Kitten Night Farts

The thing about Equal Rites is, it's not just a book about how girls can do anything boys can do, and the only thing trying to stop her is meanie old men. It's about how girls can do anything boys can do, I suppose, if she really must, though I* can't see why she wants to.

It's about shaking off gender essentialism, not deciding who someone can and can't be as soon as you see their newborn baby genitals, and adults not telling kids to be who they "should" be instead of who they really are... while also being really super clear that the traditionally male-dominated path isn't inherently better, it's just better paid.

It explores Granny's position of trying to hold Esk back from becoming a wizard, stemming not from thinking that girls aren't smart enough or that they should only be wives and mothers, but from a contempt for the flashy and self-important ways of wizards and belief that the more domestic and practical sphere of witchcraft is more important and better. It's a pretty accurate depiction of the way some older women enforcing gender roles think.

I suppose the book is more of a critique of the whole women's intuition/men's intelligence nonsense dichotomy, as well as a reminder not to cling too eagerly to the patriarchy's priorities in the search for equality.

Men aren't better at "jommetry" than women. But "jommetry" isn't more difficult or important than Granny Weatherwax's practical, rural skills - herbcraft, midwifery, caring for and understanding goats and bees, managing people, and so on.

Sir Terry never got on with the assembly lines of formal education, which is probably an important thing to bear in mind when reading this book.

*Granny Weatherwax

i don’t want to achieve equality by sinking to men’s level, i want them to get on ours! why should i have to unlearn the conversational art of waiting my turn, unlearn sexual self-restraint, unlearn trust in others’ good intentions, unlearn the impulse to cater to others’ needs, just to have a chance at success among savages? why can’t the men learn some fucking manners so we can all conduct our affairs in a civilized manner? i shouldn’t have to stop saying sorry, you say sorry!

In the 80s when I was in my freshman year in college, they still had entirely separate mens and women’s dorms. I was in class waiting for a final to start and one of the guys was telling someone about how he had had to go into a women’s dorm to drop something off, and he was startled to see posters on the walls, flowers, curtains, etc. He said his men’s dorm had holes in the walls, things on fire, fights, guys walking around with open wounds and he just didn’t understand why they had to live like this. He said, “I want to live with the women, in civilization.”

Am reading Sisterhood of Spies, about women working for the OSS during WWII. One of the stories mentions that the women in London had a male visitor who would eat in their mess hall once a month. He was married and wasn’t interested in hitting on any of the women; he just wanted to eat in an atmosphere where people said “Please pass the butter,” instead of “PASS THE GODDAMNED GREASE”

I dated a guy who brought me along on group activities (movies, video game night, etc.) with four or five other male friends. Once I mentioned to one of the other guys that I hoped I wasn’t intruding on their “guy time” or some such. He got this sort of rueful look and said, “The truth is, I really like it when you’re here because it gives us a reason to act better. When it’s just guys, we all have to try to outdo each other with how vile we are.”

So the moral of these stories are men don’t even treat each other like human beings.

Me to my 6-year-old son: “You seem to like playing with the girls at school more than the boys. Why do you think that is?”

6-year-old son: “Sometimes I just don’t want to be pushed. It hurts and is mean. And the girls always pretend to be princesses or fun animals and stuff when they have tea parties. The boys just dump the tea all over the place. That’s just stupid and I don’t like wasting all that tea. It takes forever to make.”

Me: “Wow, I can understand why you’d rather play with the girls. The boys seem like they’re kind of rough.”

6-year-old son: “And when I play with the girls they make me the king because none of the other boys want to play tea party.”

Me: “Do you like being the king?”

6-year-old son: “Not really – I’d rather be a wizard, but it makes Georgia and Vivian happy.”

i don’t want to achieve equality by sinking to men’s level, i want them to get on ours! why should i have to unlearn the conversational art of waiting my turn, unlearn sexual self-restraint, unlearn trust in others’ good intentions, unlearn the impulse to cater to others’ needs, just to have a chance at success among savages? why can’t the men learn some fucking manners so we can all conduct our affairs in a civilized manner? i shouldn’t have to stop saying sorry, you say sorry!

In the 80s when I was in my freshman year in college, they still had entirely separate mens and women’s dorms. I was in class waiting for a final to start and one of the guys was telling someone about how he had had to go into a women’s dorm to drop something off, and he was startled to see posters on the walls, flowers, curtains, etc. He said his men’s dorm had holes in the walls, things on fire, fights, guys walking around with open wounds and he just didn’t understand why they had to live like this. He said, “I want to live with the women, in civilization.”

Am reading Sisterhood of Spies, about women working for the OSS during WWII. One of the stories mentions that the women in London had a male visitor who would eat in their mess hall once a month. He was married and wasn’t interested in hitting on any of the women; he just wanted to eat in an atmosphere where people said “Please pass the butter,” instead of “PASS THE GODDAMNED GREASE”

I dated a guy who brought me along on group activities (movies, video game night, etc.) with four or five other male friends. Once I mentioned to one of the other guys that I hoped I wasn’t intruding on their “guy time” or some such. He got this sort of rueful look and said, “The truth is, I really like it when you’re here because it gives us a reason to act better. When it’s just guys, we all have to try to outdo each other with how vile we are.”

