The best way to dehumanize someone while claiming you’re not is to believe you are just the same. You erase their experiences and perspective, their struggles and obstacles, their unique way of having to deal with those things in a world that also erases them. With the words, ‘but humans are humans’ or the bullshit dramatics of ‘we all bleed red’ normal people can simply pretend that if we all did things the way they did, then everything would work out okay. But, yes, we all bleed red but you don’t treat a papercut the same way you treat a gash, you don’t treat an infected wound the same way you treat one that isn’t, you don’t treat a wound to the leg the same way you treat a wound to the gut. You are not acknowledging someone’s personhood when you ignore the very things that make their lives different than yours, and when you refuse to understand that their circumstances have given them their own perspective that is just as valid as yours. More valid in fact – their perspective about their experiences that you haven’t been through is far more valid than anything you could ever think about it.
If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.
― bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics (via mollyford)
(via safespacenetwork)
Source: mollyford
Break the Binary: tybaar: autumn-and-eve: Trans women are assumed to be men. When we’re...
Trans women are assumed to be men. When we’re feminine, we’re not feminine women (which the gender binary approves of), we’re feminine men. And being held to the position of maleness, at the top of the hierarchy, with the most gender capital, when we associate…
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (via girlgoesgrrr)
The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider, p.123 (via strugglingtobeheard)
Get that shit out of me. (via bayn)
Get that shit out of me. (via bayn)
(via queerinsurrection)
Source: strugglingtobeheard
Constantly worrying about your reflection and criticizing your body, shape and size is an act of violence against yourself.
Emma Thompson (via transformfeminism)
(via loversintransition)
Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem.
Walt Whitman (via junkyard-bodhisattva)
(via loversintransition)
With ignorance comes fear - from fear comes bigotry. Education is the key to acceptance.
If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
Mary Engelbreit (via gaywrites)
Binary trans men, you are capable of being sexist.
Trigger warning for discussions of sexism, transmisogyny, rape, and abuse.
I just wanted to remind you, because almost every trans man I interact with is incredibly sexist. I recognize that whether or not we (sometimes we, since I’m non-binary) gain access to male privilege can be complicated what with sometimes being perceived as women and all. I recognize that some of us internalize the messages sent to men and some of us don’t. Lastly, I recognize that some of us don’t want or need to medically transition.
I want to be clear that these things don’t mean we can reclaim terms used against cis and/or trans women. These things don’t mean we deserve access to women’s spaces. When it comes to reproductive needs, things get a little more blurry. In the blur of these lines, however, trans women are most certainly left out. Let’s work to change that. In a support group, exclusively for women, however, we are not welcome and rightfully so for every space outside of women’s spaces is a man’s space. We have plenty of room whereas women are forced to find and create safe spaces. We hardly allow them room to breathe elsewhere.
Being trans does not mean we are incapable of being abusive. Being trans does not mean we know what it is like to exist in a male supremacist society as a woman. Some of us do; some of us don’t. My point is that it’s not inherent. When in relationships with women, it is on us too to make sure consent is present at all times. We too are capable of rape.
Trans men, we do not understand the experiences of trans women or of folks who also are gendered male at birth. Acting as though we do is taking part in transmisogyny and, therefore, also taking part in sexism. We don’t experience the same struggles as trans* folks who are gendered male at birth, and when we list off the plethora of trans women’s names during Trans* Day of Remembrance, let us take notice the monumental difference between how much space their struggles take on that list in comparison to ours for theirs is far greater.
Let us remember to move back and allow women to communicate their ideas for they are encouraged by us and by male supremacy to not do so. Let us remember that when taking part in trans* advocacy to include and encourage the inclusion the trans* folks who are gendered male at birth always. Let us not take part in urinary segregation nor in segregation of coercively given genders for these constructs limit the liberation of all people, not just trans* folks.
This could go on forever, but lastly, and potentially most importantly, let us recognize that we can always grow as allies to women and to CGMAB, non-binary, trans* folks. Let us recognize that we do not deserve cookies for not being rapists, for otherwise practicing good consent, for recognizing the existence of sexism and/or transmisogyny, or for not reclaiming words used against women (or for writing posts such as these). Remember to call out other men when you have the chance. Remember that it is not your place to dictate what is or is not sexist. Recognize your privilege and keep it in check.
well said.
Source: iragray
“Being a leftist is a calling, not a career; it’s a vocation, not a profession. It means you are concerned about structural violence, you are concerned about exploitation at the work place, you are concerned about institutionalized contempt against gay brothers and lesbian sisters, hatred against peoples of color, and the subordination of women. It means that you are willing to fight against, and to try to understand the sources of social misery at the structural and institutional levels, as well as at the existential and personal levels. That’s what it means to be a leftist; that’s why we choose to be certain kinds of human beings.”
- Cornel West
So, this is great, and excellent, and perfect for tonight and every night.
(via tranqualizer)
Source: thesubversivesound
Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.
Marilyn vos Savant (via bitchville)
(via riley-ferretboy-konor)
Source: bitchville
When you decide to come out as LGBTQ, remember that you don’t owe anyone an apology. You are who you are, you have no choice, and that is beautiful. Stay proud, and strong, and clear. When you truly love and believe in yourself, others will follow.
Source: teganquinbanter
No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don’t love anybody.
Rita Mae Brown (via divingintotheunknown)
I cannot understand a society that is more afraid of a man in a dress than a man in a soldier’s uniform.
Joan Nestle, co-founder Lesbian Herstory Archives (via petitefeministe)
(via riley-ferretboy-konor)
Source: birdfishromance
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