#i saw someone on twitter refer to him as an example of toxic masculinity

[lesbianshepard]

there's a lot to say about the modern depictions of medusa and all, but one of my biggest pet peeves is that it also portrays perseus as some sort of macho glory seeking ass who kills women for clout. like, he was protecting his mom. his mom was being forced into an abusive marriage and he took on a seemingly impossible task to save her.

[saint-patrice]

“Tbh I would like to have the 34 *other* Bergy pics on your shortlist, complete with commentary lolol. And then (if you’re still waiting that is) any other Marchy pics with commentary? xD xD” 

here are some more of my favourite marchy pics, complete with my bizarre personal commentary, for anon! the 34 bergy pics can be found here also!

Note: a few people have said they like these posts, so i’m up for taking people’s requests if there’s a particular player they’d like to see! inbox is always open (and anon is on) so just drop me your request and i’ll get working on it :)

okay so this is some absolutely premium cute marchy!! the smile that manages to be completely self-confident yet in no way cocky? the polite little wave as he surveys his audience who, if i recall correctly, were booing him heavily?? oh i do love you mr rat. marchy is fantastic and i have so much respect for the way he deals with his reputation across the league and the excessive amount of shit he gets.he knows what people think of him yet doesn’t seem to let it get to him. i have so much love for him.

KATRINA IS LEGENDARY. before moving on to the part of the image that gave me whiplash when i first saw it, we’re back to talking about brad’s smile. i think i said it in my last post but he really is one of those people who smiles with their whole face - even if you just saw his eyes in this photo you can immediately tell that he’s got that little grin on his face and that’s adorable tbh. now onto the d*lf mug (censored bc i fear the dodgy underground porn blogs these days)… i don’t even know where to start. i feel like he very proudly bought it for himself. and it’s like the only mug he ever wants to drink out of. just my take. i also think the longer hair really suits marchy ngl

ahhh the boys and their dirtbag christmas suits 💛 highlights of this image are the suit jacket that is definitely just one size too small for this absolute man rocket, and the pants with “FRAGILE” plastered all over them - very relatable if not at all festive.

gay rights are stored in the rat!!! i’m glad marchy has been pretty open about his support of LGBT stuff, particularly within hockey. also i feel like some of the stuff he’s said in interviews or social media (esp re: lickgate) manages, even if not intentionally, to be quite diminutive towards implicit homophobia or ‘toxic masculinity’ within hockey. okay maybe that that was poorly expressed but basically he just doesn’t give a shit and appears very open and accepting and i think that’s super nice. this picture also makes for a good reaction image when someone says something dumb

short kings love.jpeg !! a wonderful example of the love that brad shows his teammates on a regular basis, despite his constant chirping. i have no real opinions on torey krug (no h8, i just don’t think i’ve seen that much of him off ice so idk) but him and marchy are quite the duo tbh, i live for their back and forths on twitter - more on that later - and they seem to love each other an awful lot, it’s v cute :^)

that’s my pest™. honestly i think lickgate is one of the best scandals in recent hockey history. when looking for a good image of this is saw an article where some dipshit reporter was outraged about it and was like “how would you feel if someone just came up and liked you?” i mean what if someone just came up and started punching you or hip-checked you into the wall????? hockey is a nasty game a lot of the time, and instead of giving people concussions or broken bones (not that he hasn’t in the past ik…) marchy managed to make opposing teams just as angry, if not moreso, just by licking players. i think it’s fucking hilarious. and most of them took it well in hindsight anyway - i think it was komarov who said he kinda liked it lmaoooooo. peak bradley kevin antics if you  ask me

every pic from the china trip has such a special place in my heart. this is just an all-round adorable photo and brad is looking gorgeous in the sunlight and his backwards cap

brad waving the towel in surrender is just about the funniest thing i’ve ever seen someone do in the penalty box… i can’t believe they gave him a 10 minute misconduct for it, something i think they’d wouldn’t have done if it had have been someone else. at least someone in this league has a goddamn sense of humour. the penalty minutes stat in the corner just makes this even better

brad, once again, showing us how we should deal with people talking shit about us - just get on board with it. i love how much he’s just embraced his massive nose and his height and his general reputation. idk if it’s really deliberate but i think it’s such a good message to send, and it makes for some pretty funny stuff too.

