One time I was leaving a friend’s place and an older lady with basically no English came up to me and communicated that she was very cold and needed a ride. She pointed to tell me where to go.
I got there and her daughter or granddaughter came out and was like omg her phone died we were worried
And then the older lady said something and the younger lady translated.
“She knew she could trust you because you have pink hair”
I thought it was funny at the time. But when I think back on it I think she was basically saying “you had a visible sign of not vibing with the system I was afraid of”
the fact that john gaius is still quoting tumblr 10000 years after the earth got blown up really just does say. you will sound like a tumblr user for the rest of your life.
One of the white participants left the session and went back to her desk, upset at receiving (what appeared to the training team as) sensitive and diplomatic feedback on how some of her statements had impacted several of the people of color in the room. […] [Later] her friends wanted to alert us to the fact that she was in poor health and “might be having a heart attack.” Upon questioning from us, they clarified that they meant this literally. These co-workers were sincere in their fear that the young woman might actually die as a result of the feedback.
All of this is going to feel very familiar to anyone who’s blogged about racism in fandom.
“White fragility functions as a form of bullying: ‘I am going to make it so miserable for you to confront me — no matter how diplomatically you try to do so — that you will simply back off, give up, and never raise the issue again.’ White fragility keeps people of color in line and “in their place.” In this way, it is a powerful form of white racial control. Social power is not fixed; it is constantly challenged and needs to be maintained.”
Discussions of trans women in sports often focus on elite/professional sports which honestly I find it hard to care about but the more common scenario of “we’re going to legally ban a high school girl from playing sports with her friends because she’s trans” is just profoundly evil
i remember when utah’s (republican) governor ended up vetoing a law banning transgender students from playing high school sports when he looked at the numbers, and there were only four trans students in the state playing sports at all. he released a clumsily worded but surprisingly compassionate statement about the decision.
I must admit, I am not an expert on transgenderism. I struggle to understand so much of it, and the science is conflicting. When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion. I also try to get proximate, and I am learning so much from our transgender community. They are great kids who face enormous struggles. Here are the numbers that have most impacted my decision: 75,000, 4, 1, 86 and 56.
75,000 high school kids participating in high school sports in Utah.
4 transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah.
1 transgender student playing girls sports.
86% of trans youth reporting suicidality.
56% of trans youth having attempted suicide.
Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.
of course, it didn’t amount to much. they overrode his veto. it’s just so cartoonishly evil. an entire state’s political body so desperate to terrorize this one little trans girl.
artists of tumblr please i am making eye contact with you. please. develop self esteem. please god. for all our sakes. if you’re producing work on par with commercial illustrations, please start collecting it into a portfolio. consider investigating displaying it at local galleries or doing a zine of your stuff. you don’t have to sell it but please value it. and if you’re taking comms and are producing some modern leyendecker ass quality reliably please do not charge less than $100 USD if you can get away with it at all please. please.
You have to charge a living wage for your work so that the teens can charge between $5-100 for their first comms for pocket money and people will consider supporting them because it’s nice to encourage young artists. You gotta charge adult numbers to help the next generation thrive. You Gotta.
You gotta understand that now you can say your goods are more premium than before. In a world full of slop, I know I’m certainly ready to pay more for things I know are real, and crafted by real people. I beg of you. The rising tide lifts all boats. And if you live somewhere where the dollar or pound or etc is really strong for you: Get as much as you can that keeps your queue full out of those of us with stronger currencies.
Consider forming collectives. Agree with your friends to raise your prices. Get comms from each other and loudly talk about how much you love each others work, whatever it takes.
a scene must be included PRIOR to sex where the characters READ their birth certificates OUT LOUD so the reader will know they were born on the SAME DATE to avoid any disgusting AGE GAPS
[Image Description: A reply from user empress-violetlight that reads, “Luke Skywalker: Leia, look! We have the same birthday! So much less problematic as Han being 10 years older than you!” Below that, user werkwerkelizaaa has responded in all caps, “best addition to this post everyone else go home.” End Image Description.]
(I did not actually type the words in all caps because that felt really aggressive. If I should change that, someone please let me know.)
i cannot stress enough how important it is to listen to yourself. pay attention to what your heart is telling you. deep down you always know what you need, but sometimes things can become clouded because of intense emotions or external forces, which is why it’s important to look inside yourself and discover how you actually feel about things and why. we too often go directly against our internal wishes and it always leads us to the wrong places.
