the thing about the dudebro discussion, the aita post, the willingness to just take at face value any accusations directed at a person you don't know, is that it's all so painfully transparent, it's so obvious that those conversations are happening at this scale specifically because it's about trans women. maybe it's just me, but you generally shouldn't be using certain terms for people unless you know that they are comfortable with them, and if you fucked up then apologize and move on (if we pretend for a second that the majority of dudebros weren't feign ignorance or just actively malicious to begin with). you should be aware that some things don't affect you the same way they affect other people, and you definitely shouldn't be giving those people potentially dangerous advice on topics that you personally aren't familiar with, this is the baseline, at least don't fucking put other people who were misled into trusting you in danger. and if an anon barges into your inbox with some wild accusations then you should stop and think "hey, why are you coming to me anonymously with no evidence to back any of this up, and in such a way that i have to reply to you publicly so more people get to see this" regardless of who it's directed at. like, those are all pretty simple things, or they should be at least, but because the targets are trans women and transmisogyny is so fucking rampant everyone has to bend over backwards to come up with excuses as to why treating trans women this way is perfectly normal and justified.
17 notes
·
View notes
Did you know guinea pigs are born just like. Tiny adults? They’re fully cooked. They come out, eyes open, fully furred, ready to do the whole array of guinea pig activities.
I learned this as a child. I was perhaps ten when this story took place. Our female guinea pig was pregnant, but she’d gotten mites and needed a bath. She was wildly pregnant. Bulging at the seams with babies. Ready to burst at any moment because all the babies needed to stay in there long enough to be full pigs. But we wanted to avoid the babies all getting mites and needing baths. We failed, they all needed baths. Mites are a bitch.
We knew she had three babies cooking in there. How did we know? We could feel each individual bulge in her belly. My mom was overseeing the pig bath but I was pretty much just doing my own thing, scrubbing her gently, rinsing the soap carefully.
After the bath our mother pig was not in the best mood. I was carrying her back to her freshly made mite free bedding when she’d had enough.
I was acutely aware that I was holding four lives in my childish grip, and I bore her along as if she were made of precious jewels and spun glass. Balanced in my hands I could feel the bulge of each of her babies slithering wetly around under her skin.
Which is why when she hauled off and sank her teeth into the meat of my hand I didn’t flinch. I didn’t drop her. I bore her as carefully and steadily as if I weren’t now bleeding freely, and I set her gently into her pig palace.
As I drew my hands away I screamed:
“FUCK!!!”
I then turned to look at my mother, who’d been watching the process intently.
I was fully aware that I had just done the worst possible swear directly in front of an authority figure and was very probably going to be punished. My mom was looking at me with a blank expression that I was waiting to turn stormy or disappointed.
“That must have hurt a lot,” was all she said.
She helped me throughly clean and bandage the bite. All the babies were born healthy and sound, looking like someone had used a shrink ray on trio of a guinea pigs.
Years later my mother confided in me that contrary to my belief that she’d be angry for swearing what she’d felt for me in that moment was overwhelming pride that in the face of pain and shock I had refused to let harm befall my little charges.
13K notes
·
View notes
god. its really frustrating the way internet virality works. everyone who sees success can only do so at the expense of others.
both shahed and shaima+mohammed (wafaa's siblings) were the initial targets of the recent wave of scam allegations, yet only shahed's gofundme was spread and received support as a result. maybe this is because and shaima and mohammed are slightly older, more traditional people who can't work the internet as well, maybe because they were less willing to share the intimate details of their pain online. maybe it's plain luck. either way its pretty shitty that only one person received the proper support after all that abuse, and that everyone else is being ignored.
since shahed reached her goal i want to redirect all of our righteous anger and empathy toward some of the other palestinians who were primarily targeted by this hate campaign. many of the campaigns on this list are stagnating in the amount of donations they recieve, despite the amount of attention they've received lately. of course, everyone here is vetted by either 90-ghost or el-shab-hussein:
shaima and mohammed @wafans-blog, who was accused of being a scam for having the same organizer as shahed, even though that is very common with gofundmes. [verification]
mahmoud balousha @helpfamily, who was targeted by one of the biggest blogs on this website and likened to a porn account. [verification]
amira alanqar @amira-world , who was targeted by some arrogant bitch who thought they knew better than actual palestinians how to vet a fundraiser and who also claimed that there was no point in donating to palestinians because evacuations are uncommon. [verification]
basel ayyad @basel-1995, whose posting habits were scrutinized to an inhuman degree as an excuse to dehumanize him. [verification] (he has been vetted twice!)
basel's cousin fadi ayyad. [verification]
heba al anqar @heba-baker, who was accused of being part of a belgian botnet because of her surname. [verification]
ahmed and abdulrahman al-nabih @ahmedalnabeeh11, who were accused of scamming for having relatives with chronic illnesses during a genocide. [verification]
and of course:
omar saad, ahmed @/90-ghost's brother, who is still in khan yunis with his family. ahmed, our sole vetter for a while, has gone through immeasurable abuse in the past week and we all owe it to him as people who have benefited from his labor to take one burden off his shoulders. [verification]
tagging for reach,, i'm sure you understand i am desperate
@timetravellingkitty @meaganfoster @briarhips @mazzikah @mahoushojoe
@rhubarbspring @schoolhater @pcktknife @transmutationisms @sawasawako
@feluka @terroristiraqi @irhabiya @commissions4aid-international @wellwaterhysteria
@deepspaceboytoy @post-brahminism @junglejim4322 @kibumkim @neechees
@mangocheesecakes @kyra45-helping-others @marnota @7bitter @tortiefrancis
@toiletpotato @fromjannah @omegaversereloaded @vague-humanoid @criptochecca
@aristotels @komsomolka @neptunerings @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @heritageposts
@ot3 @amygdalae @ankle-beez @communistchilchuck @dykesbat
@watermotif @stuckinapril @violentrevolution @mavigator @lacecap
@socalgal @chilewithcarnage @ghelgheli @sayruq @northgazaupdates2
9K notes
·
View notes