brad single-handedly keeps nhl refs in a job. in my bruins drinking game™ you have to take a shot every time the ref has to physically restrain marchy (2 if it’s because he was going to get revenge or fend for bergy) and you could get fucked off that alone during some games. it was nice to see him not actually get suspended this year, but i will always love that he’s such a physical player and quite the pest on the ice :))

me: *slaps helmet of brad marchand* this bad boy can fit so much personality.

really though, can you believe he’s managed to squeeze more charisma into only 5 feet and 9 inches than 85% of the league combined… very cute picture, and always lovely to see him by bergy’s side on the ice where he belongs

oh my goddddddd how fucking cute is this though!!!! the hat! the dad energy those jeans and the boots give off!!! his face!! his little daughter!!!!! i can’t take it, my heart is going to burst.

(gif via @kureally) this is also just so cute, i need a minute. brad has some very powerful eyebrows and this gif displays them wonderfully. this section of behind the b was also pretty sweet all round, and i agree with pasta that the hair is looking pretty first class

(gif via @murlin09) i am not like into marchy (no tea no shade if u are though), but this gif… whew. i’ll let you come to your own conclusions on this one, gang

i was not lying when i said more on the brad-torey social media antics earlier. there are some truly iconic chirps (the zamboni one is lethal), but this self-roast just kills me every time. i never once thought i’d read a tweet from the official brad marchand twitter account that opened with “hey shorty” but here we are. “my nose wouldn’t fit” i astral projected the first time i read that. and if you’re wondering what torey said to prompt this, it was simply “hey marchy”. it doesn’t take much for brad to light on you, huh? we better watch our backs

definitely a favourite marcheron pic right here - the pucks and paddles (i still think that’s a questionable name but maybe that’s a me issue) content is always top notch. if you can find the video, it’s even better, but this picture captures the general energy of the video perfectly. the only thing missing is that brad’s feet aren’t actually on the floor because the height difference is so pronounced that bergy has to lift him. beautiful

return of the cute brad smile!! a cute yet mischievous little grin, i can only assume he’s restraining himself from laughing at m*tthews fivehead (although who is he to talk with that schnozz. at least he rocks it tbf 👃🏻). not sure blue is really his colour but he’s going for it anyway. that’s my all star!

it’s been days since this photo first surfaced and i haven’t stopped palpitating. the cutest photo ever, they all look so happy and i love that!!! also how are their wives so beautiful….!? oh my every pixel of this image is just stunning

i know i included this in my last bergy list but if they can name new york twice i think i can put this on 2 lists, because lord knows it’s even more iconic. i feel like this is a good metaphor for brad marchand: getting up to no good, although still relatively harmless, all the while supported by the considerably more sensible, yet still entertaining, patrice bergeron. additionally, another excellent display of the oft-overlooked fact that this man is built like a motherfucking tank. holy shit

i wish i could see these boys in suits without my brain immediately trying to think of some sort of au. anyway, i really like this look on brad (unpopular opinion - i love his loud checkered suits as a concept but i don’t think they look good). although he has dark hair, strong eyebrows, and dark facial hai, the all black actually looks really good on him. coffee in hand really adding to the look too - well done, brad “fashionista” marchand.

ahhhhh i love nothing more than family man marchy 💛 his daughter is adorable - those tiny jerseys kill me - and i love that his son is wearing the all-star jersey omg how cute (he is definitely going to end up taller than brad lmao)

sometimes i forget that brad is short and then i see photos like this (brandon is 6′5 for reference)…amazing. i relate to the lady on the left on a spiritual level. brad’s face is a mood and a half. his feet are half a foot of the ice at least. i adore this photo.

(gif via @brandoncarlo) absolutely one of my fav things about watching bruins games is how brad and patrice will always find each other during a celly - nothing beats the 100 hug. this is also just a very satisfying skating gif that i love.

last but very very very far from least is this. there is literally no need for me to make any comment on this so i’m just going to leave it and go. bradley kevin marchand you are iconic and ily

ayyy this was super fun to do, thank you for requesting it anon, i hope you like!! again, i’m absolutely up for taking requests for more of these lists so hmu if you have ideas :) 

[rebelwheelssoapbox]

Why If We Want Change, We Must Be The Change - Consistently

Consistency. It's not a word you always hear within the resistance, but it's one that is vital if we want to change the world, and is a key attribute of constructive activism. It means that if we say we are against war, then we must speak out against war, regardless if it's a Republican or Democrat dropping the bombs. If we say that we support the #MeToo movement, then we must speak out against sexual harassment and/or assault, regardless if it's Kavanaugh or someone perhaps you otherwise admire.