So the moral of these stories are men don’t even treat each other like human beings.

Me to my 6-year-old son: “You seem to like playing with the girls at school more than the boys. Why do you think that is?”

6-year-old son: “Sometimes I just don’t want to be pushed. It hurts and is mean. And the girls always pretend to be princesses or fun animals and stuff when they have tea parties. The boys just dump the tea all over the place. That’s just stupid and I don’t like wasting all that tea. It takes forever to make.”

Me: “Wow, I can understand why you’d rather play with the girls. The boys seem like they’re kind of rough.”

6-year-old son: “And when I play with the girls they make me the king because none of the other boys want to play tea party.”

Me: “Do you like being the king?”

6-year-old son: “Not really – I’d rather be a wizard, but it makes Georgia and Vivian happy.”

Queen of Genovia Snapped

Holy shit

Yes, that was truth beautifully stated.  Anne Hathaway is using her privilege in the most positive way.  I strive for that as well, but, yes, it is easier said than done.  That’s why we need to keep practicing this until it is set deep into our bones.  Anything else is unconscionable.

Praising men for cleaning the dishes he helped dirty up? Lol

They’re praising him for teaching his son to do the right thing. Why do you always seem so bitter about this shit?

[Dad teaches son to help mother]. Tumblr: fuck you!

Praising men for cleaning the dishes he helped dirty up? Lol

They’re praising him for teaching his son to do the right thing. Why do you always seem so bitter about this shit?

[Dad teaches son to help mother]. Tumblr: fuck you!

In Finland, speeding tickets are calculated based on your income - causing some Finnish millionaires to pay fines of over $100,000. Source

This is what “equality” looks like in that liberal fairy tale land of Finland.  They punish you proportionately to how successful you are.  Sounds really “fair.”

Except… it is fair? Because it’s proportionate. I don’t get what’s difficult about that. An impoverished person paying $400 dollar fine isn’t the same as a millionaire paying the same amount. For the poor person, $400 dollars could mean starving. Would you really claim it would have the same consequence for a rich man? Would it even be noticeable to him, while the absence of food in their stomach would be glaring to a poorer man? Would it be fair for a man to starve for the same crime as a man that would be having a three course meal?

By taking income into account, it allows the impoverished able to still survive while paying any fines they may incur. And, ultimately, while $100,000 dollars would be noticeable to a millionaire, they would still get by. And, assuming the law is properly implemented, they would be paying the same equivalent of their yearly income that a poorer person would. That’s what makes it fair. They would be impacted the same way - but you are looking at the amount rather than the equation.

Also, it’s important to make sure that even the rich would pause at the cost of a fine. They need to fear the law just as a poor man does. 

Oh no… rich people facing fines that might actually make them consider not doing illegal things because the punishments might actually hurt them… how unfair… -V

Finnish person here. Our speeding ticket system owns and only people who bitch about them are people who wanna break the laws - the loudest whiners are the rich people who think they can just pay their way out of trouble and that’s why we have laws like that.

400 dollar ticket.

Person making 10 dollars an hour: “Fuck, I better slow down”

Millionaire driving a Jaguar: “LOL 400 DOLLARS, FUCK THAT, NYOOM”

Compared to a proportional ticket.

Person making 10 dollars an hour and must pay 400 dollar ticket: “Fuck, I better slow down.”

Millionaire who must pay 100,000 dollar ticket: “Fuck, I better slow down.”

Like wtf. Some people have been so brainwashed by capitalism and worship of the rich that they literally can’t tell the difference between fairness and unfairness anymore.

It IS fair. The fact that it flies in the status quo so much should make you think about that status quo.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

Previously, I’d only seen the first two panels and assumed it was the complete comic.

This version is much better.

Agreed!

I’ve never thought about this before. What does everyone else think?

Couldn’t agree more.

So important. I never understood why Santa gave all my friends these huge, expensive things when he’d give us modest necessities.

Yes!!!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Audio Commentary:

Yes this.

Steve confronting Natasha at the hospital was one of my favorite scenes, tbh. When people talk about the difference between sexualized intimidation and fights where both parties just happen to be m/f, this is what I point to. Yes, it’s not cool for Steve to shove someone into a empty room. (He’s absolutely treating her like a hostile.) But once they’re there, he keeps the intensity focused in his questioning - there’s no detour where he looks at her body, no moment where he implies he’s going to use his strength against her in a sexualized way. You could just as easily imagine that conversation happening with Rumlow.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was officially sworn in on November 4th, 2015, gives a very simple answer as to why he decided to have 15 men and 15 women on his cabinet.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend the rest of its life thinking it’s an idiot.” -Albert Einstein

Reblogging. always. always. always.

It is a lie that women have been able to vote since 1920. 

White women have been able to vote since 1920. All Native American women couldn’t vote until 1924. All Asian women couldn’t vote until 1952. All Black women couldn’t vote until 1964.  

In five years there is probably going to be some big centennial celebration of women’s suffrage. But that will be a whitewashing of history. It will be an event that erases the struggles of non-white women. It will be an event that will try to hide the fact that white feminists heros like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton actively argued against the rights of people of color in order to advance their own goals. 

Take that, Mike Pence!