btw “actual feminism” is trans inclusive and op of this tweet agrees :)
Sex work is real work in the IWW! Join today at iww.org!
The Sex Trade Workers Industrial Union 690 is for all workers employed as dancers and models, telephone sex workers, actors, and other workers who use sexuality as the primary tool of their trade (excluding all agents of the boss class able to hire or fire, or possessing equivalent coercive or punitive power).
Image description copied from alt text: A square graphic with a red background and bright pink block text beside a black-and-white photograph of pale-skinned legs wearing high heels. The graphic has a black border and the IWW logo is included at the bottom. The text on the graphic reads, "Sex work is real work in the IWW. Join the Sex Trade Workers Industrial Union 690." End description.
i see a post talking doom and gloom about how we'll never escape toxic masculinity. i think about back in 2017 when american girl released their first boy doll, and a review for him went viral in the collecting community. the review was written by a mom, who said they went into the store to get their daughter a doll, only to see their son's eyes light up like fire when he saw a doll that looked like him, and now every night he puts his doll in pajamas and rocks him to sleep. i think about the toddler in my daycare room a few years back who was obsessed with baby dolls, carrying them everywhere, and his mom proudly told us he uses his sisters' old baby dolls and wants to be just like them. that toddler saw another toddler crying one day and gave her the doll he had to cheer her up. i think about the eight-year-old boy i saw a few years back, excitedly waving around raya's sword in a target checkout line like all his dreams were coming true. there was a video on my instagram the other day of a little boy at disneyworld crying with joy upon meeting his hero, mulan. i think about the voice actor for bow in the she-ra reboot saying his nephews only wanted adora action figures. celebrity men are wearing dresses on tv now. last halloween i saw a little boy dressed as elsa. i went to go see spiderverse over the summer, and in the line ahead of me was a boy who couldn't be older than twelve or thirteen, bouncing and beaming, giddy with excitement over getting to see the female-led romance movie elemental. i think about the five-year-old boy at my library who breathlessly asked me where the pinkalicious books were, eyes widening when i had more on my cart, his mom explaining that he is all about pinkalicious and fancy nancy. i saw so many pictures online of boys and men dressed in pink to see barbie. teenage boys are gonna open their phones and see the man who wrote fucking game of thrones dressed in pink to see barbie. when i was a kid, a boy dressing in pink was practically a social death sentence. there are boys running around in pink on my street right now.
Reading Comprehension Questions
why do i have to explain to grown ass adults that human rights r called human rights bc every single human is entitled to them bc they r human, n they should never b taken away no matter who they are or what they did. and that advocating for the removal of human rights, nomatter who the target of it is, is not only incredibly cruel but will eventually spiral and lead to oppression. didnt we learn that shit in like 5th grade.
"well you see taking away THIS group's human rights will fix ever-" no it wont!! it wont!!!!! and it never will!!!!
the idea that restrooms, locker rooms, etc need to be single-sex spaces in order for women to be safe is patriarchy's way of signalling to men & boys that society doesn't expect them to behave themselves around women. it is directly antifeminist. it would be antifeminist even if trans people did not exist. a feminist society would demand that women should be safe in all spaces even when there are men there.
btw this is maybe the single most key distinguishing feature of the terfy strains of radical feminism, the seed all the rest of it springs out of: they have absolutely no faith in the ability of feminism to actually destroy patriarchy. they do not think feminism can truly build a better world. they cannot really even imagine that possibility. they think patriarchy is an inevitable natural consequence of unchangeable biological facts, and therefore the goal of feminism can only be to mitigate the worst effects of patriarchy, not to get rid of it.
they can imagine a society where women get some designated safe spaces without men around. they cannot imagine a society where the presence of men is not inherently a danger to women.
ok let's make something very clear: Taylor Swift is not a baddie.
she a spoiled white woman who grew up very wealthy and who's individual carbon footprint is larger than the entirety of some small nations.
you know who is a southern baddie? Dolly Parton.
"But she told off Trump! Thats something!"
Honey thats the absolute bare minimum.
That's telling someone 'bless you' after they sneeze.
That's holding the door open for someone in a wheelchair.
Thats waving back to a little kid when they wave at you.
It takes 0 risk and 0 effort and should not be a point of praise.
"Well her southern fans and sponsors didn't like it."
So? Woman is a billionaire with connections all over the world. She literally doesn't need them.
Bottom line: Taylor Swift remains an egotistical bourgeoisie white cunt who should be known for her pollution levels instead of her mid music.
