#stop taxing menstrual products

[redditreceipts]

https://reddit.com/r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns2/s/rBbwpXGJtm

"you can say you've had to use menstrual products in your life (gender euphoria) :)"

What would that "gender euphoria" look like in Tanzania? (source)

Why don't you miss out on crucial parts of your education because of "gender euphoria"? (source)

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Why don't you spend 18,000 pounds on overtaxed sanitary products for your "gender euphoria"?

or why don't you give yourself an infection every once in a while for your "gender euphoria"? Why don't you stop eating for a couple of days to afford your overpriced period products? (source)

Ah, yeah, I know why. Because womanhood for you is just picking and choosing the things you like and not doing the things you dislike. Good for you, but a lot of us don't have that privilege.

[bitchesgetriches]

On poverty:

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On intersectional social issues:

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[mooifyourecows]

moo i have an important question about period products. i was talking with my mom and my sister about state schools putting period products in mens bathrooms. i made a comment about how this is a good thing that’s happening , but it bothers me that this is what everyone is so focused on relating to period products. personally , i think we should be more focused on making these things cheaper or completely free (even though free anything is very unlikely in america) because they’re so expensive and homeless or poor women struggle to pay for them and have to just figure something out until it’s over. it’s so takes a huge toll and my family’s income because we are four women that get our period and we usually have really long ones too. i just think it is more important to give everyone easier access and have to be more prepared if you’re in a situation where you can’t get to a tampon. i’ve had a bunch of different times where i’ve been in public and not had any , and it sucks , but i just try to stay as prepared as possible , and it sucks that it’s difficult for trans men to get easier access to the period products they need , but it also sucks that homeless women and trans men can’t get those products at all.

this was kinda ranty but idk i just feel like this isn’t at all what people are focused on and it makes me mad. no one but the lower class cares about the lower class. and even if there are period products in the mens bathrooms , you’ll still have to fucking pay for them.

You're so right! Maybe I'm a dirty antifa snowflake but I think that everything that humans NEED should be free

Food, housing, healthcare, etc... it should all be free. (Or ya know, paid for by taxes rather than all that money going to the military/police/bailouts)

Establishments putting tampon/pad dispensers in the male bathrooms is a great first step! But they do absolutely need to be free

But I also think that society should move away from disposable sanitary products altogether. (Except for in the case of people who benefit more from the disposable stuff like disabled people who find the cleaning process of non-disposable sanitary products difficult, or the homeless who don't have access to running water or soap)

Period panties, reusable pads, menstrual cups, etc should replace most of the disposable stuff for so many reasons! They're better for the environment, they save you money because you're not buying them as often, they're literally better for your body and make your periods lighter and less painful.

I genuinely recommend to all people who menstruate look into alternative sanitary products and stop using all them nasty disposable ones. The earth and your body will thank you 🥰🌈

[stevensaus]

Good Men Don't Stay Silent.