[photo of Franken smiling and wearing a suit]

I recall when former Senator Franken was validly accused of sexual harassment, there were a number of people in liberal circles who went to great lengths, doing acrobatic flips, in an attempt to find a way to justify his actions. People who would say that otherwise we must believe women, but... maybe not so much when it's women who accuse someone they like. Who struggled to accept that he messed up because they otherwise saw him as a voice of reason, a beacon of hope in these otherwise dysfunctional orange times.

It can kind of break your heart when you find a person whose activism you admire, a person who has done a lot of good for the people, and then discover that they have really missed the mark in this one area. It is true that no one is perfect, but all people, regardless of how we feel about them, regardless of the good they have done in other areas of their life, must be held accountable. Not in a toxic fashion where people call someone out in near egoic delight on social media. As if to say “Ha! You made a mistake. I will now rub your nose in it!”, but rather doing what is best for the movement (not their ego) and calling it out in the name of education, addressing the actual oppression and even sometimes maybe using it as a teaching moment.

In the end, while the good that Franken (as an example) has done is not erased by his actions, his accomplishments that have helped this nation, can not compensate nor negate sexual harassment. If we truly want to change the world, we must be consistent.

[NYC graffiti art on a sidewalk that reads “protect yo heart” ] It is complicated because it's natural to want to “protect” the people we admire. As a nation, and especially in these times, we are so thirsty for people that we can trust and believe in. That's why it is hard when you read something about a person you admire who has dropped the ball. It's like: God dammit. We just can't have nice things.

In fact, that was the very sentiment that came from my mouth when I read the Nov 2018 quote from Bernie Sanders on racism.

Every time he is trending on twitter, I think to myself “Oh please, don't be dead. Don't die. Not allowed to die. Not now. Not in these times ” because I really feel that in many ways, this country needs activist politicians like Bernie Sanders, who work to empower the working people, and who manages to stay in power but not by spreading fear and hatred via the scapegoat du jour (as many other politicians do), but rather by promoting solidarity and unity among the oppressed demographics. And because we don't really have that many “good ones” that we really can't afford to lose one at this point in time.

Do I think he's perfect like some shiny idol on a golden pedestal? No. As a disabled person, I wish he would learn and use the word ableism (among other things), but I respect the way he handles himself, and I think more than not, he is good for the nation.

[Photo of Bernie Sanders wearing a suit]

And then The Daily Beast put out an article where Sanders was quoted as saying

“I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American,” Sanders told The Daily Beast, referencing the close contests involving Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia and ads run against the two. “I think next time around, by the way, it will be a lot easier for them to do that.”

It was a comment that made my brain go “Wait, what?” Because, on one hand, he was saying something kind of positive, that there were white folks who normally would not vote for a black politician, but that is starting to change. But he also said “not necessarily racist” to describe said white people who felt uncomfortable voting for a black person because they're black.

[Photos of Andrew Gillum (top) and Stacey Abrams, who respectively ran in Florida and Georgia. Gillum is wearing a dress shirt and slacks and is in mid speech, which a microphone in his hand. Abrams is wearing something blue, and looks like she is in mid-thought]

And just as my brain realized that there was no other way to read this, to my right in came the flux of tweets and social media comments from people who never liked Bernie to begin with and still blame him for Hillary's loss in the last presidential election. Including some who maybe would not necessarily hold Hillary to the same standard when she misses the mark.

Don't get me wrong. Once Bernie lost the primary, I voted for her in an attempt to prevent Trump, but it's frustrating (and detrimental to the resistance) when you have people attempting to drag one person over a comment, but then do not hold another to that same standard because it's someone they like.

[photo of a smiling Hillary Clinton wearing a gray outfit] To my left, the wave of Bernie supporters who jumped through hoop after hoop, in an attempt to explain how Bernie is still great and didn't mean it like that. Some people within that wave who perhaps too would not give that same free pass to another person that they did not hold dear.

One Bernie supporter who responded to my tweet with a link to the audio from the Daily Beast interview  and decided to focus on the positive like when the interviewer uses the word “race-oriented” and Bernie responds with

"Why don't we use the right word, not use the phrase 'race-oriented,' why don't we say racist." - Bernie Sanders

But I was certainly not alone with thinking that Bernie missed the mark.