While Dolly remains the bad bitch she's been since the 1970s.
There seems to be a lack of understanding around here of the way sexism can affect men. Of course men are the privileged gender under patriarchy, but you only reap all the benefits of hegemonic manhood if you’re seen as doing it the Right Way (being a masculine cishetallo perisex White etc. man). Feminine men experience sexist treatment. Black men demonized for being moc experience sexist treatment. Pregnant trans men painted as objects of disgust experience sexist treatment. Any time manhood is used to say men’s bodies must always look a certain way or that men are inherently more violent, aggressive, predatory, emotionally stunted, hypersexual, and dangerous than other genders, that is sexism and gender essentialism. To dismantle patriarchy, we need an accurate understanding of how it functions. Intersectional feminism includes men.
Suddenly more and more women began to either call them selves "feminists" or use the rhetoric of gender discrimination to change their economic status. The institutionalization of feminist studies created a body of jobs both in the world of the academy and in the world of publishing. These career-based changes led to forms of career opportunism wherein women who had never been politically committed to mass-based feminist struggle adopted the stance and jargon of feminism when it enhanced their class mobility. The dismantling of consciousness-raising groups all but erased the notion that one had to learn about feminism and make an informed choice about embracing feminist politics to become a feminist advocate. Without the consciousness-raising group as a site where women confronted their own sexism towards other women, the direction of feminist movement could shift to a focus on equality in the work force and confronting male domination. With heightened focus on the construction of woman as a "victim" of gender equality deserving of reparations (whether through changes in discriminatory laws or affirmative action policies) the idea that women needed to first confront their internalized sexism as part of becoming feminist lost currency. Females of all ages acted as though concern for or rage at male domination or gender equality was all that was needed to make one a "feminist." Without confronting internalized sexism women who picked up the feminist banner often betrayed the cause in their interactions with other women.
— Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks
do you all remember in the early 2010s where people were talking about freeing the nipple and that mixed-gender sports should become a thing and the removal of period tax and all of that and then some people realised that would mean trans people too ans they instantly decided to revert to bioessentialism 101 and now i have to see grating sentences like Well maybe jeopardy should be gender-segregated because males have a biological advantage in pressing a button
it really is so uncomfortable being a trans man in cis centric conversations of feminism. I just wonder. do they know about people like me? do they care? if I brought it up to them, how would they react? Do they expect me to be their human shield?
we know. We care. We would react with feminist analysis about how bio sex affects sex based oppression more than gender identity. We do not expect you to be our human shield. In fact, we want to stand with you and take the blows with you, but its often difficult when there are people who think that being called female is an insult instead of a body type.
frankly I think it’s more insulting that you think I don’t realize what you are doing here. I am not your ally and your dog whistles are obvious. Nice try, but please fuck off.
Damn I’ve never seen such a succinct example of the way terfs gaslight and coerce ppl into their hate movements. Seeing someone is feeling vulnerable and immediately jumping on it to try to manipulate them into a hate movement. I want to write a damn dissertation on this one paragraph
How to indoctrinate someone into a cult in a few easy steps
Step 1) identify potential recruit - IE someone vulnerable. Common targets are children, people who’ve been rejected by peers or other communities, people who are lonely and lacking external support systems, etc. Those groups are more likely to be targeted but anyone in a sufficiently vulnerable place can be susceptible to this kind of indoctrination
why would a terf try to indoctrinate someone making a post that is literally advocating for trans inclusion? a couple reasons
OP is expression a genuine critique of the way cis centric feminism excludes and hurts trans people. But it also expresses 1) a feeling of isolation and 2) frustration with a group the cult opposes. both of these things can easily be used to manipulate ppl into joining the cult
Now obviously OP is clearly educated on the dog whistles used by terfs and know to tell them to fuck off, but the terf doesn't exactly know that when making their manipulative comments. when recruiting for a cult you might as well make an attempt to manipulate and recruit anyone who seems viable, the worst they can do is say no. and if they tell you to fuck off because they saw through your attempts at manipulation, then you can get yourself a nice screenshot of a "evil" trans person "rudely" replying to a "kind and helpful message". it's a win win and all that.
