radicalallianceforgenderequality

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T SCROLL PAST THIS.

Scarleteen is a vital queer and trans positive sexual health resource. Their staff do an amazing job of creating really comprehensive and helpful articles on literally every sexual topic you can imagine. They also provide live chats, advice columns, moderated discussion forums, and SMS-based peer support. This site has helped me on countless occasions, and I refer at-risk queer and trans kids to this site every single day.

Scarleteen is invaluable.

And Scarleteen needs your help.

During their annual donation drive this year, the site was only able to raise $1,500. Only fifty people out of Scarleteen’s 350,000 unique monthly visitors contributed to the fundraising drive.

This means that unless Scarleteen sees a stable, sustained, 50% increase in donations, the site will essentially be forced to go dark on May 1. No more new content, no more advice columns, no more forums, no more live chat, no more SMS support. 

This is devastating.

If Scarleteen goes dark, millions of young people, vulnerable queer and trans teens among them, will lose access to essential, fundamental sexual health resources. We cannot let this happen.

Please, please, please donate to Scarleteen. Consider making a recurring monthly contribution if you feel that this is within your means. Even $5 or $10 a month will go a long way to helping this very, very deserving organization.

And whether or not you’re able to donate at this time, please signal boost this and spread the word. Scarleteen does incredible, very necessary work, and they need our help.

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[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

Have you ever heard the phrase cockblocking? You know, you’re at a bar, talking to a girl, and what happens? Her less attractive friend comes over and ruins everything. Cockblock. Well I have to tell you something guys: I have been the less attractive friend, and you were NOT cockblocked. I was following orders from my better-looking friend that she did not wanna fuck you. …Girls have two signals for their friends: ‘I’m gonna fuck him’ and ‘HELP.’

Amy Schumer [x] (via rashaka)

The number of “get me out of here” tactics women have developed and shared to help each other escape from overly-insistent-to-borderline-predatory dudes in public places should probably be enough evidence of the existence of rape culture all on its own.

(via madgastronomer)

YES

(via ellakrystina)

I especially like how, in the majority of cases, you don’t have to verbally communicate what your signals are to other women. I’ve had women I didn’t even know come save me. Literally every woman recognizes the “Dear god, help me” facial expression, and knows exactly what they should do. We don’t get a handbook for this. We don’t have a sit-down nail polish party where we talk about a standardized woman code for preventing creepers. It’s just part of being a woman.

BUT LOL RAPE CULTURE DOESN’T EXIST.

(via eastberlin)

Yup. I’ve definitely taken strangers by the arm and pulled her aside to go, “Oh my GOD it’s you! How ARE YOU?!? It’s been so long!” and then been like “hey I could overhear that guy who wouldn’t leave you alone so I figured I’d give you an out” and then see their VISIBLY RELIEVED expressions. This is part of girl code, because rape culture is that pervasive.

(via thebicker)

I once had a girl sit on my lap and say “hey baby” after she witnessed a guy (who was easily 20+ years older than me) hitting on me and harassing me for my number even after I told him I was taken. After he got up and left she asked if I was okay. I couldn’t thank her enough times, I even bought her a drink.

(via castielsmiles)

We have done this. In fact, we are this. Because we are asexual and we don’t like alcohol so we never drink, we have gone with friends to parties/places where our sole job was to keep an eye out for everyone and be the permanent ‘aggressive man-sheild.’ Not one of our female friends has ever questioned this or found it all strange. In fact, often once they realized we were willing to do it, it would be pre-arranged. Every guy friend we ever did this in front of or tried to explain to looked flabbergasted. They had no idea that this was a) an intentional thing, b) a planned ahead thing, or c) universal.

Rape culture is the fact that every woman understands this. Male privilege is the fact that no guy on earth seems to know or understand.

(via cractasticdispatches)

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

freud, like most cis men, thought his dick was so important that all of our unconcious desires were based around it

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

you know what upsets me

bunnies have tons of sex

like supposedly always humping right

but does that affect how we look at bunnies?

no

do we still think bunnies are cute af?

yes

do we want bunnies any less because of their sex habits?

no

treat people like bunnies ok

this has been a psa

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

when choice is reserved for those with money and access to resources. you can go on and on about your RIGHT to choose, but if you do not understand that rights have always been an illusion, that they are only granted to the rich, the white, the privileged, then you are not...