There are two lessons to take from this short reel I ran across on Instagram: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Will Hitchins (@willhitchins) First, there is the obvious lesson -- "traditional" roles are NOT incompatible with feminism. They can co-exist just fine. Simple enough. But there is a second lesson that female-presenting folx already know, and male-presenting folx still need to learn.{1} It is not what women are doing that is good or bad. It is whether or not women have the same ability to choose and choices that are available to everyone else. Not just "are they legally allowed to." That is the argument of either a coward afraid of women, or someone whose privilege has blinded them to reality. The practical ability to choose means that they have the same educational opportunities. Not just "allowed to attend classes", but able to attend classes without fearing constant harassment. Without also having to bear the sole responsibility for figuring out childcare. Without already having a "to-do" list a mile long because their partners can't or won't do their share of maintenance household tasks or use weaponized incompetence. Without having to worry about being assaulted after a night class. Without having to be responsible for meal planning and preparation after a full shift at work. Without being called a "bitch" for the same thing their male counterparts are praised for. Hell, even without the "pink tax" that is regularly applied to female-coded products. The same obstacles -- and more -- can be applied to careers, hobbies, volunteer work, serving in the military. You name it, those obstacles are there for women. You don't need a rule or test to effectively remove a woman's choices when there are so many unneeded obstacles that effectively make it orders of magnitude more difficult than for someone who presents as a man. {2} Yes, the legal and societal "permission" is important. But that "permission" is only the first and smallest obstacle to that real equality. That's the bad news. However, I'm hoping that there are enough men out there who are now repulsed by those actions of other men, wondering if they might be one of the "baddies" themselves, or both. And if that hope is even slightly right, then there is good news. Because a lot of those obstacles that women face are things that you can do something about for the women in your life. Go to the women in your life. Find out -- without arguing -- where they feel you're falling short and passing the burden on to them. Use that list of obstacles above as inspiration. Then stop doing the bad stuff and start using your privilege to remove those obstacles. Where you have direct influence, take direct action (e.g. fixing the ways you're falling short). Wherever you can, make it an unsafe space for bigots and sexists. Need an example? A prior manager of mine {3} once told me that her objection to a plan in a meeting was discounted with the phrase "is it that time of the month for you?" Someone -- anyone -- in that meeting should have simply said, "Can you explain what you mean by that, Bob? Are you saying that a peer's point of view does not count because ... why? Are you keeping tabs on the menstrual cycles of your female peers, Bob? Because I'm pretty sure that violates our policies... and if you're not, then you're being pretty sexist, which also violates our HR policies." Or, preferably, one could just say, "What the fuck is wrong with you, Bob?" Because that is the world we want. Where women don't hear the same sexist things all the time. Where sexism -- and all forms of bigotry -- are met with a reflexive "what the fuck is wrong with you," whether it's at home, at a convention, in the locker room, webcomics, the board room, professional publications, or even the presidential campaign trail.{4} C'mon, men. You can do this. You are not some coward who can't take some critique. You are not some coward staying quiet when injustice is happening around you. That's the irony, really, that the ones screaming about being "alphas" and calling others "betas" are the ones too damn scared to even look at their own behavior, too terrified to be better. You've got to be one of the good guys, because there's too damn many of the bad. {1} From this point onward, I'm using "men" and "women" simply for space reasons; female- and male-presenting are what I mean. This is about gender roles and society, not chromosomes or genitals. {2} Yes, this same situation also applies for race, ethnicity, manner of speech, disability, gender identity, and so on. {3} Yes, that manager. {4} It's so frustrating that one sexual predator got impeached over a blow job, and another who was convicted of sexual assault won the Iowa primary yesterday. Featured Image by 422737 from Pixabay Read the full article

[starlit-woods]

taxation on period products.

this is a thing that very sadly needs to be said. why are period products taxed? they aren’t a “luxury item.” it’s not a thing we can control. it’s not a luxury. it shouldn’t be taxed, it’s a necessity. also, if you don’t believe in stopping the tax on period products: i’ll come over to your house without a pad on and bleed all over your carpet.

[a-room-of-my-own]

A while before the latest hoo-ha about Judith Butler, I had just been reading her again. Though she claims her critics have not read her, this simply isn’t the case. I read Gender Trouble when it first came out and it was important at the time . That time was long,long ago. She was just one of the many ‘post-structuralist’ thinkers I was into. I would trip off to see  Luce Irigaray or Derrida whenever they appeared.

I got an interview  with Baudrillard and tried to sell it to The Guardian but they  didn’t know who he was so its fair to say I was fairly immersed in that world of theory.  For a while, I had a part time lecturing job so I had to keep on top of it. Though Butler’s idea of gender as performance was not new , it was interesting.  RuPaul said it so much more clearly in a  quote nicked from  someone else “Honey ,we are born naked, the rest is drag”

What I was looking for again , I guess is not any clarity – her writing is famously and deliberately difficult-  but whether there was ever any sense of the material body. She wrote herself in 2004 “I confess however I am not a very good materialist. Every time I try to write about the body, the writing ends up being about language” . 

Butler from on high ,cannot really think about the body at all which is why they (Butler’s chosen pronoun) are now the high priestess of a particular kind of trans ideology.  The men who worship Butler are not versed in high theory. The fox botherer had a “brain swoon” at some very ordinary things Butler said. Mr Right Side of history nodded along in an interview. Clearly neither of these men are versed in any of this philosophy and would be better off sticking to tax law and the decline of the Labour Party. Butler is simply a totem for them.

Butler said in the Guardian interview for instance  “Gender is an assignment that does not just happen once: it is ongoing. We are assigned a sex at birth and then a slew of expectations follow which continue to “assign” gender to us.”

So yeah? That’s a fairly basic view of the social construction of gender though I take issue with the assigned at birth thing ,which I will come back to and why I started reading her again in the first place.

This phrase “Assigned sex at birth” is now common parlance but simply does not make sense  to me. I am living with someone who is pregnant. I have given birth three times and been a birthing  partner. I know where babies come from. There is a deep disconnect here between language and reality which no amount of academic jargon can obliterate. 

Babies  come from bodies. Not any bodies but bodies that have a uterus. They grew inside a woman’s body until they  get pushed out or dragged out into the world. 