Step 2) the soft sell. you need to hook the possible recruit in. this can be done in many ways, maybe they draw you in with a promise of community or salvation, or you're convinced to go to a barbecue with a friend. they talk to you about the unfairness of society and offer you an answer to your problems.
the soft sell used above is an ideological sell, with a nice sprinkle of love bombing to seal the deal
"we know. we care." and "We do not expect you to be our human shield. In fact, we want to stand with you and take the blows with you," are both manipulative statements designed to pray on those feelings of loneliness. they imply protection, community, people who want you and care about you. why would anyone reject that?
"We would react with feminist analysis about how bio sex affects sex based oppression more than gender identity."
this is the soft sell of the ideology. they don't come out the gate calling trans people predators, they water down and soften the ideology into the most palatable form possible. terms like "feminist analysis" are carefully chosen to make the argument sound as academic and reasonable as possible.
"but its often difficult when there are people who think that being called female is an insult instead of a body type."
once again a soft sell, but this time instead of trying to make themselves seem academic the focus is on making the opposition look ridiculous. It implies trans people are ridiculous for not wanting to be referred to something as “simple” and “obvious” as a body type, while also flattening and oversimplifying the very complex topic of the spectrum of human sexes and genders. Basically it’s a very condescending straw man argument
It also paints trans ppl as misogynistic for thinking “that being called female is an insult”. Paint yourself as the desirable moral high ground vs their problematic ideals. Once again this is a strawman argument.
Both of these strawman are particularly infuriating bc none of this was even being discussed in the original post. They dragged their strawman into the conversation just to make themselves look better, but whatever
“but its often difficult when there are people who think that being called female is an insult”
I’ve already established how “ppl who think being called female is an insult” is just a shady dogwhistley way to demonize trans ppl. It’s like setting up your own scarecrow and giving it a MRA t shirt and a trans bracelet
But if you focus on the “but it’s often difficult” part, this is just an obvious attempt to shift the blame for your feelings onto trans people. This implies that there are people who want to protect you but they just can’t because those mean ole trannies won’t let them :((. Isn’t it so tragic?
In this one short paragraph this person is using multiple types of manipulation and is demonstrating a pretty textbook attempt to indoctrinate someone. I applaud their form it’s near perfect /sarcastic
Now obviously OP knows enough to shut this down, but let’s talk about what might happen if someone who didn't know how to do that was approached by a similar message
The soft sell doesn’t stop after the first interaction. that's just the litmus test to see if they'd be wasting their time on you or not. The point is to keep the conversation going and continuously manipulate them deeper and deeper into this worldview. The inductor will often try to take things to a private conversation, like going out for coffee or, more commonly online, taking things to DMs. This prevents any friends of the possible recruit or more knowledgeable tumblr users from poking holes in their logic or identifying their manipulative techniques. It’s also helpful to isolate the possible recruit as quickly as possible.
This leads pretty easily into the next few steps, step 3: the new worldview (tldr distort their worldview into one that suits your own needs), step 4: establishing the enemy(an enemy gives them something to oppose, to fear, to direct their anger towards, and a reason for you to ask them to stay so you can fight the enemy together), and step 5: the dear leader. From there you use step 6: peer pressure to prevent them from leaving, fueled by an unhealthy dose of love bombing and punishing dissent
the middle steps (3-5) don't have to be in that exact order and are usually involved in the early steps to indoctrinate, and then weaponized against ppl in the later steps to keep them from leaving or criticizing
and ah, yeah that's how to indoctrinate someone into a cult. You will note that intelligence has very little to do with protecting yourself from cults. the only thing that does work is understanding how they work and being able to recognize their tactics and dogwhistles
I’ve only seen like one person talk about this and it’s super important that this gets out there
Multiple punk symbols and sayings have been added to the FBI’s domestic terrorism guide
Things included are
Those are a few but it also mentions anything anti-fascist and anti capitalist
So if you live in the US please be careful
Oh my god thank you for telling me!
@safety-pin-punk idk if you’ve seen this yet but tagging you in case u haven’t
Hey what the fuck
NAZIS GO HOME IS A SYMBOL OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM????
All the people being like “oh the FBI showing their true colors” what fucking universe did you live in where the goddamn FBI wasn’t a tool of oppression. The FBI exists because Theodore Roosevelt decided all of the federal government’s existing anti-anarchist programs and task forces should be consolidated under one banner. They have been anti-anarchist from before they even fucking existed and have never once shown signs of changing.
Additional context because I know the radfems are going to get their hands on this and love it:
It's not just about hating men.
It's a political statement and protest for equality that specifically seeks to eliminate the way the way Korean women are used, abused, discarded within the patriarchy by their own refusal to participate in any of it or associate with anyone who benefits from it.