" @BernieSanders says some people aren’t “necessarily racist” but were “uncomfortable” voting for people because they were black. Many would define not supporting someone based solely on race as racist. “ - Yamiche Alcindor‏ @Yamiche                  

”Um, Bernie.... That would make them 100% racist..” - Tariq Nasheed‏ @tariqnasheed

The next day via a post on NPR, Sanders' spokesman insists those remarks were taken out of context, [and quoted Bernie as saying]

"There's no question that in Georgia and in Florida racism has reared its ugly head. And you have candidates who ran against Gillum and ran against Stacey Abrams who were racist and were doing everything they could to try to play whites against blacks," he said. “And that is an outrage, and we have got to continue doing everything that we can to fight all forms of racism."

Frankly, it's confusing. Bernie has made statements within a two day period, some within the same article, where sometimes he is on point when it comes to racism, but then that “not necessarily racist” comment where he is not.

[photo of two hands] There is sometimes a lack of consistency within the resistance. As an example, we say we want to smash the patriarchy and call out sexist politicians but then mock Trump for having small hands (which references a small penis, which supposedly makes a man less of a man, because a man's worth is apparently decided by the size of his wallet and genitalia. A false notion that contributes to toxic masculinity. Yes, if we want a world where the patriarchy & sexism doesn't exist, then we have to be aware of our own actions that are unintentionally contributing to it. It might be less “fun” but eye on the prize, y'all. Eye on the prize, the movement before ego. Sigh not, for the resistance is highly creative and there are so many things to actually constructively criticize him on.)

And so in name of consistency, in regard to the “white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American.” in the words of Bernie himself, I ask him: “Why don't we use the right word... why don't we say racist.". I say this but not as an attack. I hope that he will read this (or something like this) and be accountable, for that is also something that is vital to the resistance. Because, yes there are times where he absolutely gets it, but those times do not negate this instance, where he simply missed the mark.

[thedeadshotnetwork]

