraklett:

Chinese emperor Ai of Han, fell in love with a minor official, a man named Dong Xian, and bestowed upon him great political power and a magnificent palace. Legend has it that one day while the two men were sleeping in the same bed, the emperor was roused from his sleep by pressing business. Dong Xian had fallen asleep across the emperor’s robe, but rather than awaken his peaceful lover, the Emperor cut his robe free at the sleeve. Thus “the passion of the cut sleeve” became a euphemism for same-sex love in China. — R.G.L.

get you a dude who will fuck up his own clothing for you

NO OKAY THIS IS REALLY COOL SO SHUT UP AND LISTEN KIDS. Ancient China was super chill about homosexuality okay. Like we have gay emperors and feudal lords, lesbian princesses who were girlfriends with their serving maids, gay ass poets who wrote lots of poems about that one courtesan who played the guzheng so well.

In fact homosexuality was so okay that in Shiji, which is basically the Bible of Ancient Chinese history, there is an entire section dedicated to the gay lovers of emperors. What’s the best part? All the laws and criticism about homosexuality in Ancient China were all about shit like prostitution and rape. These laws were  outlawing homosexual stuff were all very specific.

For example, there were laws banning male prostitution, but no laws against homosexuality. These laws were passed to stop the spread of prostitution and laws targeting prostitution in general were pretty common in Chinese history. There were also really strict laws about male rape. Rape was punishable by death, regardless of the gender of the victim. Rape a girl, you die. Rape a guy, you die. Have sex with a minor, you die regardless of whether it was consensual. The lightest sentence you could get was slavery where you were bound to the army.

Also scholars wrote essays criticising the boyfriends of emperors, saying that they distracted the emperor from work blah blah blah but THEY ALSO DID THE SAME FOR THE CONCUBINES. That’s right – the issue wasn’t homosexuality but rather the hormones of the emperor. They didn’t care about the gender of the emperor’s favourite lover but rather the fact that the emperor was too horny to get shit done.

“But WAIT, Modern China is a hardass about homosexuality!!!! How do you explain that!”

Yes. That. That’s because of the late Qing years where Western influences entered the country and brought their gross ass homophobic attitudes with them. And the Qing government was so anxious to seem modern and be seen as equals to their Western counterparts. So they adopted Western ways and discarded their previous attitudes about homosexuality. Hence you have Modern China.

So the next time someone tries to tell you that being LGBT is wrong because it goes against traditional Chinese values, tell them to go fuck themselves with 3000 years of Chinese queerness. 

“Tell them to go fuck themselves with 3000 years of Chinese queerness.”

@deadcatwithaflamethrower

This is why learning proper history is awesome.