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

So let's talk reproductive justice.

1.

I want so badly to talk about this picture.

I do.

But when your first thought about it is “support women”, I can’t.

I can feel the words inching away from the raw wounds that even if they scar will always hurt.

Does that seem right to you?

2.

I actively flinch from the word feminist. Because of a long list of reasons.

But the one I really want to talk about right now is the fact that they don’t think about my reproductive justice.

They don’t think about the reproductive justice that means that I and other people who could need birth control who aren’t women deserve to be included.

They don’t think about the reproductive justice that means that they need to support trans people’s rights not to have to be sterilized to get the basic right of being recognized as that person’s true gender/s,

They don’t think about the reproductive justice that means that they need to actively stop sterilization of trans people, of PoC, of disabled people.

They don’t think about the reproductive justice that means the right to accessible, free birth control for everyone.

Their reproductive justice is condoms, abortions, and birth control pills.

Does that seem right to you?

3.

My mother lovingly referred to all of her fetuses as parasites when she was pregnant with each of us. Each of us was unplanned. Each of us was loved.

Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about their mothers being people?

Does that seem right to you?

4.

What the fuck am I supposed to do if I am raped and I get pregnant?

What the fuck am I supposed to do?

This is not a rhetorical question.

What the fuck am I supposed to do?

And I ask because the answer is I don’t know. I was never told.

Does that seem right to you?

5.

Only publishing one narrative of abortion says a lot less about those people’s stories and a lot about the publisher.

The vast majority of abortion narratives are about how abortion is a necessary evil, and very few are about anything else.

Does that seem right to you?

6.

I want to talk about this picture, but for now, let’s talk about the fact that someone took  a gender-neutral picture with a powerful message and simplified it down to “support birth control and women’s rights”.

Why does this person not think that we—we people who are still using coat hangers and drinking paint thinner—don’t deserve to say “Never Again”?

Does that seem right to you?

7.

I want to talk about how a very common topic of discussion between disabled people is whether or not our parents would have aborted us if they had had early detection of our disabilities.

I know my mother would not have.

But why the fuck did I have to even ask?

Why the fuck did I even have to wonder?

Does that seem right to you?

8.

If you only ever talk about one form of justice, your justice is unjust.

And yet, that’s just supposed to suffice?

Does that seem right to you?

9.

I want everyone to have reproductive justice.

If you never consider us to be people, then you don’t think about what justice we deserve.

Most people never mention what kind of reproductive justice we deserve.

Does that seem right to you?

10.

I want my uterus out.

I want to not have ovaries.

I genuinely hope that I turn out to have a gene for estrogen-based cancers that runs on both sides of my blood, so I can have an early hysterectomy.

I genuinely hope that I have a higher chance of getting something horrible, because it’s probably the quickest way to get relief for the pain of having a cosmically wrong body.

Does that seem right to you?

11.

People call themselves “pro-choice” and then act as if it’s a dichotomous choice.

To abort or not abort, that is the question.

Does that seem right to you?

12.

I have to be afraid of being raped.

I have to be afraid of needing abortion.

But I also have to be afraid of people using that to mean that I know what women go through.

(I don’t. If you want to know what women go through, ask a woman. Ask especially the kind of woman that’s not often considered to be a ‘real’ woman.)

I have to be afraid of never being able to say “I was raped and I needed an abortion too” because then I won’t be a person anymore.

Does that seem right to you?

13.

I can’t stand menstruating. I can’t. It’s one of the few ways that I’m transnormative—a cafab trans person hating menstruation is very transnormative.

It’s worse than just the physical pain, the violent dysphoria, the disorienting sensation that comes from dissociating because I need to be numb sometimes. It’s worse because I remember that no matter what, I need to be afraid.

Does that seem right to you?

14.

One of the very first things someone said when I—self-deluding—told them I was a lesbian was “Oh, but you can use IVF and sperm donors!”