It's Getting Harder for People of Color Like Me to Inhabit White Spaces I feel aggravated all the time. More annoyed than usual when people repeat my name back to me with a question mark. Anxious and restless when I look around a room and realize I’m the only person of color in it. It’s been like this for over a year now. I never used to be this kind of person. Most of my friends are white; a lot of them are men. They’re not used to seeing me this way and don’t really know what to say. For a while, I even struggled myself to pin down what exactly accounted for this shift in my personality, even as the obvious answers continued to pile up, almost 24/7. The Muslim ban. The border wall. Charlottesville. Palestine. Puerto Rico. Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein and Woody Fucking Allen. Loud talkers and manspreaders and make-room-for-me-on-the-sidewalk motherfuckers. White supremacy and toxic masculinity are nothing new, but today, America is in the midst of a reckoning. Every headline feels like a new saturation point, but the spigot just continues to run. And more and more, I find it difficult to wring myself out and get on with everyday life. It feels like I’m suffocating. Especially when I find myself in spaces and rooms dominated by people who are white, straight, or otherwise privileged. Friends of color I spoke with for this story agreed this is a conversation we’ve been having more lately than ever before. We’re of various backgrounds, and each of us experience our otherness in vastly different ways, but we’re all accustomed to being among the minority in most settings. And all of us agreed to feeling some heightened sense of anxiety and defensiveness in majority-white spaces. Overwhelming resentment like this is new territory for me. Though I grew up as one of few minorities in an affluent suburb, my attitudes toward our cultural difference weren’t always acute. My parents, who emigrated from India in the 70s, made it their mission to make my brother and I feel like we belong here. The fact that my home life felt worlds away from the America I navigated at school and saw on TV didn’t carry much more weight than my desire for boys over girls. Any way you looked at it, I didn’t fit in. So I made white friends. And when I finally had the opportunity, I made queer friends, most of whom are also white. For better or worse, I have always felt thoroughly assimilated into white American culture. I think it made life easier for me in a lot of ways. But it’s beginning to backfire. “That anxiety is never far from the surface,” said Thomas A. Parham, a psychologist, adjunct professor, and vice chancellor of student affairs at University of California, Irvine, who has written extensively on minority psychology. “All you have to do is be reminded through social circumstance that things are the way they are. That’s why the social climate is forcing people of color to confront it every day.” Parham stressed that these feelings aren’t new for most minority groups, but they are being exacerbated in a new way. “The emotional reaction that most people of color are having is not ‘anxiety’ in the clinical sense,” Parham said. “It’s more a reaction to specific instances where they’re dealing with microaggressions, microassaults, or microinvalidations”—especially so in a climate where people feel more emboldened to make them. Here’s one example. I was at a cocktail party, milling around with more than a dozen gay men, all of them white. When another brown face approached and introduced himself, we recognized each other as South Asian and said as much. When another guest asked how we knew, I looked at him and deadpanned, “How do you know you’re white?” I said it was nice to have another person of color in the room, referring to the obvious makeup of the group. The same white guest looked around as if to find some proof I was wrong. “Well, it’s not like being white comes with some big prize,” he said with a smirk as he turned back to us. Was he joking? I honestly couldn’t tell. I felt the back of my neck prickle. I wanted to scream and throw something. “Except for… extreme privilege?” I half muttered with a question mark, as though cautious not to offend him, before I turned and walked away. Watch VICE profile fashion designer Yasmine Yasmine: “I’ve just seen such crazy shit happen that it makes me nervous to be around that many white people,” said my friend Zoe Jackson, a TV producer who is black, of scenes like the one I experienced. “More so for my own emotional protection. I’m just waiting for someone to say some stupid shit to me, and for it to put me in a bad mood.” I knew exactly what she meant. “I’m more apt to count all the people of color in the room, which I didn’t always do,” said Nadia Brittingham, a TV editor whose father is white and mother is Taiwanese. She said that if and when she gets into conversations about race and gender with white people when she first meets them, she ends up “being more on the defensive." “I start to question myself, actually,” Jackson said. “Because I’m like, ‘Why am I in a space like this? Did I make this choice or was it made for me?’” “There are assumptions that come into play whenever I walk in a room,” said Marcus Barnes, a vice president of a bank who is black. Before moving to Switzerland last year, Barnes spent his life in the US. “My default tendency is to turn it in on myself,” he said, describing a cycle of negative self-talk that it took many years to let go of. “Like, if nobody else like me is here, then they don’t want people like me here. They don’t want people like me here because I’m too dark. My nose is too big, I don’t dress well enough, my hair looks a mess. If only I were more respectable, etcetera.” He said he feels much more welcomed living abroad than he did in America. Parham said he tries to help patients, students and other minorities he works with employ strategies derived from cognitive behavioral therapy to cope with increased identity-based anxiety. “We try to to help people focus less on the eight out of ten things they don’t control, and more on the two out of ten that they do,” Parham said; in this way, they can “reframe circumstance in a way that it doesn’t all become bad, or that everybody doesn’t become racist.” Those are strategies people I spoke with for this piece seemed to be turning to subconsciously. “I get myself back to the reality of, ‘I don’t actually know what these people are thinking of me,’” said Barnes. “The more time I spend up in my head, the less time I’m actually focusing on the people around me.” “You can’t live your life from a place of fear,” she added. “But I also don’t bite my tongue. I don’t mind making other people uncomfortable if I’m right.” Listening to her made me wish I had a more clever clapback for my rude party guest, but I was too shocked. I was at a party, for fuck’s sake—I couldn’t muster the energy in that environment to have a productive conversation about why what he said was so upsetting. Brittingham said she's had "more intense conversations” with white friends of late just to gauge their reaction. But “at the same time, I tend not to, because I’m just othering myself further.” I’ve felt the same way over and over—that pointing to my difference only sets it in sharper relief, when I may be the only one constantly preoccupied with it. “I’m like, ‘If I have to think about this so much, why don’t you?’” Brittingham said. At the same time, we all agreed to feeling fortunate for the white friends who’ve proven themselves incredible allies, if just by listening and acknowledging the limits of their understanding. In just coming together to talk (and in some cases vent), we rehearsed another strategy Parham pointed to in coping with some of these feelings. “Part of what you want to do in putting people in groups and having them talk through these issues is to let them know that they are not in it alone,” Parham said. As obvious as that may sound, it’s easy to feel isolated when, whatever the circumstance, you find yourself among the only POC in the room. Carving out space and time to specifically address these experiences can be invaluable. “Keeping those conversations going is really important and really therapeutic for me,” Jackson said. “Finding ways of just sharing and talking about it and supporting each other—I think we need it. It makes it easier to get out there.” Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter . December 12, 2017 at 03:47PM