It's very specifically about Demanding equality from men in power by refusing to take part in the patriarchy and challenging the way it perceives women.
It's becoming a topic in the west now and so I wanted to add all this context with the addendum that this is NOT an inherently transphobic movement. It's also completely autonomous meaning there is no "leader" of it.
Each person will have their own reasons and method of participating in this movement. Anyone can join or be part of it. Yes this includes radfems and TERFs so when they eventually try to co-opt this movement as their own let's remember that they don't speak for all feminists and theyre definitely NOT the voice of oppressed Korean women who started this, and as such have No reason to put themselves in the spotlight of this movement. And we have no reason to let them.
On a different note, from a statistical perspective I knew that the initial headline was being pretty sensational and it definitely is: South Korea has approximately 6163 elementary schools (as of 2022), so 157 schools missing a grade is 2% of schools. Like, still noteworthy in terms of population and demographic study, but it's funny that it's getting reduced to phrases like 'South Korea doesn't have any first graders'
As a rape survivor, I understand the need for safe space together – free from sexist harassment and potential violence. But fear of gender variance also can't be allowed to deceptively cloak itself as a women's safety issue. I can't think of a better example than my own, and my butch friends', first-hand experiences in public women's toilets. Of course women need to feel safe in a public restroom; that's a serious issue. So when a man walks in, women immediately examine the situation to see if the man looks flustered and embarrassed, or if he seems threatening; they draw on the skills they learned as young girls in this society to read body language for safety or danger.
Now, what happens when butches walk into the women's bathroom? Women nudge each other with elbows, or roll their eyes, and say mockingly, "Do you know which bathroom you're in?" Thats not how women behave when they really believe there's a man in the bathroom. This scenario is not about women's safety – its an example of gender-phobia.
And ask yourself, if you were in the women's bathroom, and there were two teenage drag queens putting on lipstick in front of the mirror, would you be in danger? If you called security or the cops, or forced those drag queens to use the men's room, would they be safe?
If the segregation of bathrooms is really about more than just genitals, then maybe the signs ought to read "Men" and "Sexually and Gender Oppressed," because we all need a safe place to go to the bathroom. Or even better, let's fight for clean individual bathrooms with signs on the doors that read "Restroom."
And defending the inclusion of transsexual sisters in women's space does not threaten the safety of any woman. The AIDS movement, for example, battled against the right-wing characterization of gay men as a "high-risk group." We won an understanding that there is no high-risk group – there are high-risk behaviors. Therefore, creating safety in women's space means we have to define unsafe behavior – like racist behavior by white women towards women of color, or dangerous insensitivity to disabilities.
Transsexual sisters are not a Trojan horse trying to infiltrate women's space. There have always been transsexual women helping to build the women's movement – they are part of virtually every large gathering of women. They want to be welcomed into women's space for the same reason every woman does – to feel safe.
Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Marsha P. Johnson and Beyond
Happy birthday, Angela Davis! (January 26, 1944)
A prominent and influential Black Marxist feminist intellectual and activist, Angela Davis was born and raised in Jim Crow Birmingham, Alabama. Her activism started early, as she marched against segregation as a Girl Scout. Her involvement in the communist movement began in high school, and deepened during her undergraduate education in West Germany. She moved to California to pursue her graduate degree, and had a brief and tumultuous stint as a professor at UCLA, where she was fired for being a communist, rehired by court order, and fired again for her political beliefs. Davis became a cause celebre for progressives and the left when she was put on trial for murder for having purchased weapons later used in a killing. She was ultimately found not guilty. She continued her activism and academic work with her increased public profile, and was the Communist Party's candidate for Vice President in 1980 and 1984. She terminated her long association with the Party in 1991, helping to found the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. Davis has written a number of books on feminist, Marxist, and Black struggle, including Are Prisons Obsolete? and Women, Race and Class.
“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”
Palestine is a feminist issue. It's 100% an issue that global feminists should be tackling but it's interesting to see reports of infections from a lack of decent menstrual sanitation products and reports of a 300% increase in miscarriages in Gazans and all these "the future is female!!! Repro rights!!! No period shaming!!!!" libfems are silent. I can't say I'm surprised, this is just liberal white feminism to a T, but by God does this shit piss me off. Our inability to ease the suffering of Gazans going through traumatic periods, births, and miscarriages because of Israeli violence should have the whole world heaving.