Because having a womb meant, to this person, that I should use it.

(I have fang teeth as well. Does that mean I should have used them to rip open her throat?)

Does that seem right to you?

15.

If you’re a cis woman, I want you to read this, now.

If you’re a cis feminist, I want you to read it twice.

If you’re a cis feminist who thinks they understand how trans people deserve reproductive justice, I want you to read it three times.

I want you to know that this person, one of your own, would rather I drink paint thinner and potentially die than get an abortion.

Does that seem right to you?

16.

“Never Again” is starting to look more and more like “Never Again For Us”.

Does that seem right to you?

17.

One of the reasons that I do not reblog posts on things like suicide and crisis hotlines is because cis people make these lists and cis people reblog them and I cannot trust that you checked this out properly.

I cannot trust that you ensured the safety of me and mine.

I cannot trust you, because too many times has something been advertised as being for me and mine as well and turned out to want us dead.

Does that seem right to you?

18.

When you call pro-fetus attitudes only misogynistic instead of being cruel, ableist, racist, classist, cissexist, violent, entitled, invasive, I wonder if you know what paint thinner tastes like.

When you pretend that pro-fetus people only hate cis white abled rich women, you say that you’re fine with a bloody coathanger and a half-empty bucket of paint thinner so long as it’s not in your sight.

Does that seem right to you?

19.

If I ever need to, I might just go to Planned Parenthood, clutching my mother and sister’s hands, crying.

I’ll cry when they misgender me.

I’ll cry until the dissociation overtakes the dysphoria and all I know is the ceiling.

And you will all call my tears collateral damage.

Does that seem right to you?

20.

The flip side of the feminism that won’t mention me needing justice is the feminism that says that all women need abortions.

The flip side of the feminism that would call my abortion a women’s experience and side with a rapist is the feminism that doesn’t care about trans women being raped—because, supposedly, trans women don’t need any reproductive justice.

Feminism hates women like nothing else, sometimes.

Does that seem right to you?

21.

This response is personal.

The political is personal.

This person and this person want me to drink paint thinner for the crime of not wanting a parasite.

Does that seem right to you?

22.

So, no, I’m not going to talk about that picture.

It might have been powerful until you destroyed it.

Never again?

We might never get to say “never again”.

Does that seem right to you?

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

Dr. George Tiller’s killing was not justifiable homicide, it was murder.

Blowing up abortion clinics is terrorism.

Defacing and covering abortion clinics in graffiti is vandalism.

Chanting...

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

Here is a full length, Academy Award nominated film on the the history of back alley abortions: When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories. It is by film maker Dorothy Fadiman and part of her Social Documentaries Collection.

The film features “compelling first person accounts which reveal the physical, legal, and emotional consequences during the era when abortion was a criminal act. Remembrances include those of women who experienced illegal abortions, doctors who risked imprisonment and loss of their licenses for providing illegal abortions, and individuals who broke the law by helping women find safe abortions.”

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

An educational moment, courtesy of Planned Parenthood.

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

“The reason racism is a feminist issue is easily explained by the inherent definition of feminism. Feminism is the political theory and practice to free all women: women of color, working-class women, poor women, physically challenged women, lesbians, old women –as well as white economically privileged heterosexual women. Anything less than this is not feminism, but merely female self-aggrandizement.”

Barbara Smith, 1979 (via regazzadilupo)

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

sexismandthecity:

No es no! en la cama en la calle y donde quiera que esté (by Producciones y Milagros Archivo Feminista)

Translation for non-Spanish speakers:

NO IS NO:

"Maybe later." "I want to be alone." "I'm not sure..." "Go fly!" "No, thank you." "I like you very much, but..." "We better go to sleep." "You annoy me." "Leave me alone!" "You are not my type."

We are tired of sexism, machismo, racism, double standards, violence, impunity!

NO IS NO in the streets, in the bed, and wherever you are.

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

locomotives:

[Image description: Drawing of a pregnant person with their hair tied back, wearing glasses, standing with their hands crossed over their belly. Text beside them says “Young Mothers’ Bill of Rights: ONE - We have a right to be treated with dignity and respect. TWO - We have a right to be mothers, and not be discriminated against because of age or offense. THREE - We have a right to regular check-ups and proper prenatal care and nutrition. FOUR - We have a right to have somebody with us while we are giving birth. FIVE - We have a right to not be handcuffed and shackled during labor. SIX - We have a right to recovery in the hospital after birth. SEVEN - We have a right to see, touch and speak with our children. EIGHT - We have a right to be informed about our children’s well-being and safety. NINE - We have a right to have support and advocacy while incarcerated and to be informed of our rights as parents. TEN - We have the right to access information and education, such as prenatal and parenting classes, so that we are able to be the best parents we can be.”]

melaniecervantes:

The Center For Young Women’s Development in San Francisco asked me to partner with them to create a poster and postcards to popularize the Young Mother’s Bill of Rights. The Center was integral to creating the Bill of Rights through a campaign they won. San Francisco Juvenile Hall has accepted and agreed to implement the Center’s ten-point Young Mother’s Bill of Rights, which sets forth the rights of pregnant and parenting young woman and young fathers who are locked up in juvenile hall. They wanted young men and women to know their rights as parents and felt that a compelling graphic would help grab the attention of the young people in lockup so we made a few hundred posters and thousands of postcards to give out to the young people.  

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

julieklausner:

But if you haven’t yet downloaded the new episode of How Was Your Week, please do, if only for the conversation I have with Lisa. F. Jackson, the director of the Sex Crimes Unit HBO documentary, about her own personal assault history, the DSK and Rape Cops case, and more.

Listen to the episode here or download it on iTunes here. To learn more about Lisa’s incredible film go to http://sexcrimesunit.com To get involved, please volunteer or donate to http://natashasjusticeproject.org

And please spread the word—retweet, reblog, discuss, educate, etc.

Even if one woman knows to go directly to the hospital instead of showering if she is ever, God forbid, raped, this has been a helpful blog post.

Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your weekends. Soon I will post more photographs of my cat.

Julie Klausner is not only an amazingly hilarious author/comedian/podcaster, she's a wonderful supporter of women's rights and helped organize a protest of the Rape Cops verdict earlier this year. Please continue to help her spread the word about Lisa F. Jackson's film.

Sorry to sound like a broken record.

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

fuckyeahsexeducation:

Alaska

Pauline’s Abortion Loan Fund

Arizona

It’s Your Choice: The Abortion Fund

California

Reproductive Rights Network of Santa Cruz County

ACCESS Women’s Health Justice

Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP)

Make a Difference Fund

Colorado

Reproductive Equality Fund of the Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center

Freedom Fund (Colorado)

District Of Columbia

DC Abortion Fund

Justice Fund (DC)

Delaware

Delaware Pro-Choice Medical Fund

Distrito Federal (Mexico City)

MARIA Abortion Fund for Social Justice

Florida

W.O.M.E.N.

Roe Fund

North Florida Justice Fund

Emergency Medical Assistance Inc.

Women’s Emergency Network

Broward Women’s Emergency Fund

Central Florida Women’s Emergency Fund

Georgia

Women in Need Fund

Atlanta Pro-Choice Action Committee

Iowa

deProsse Access Fund of the Emma Goldman Clinic

Iowa Abortion Access Fund

Heartland Justice Fund

Illinois

Illinois Reproductive Justice Fund

Planned Parenthood of Illinois Reproductive Justice Fund

Chicago Abortion Fund

Kansas

Peggy Bowman Second Chance Fund

Women in Need Fund

Kentucky

A Fund, Inc. 

Massachusetts

Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund

Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts

Jane Fund of Central Massachusetts

Maryland

June Coleman Reproductive Justice Fund

Maine

Safe Abortions For Everyone (SAFE)

Michigan

Fountain Street Church Choice Fund

Jane Doe Loan Fund

Jane Doe Fund

Minnesota

HOTDISH Militia

Hersey Abortion Assistance Fund

Montana

Trust Women Fund

Sarah’s Circle

Blue Mountain Clinic Access Fund

North Dakota

North Dakota Women in Need Fund

Nebraska

Abortion Access Fund

New Hampshire

New Hampshire Fund for Choice

Joan Fund

New Jersey

Justice Fund of Passaic County

New Mexico

Abortion Assistance Fund of Planned Parenthood New Mexico

New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Nevada

Justice Fund

New York

Abortion Fund of Planned Parenthood of NYC

Joan Bechhofer Fund

New York Abortion Access Fund

Access Fund of Aphrodite Medical

Haven Coalition

Third Wave Foundation Emergency Abortion Fund

Ohio

Preterm Cleveland

Women Have Options

Cleveland Abortion Network

Agnes Reynolds Jackson Fund

Oklahoma

Roe Fund

Ontario

Canadians for Choice Norma Scarborough Emergency Fund

Oregon

Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette Abortion Fund

Network for Reproductive Options

Pennsylvania

Women’s Medical Fund

Vivian Campbell Fund

Margaret C. Rubin Freedom Fund

Planned Parenthood of Northeast and Mid-Penn Fund for Choice

Western Pennsylvania Fund for Choice

Rhode Island

Women’s Health and Education Fund

Hope Fund

South Carolina

South Carolina Women’s Choice Fund

South Dakota

South Dakota Access for Every Woman

Tennessee

J. Paschall Davis Fund

Texas

Stigma Relief Fund

Texas Equal Access Fund

Lilith Fund

Jim Wimberly Fund

Virginia

Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project

Women in Need Fund

Blue Ridge Abortion Assistance Fund

Vermont

Vermont Access to Reproductive Freedom

Washington

North Idaho Fund

Women in Need Fund—Renton

Women in Need Fund—Tacoma

Abortion Access Network

Community Abortion Information and Resources Project (CAIR Project)

Wisconsin

Freedom Fund

Options Fund

Women’s Medical Fund

West Virginia

WV FREE Choice Fund

Wyoming

Women for Women

[radicalallianceforgenderequality]

stackedstars:

I am a FAAB, femme-presenting genderqueer person. This means that I rarely, if ever, pass as anything other than female. And since I am almost always read as female by strangers, they treat me as if I were a woman.

This means that I, too, get catcalls and wolf whistles.

I, too, cannot walk down the street by myself without someone beeping their horn or yelling out their window at me.

I, too, have to be ever aware of my surroundings.

I, too, have to walk to my car with my keys in my hand.

I, too, cannot go out alone at night.

I, too, am affected by misogyny, patriarchy, and rape culture. I, too, see my body distorted, objectified, and idealized in the media. I, too, am constantly made to feel ashamed of my body. I, too, have to fight the notion that my body is inherently sexual and not my property. I, too, have to hear almost daily about how my body or genitalia is bad, weak, wrong, undesirable, or disgusting. I, too, have my opinion belittled or dismissed. I, too, am made to feel ashamed for my intelligence.

I’m tired of trying to make myself fit in the feminist movement. I love feminism, I love the movement, and I think it has a lot of important criticisms of our society. For so long, I have been trying to find my place in feminism. I am not a woman, and yet feminism speaks for issues that I have battled my entire life. I do not benefit from male privilege, but I am not a woman either. I want what feminism has to offer. I want the strength, the empowerment, the support. Feminism stands up for me in so many ways that the LGBT movement does not, and I want to feel like I actually am a part of it. I want to be recognized. I want feminists to acknowledge that patriarchy, misogyny, and rape culture affect other people the exact same way they affect women. 

So I am writing this letter to all feminists, of all gender identities, to begin reconsidering how they talk about feminist issues. To realize that not only women are affected in the way that they are by misogyny. I want the feminist movement to be a place where I feel safe, represented, and visible. I want to have a voice to fight the oppression I face, the same oppression that women face.

Please help me by reblogging this so we can begin a discussion about this. I am but one voice and I cannot speak for anyone’s experiences but my own. Spread the word, share your story, show this to your genderqueer friends - let’s start a discussion.

Thank you.

An open letter to the feminist movement.