The facts of life that we are now to be liberated from in the form of denial. Only one sex can have babies but we must now somehow not say that. The pregnant “people” of Texas will now be forced into giving birth to children they don’t want because they are simply “host bodies”. The language of patriarchal supremacy and that of some of the trans ideologues is remarkably close, as is their biological ignorance.

There is no foetal heatbeat at six weeks for instance. When a baby is born , doctors and midwives do not randomly assign a sex, they observe it and they do it though genitalia. 

There is a question over a tiny percentage of babies ,less that one percent with DSDs but even then they are sexed with doctors having  difficult conversations with parents about what may happen later.

Somehow, though when I read the way in which this is now all discussed it is clear to me that the people talking have never been pregnant, never had a foetal scan, never been near a birth , never miscarried, do not understand that even with a still birth babies are still sexed and often named. 

If you want to know the sex of your baby you can pay privately and know at 7 weeks ((*49-56 days from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual cycle). A 12 week scan will show it. That is why so many female foetuses are aborted . I have reported on this. 

Talking to paediatricians about this is interesting because they do indeed have to think through these things that we are being told are not real eg. that sex is just a by-product of colonialism for instance.  Sometimes pre-conception , geneticists will be looking at chromosomes because certain diseases are more likely in men or women. Males have a higher risk of haemophilia for instance.  

One doctor told me “When babies are premature, the survival advantage of females over males is well known throughout neonatology. This is sometimes something we talk about with parents when there is threatened premature labour around 23 weeks' gestation and options to discuss about resuscitation and medical interventions. In fertility treatment (or counselling around fertility in the context of medical treatments) it is pretty inherent to know whether we need to plan around sperm, or ova + pregnancy.”

She also said that if she involved in a birth that “assigning” isn’t the word she world use. “Observed genitals a highly reliable observation, just like measuring weight or head circumference which is also done at this time. “ Another doctor said that anyone involved with a trans man giving birth  would be doing the best for the patient in front  of them. 

Sex then is biological fact. A female baby will have all the eggs she will ever have when she is first born which is kind of amazing. It is not bio-essentialist to say that our sexed bodies are different nor is it transphobic to recognise it.

Except of course in my old newspaper ,The Guardian who are now so hamstrung by their  own ideology they have got their knickers in such a twist they can barely walk.  They completely misreported the WiSpa incident , basically ignored the Sonia  Appleby  judgement at the Tavistock. Appleby was a whistle blower ,a respected professional concerned with safe guarding. She won her case. The cherry on the cake this week was an interview with Butler, themselves (?) in which they went on about Terfs being fascists and needing to extend the category of women.

Does anyone EVER stop to think that most gender critical women are of the left, supporters of gay rights, often lesbian and that this is not America? We are not in bed with the far right. This is bollocks. Just another way to dismiss us.  

As we watch Afghanistan and Texas ,to say Butler’s words were tone deaf is to say the least. But they didn’t even have the guts to keep the most offensive stuff in the piece and overnight edited it out without really explaining why : the bits where Butler described gender critical people as fascist. Perhaps because the person their “reporters” had  defended against  transphobia at WiSpa turned out to be a known sex offender,  perhaps because someone pointed out that Butler was throwing around the word fascist rather like Rik Mayall used to do in the Young Ones. 

All of this is rather desperate and readers deserve better. When I left that newspaper I said that I thought and expected editors to stand up for their writers in public. Instead they go into some catatonic paralysis. I may have not liked this interview but it should never have been cut. Stand by what you publish or your credibility is shot.

But this is about more than Judith Butler and their refusal to support women . Butler is not really any kind of feminist at all. What this is about is the large edifice of trans ideology  crumbling when any real analysis is applied. Yes, I have read Shon Faye’s book and there are some interesting points in it and I totally agree that the lives of trans people should be easier and health care better . I have never said anything but that.

What Faye does in the book is say that there can be no trans liberation under capitalism so there will be a bit of a wait I suspect. 

Yet surely it is the other way round and what we are seeing is that trans ideology (not trans people – I am making a distinction here ) represent the apex of capitalism .

For it means that the individual decides their own gendered essence and then spends a fortune on surgery and a lifetime on medication to achieve the appearance of it. Of course lots of people spend a lifetime  on medication but not out of choice.  Marx understood very well that the abolition of our system of production would free up women.

Now it is all about freeing up men. Who say they are women. Quelle surprise.  

 Nussbaum’s famous take down of Butler is premised exactly on the sense of individual versus collective struggle “ The great tragedy in the new feminist theory in America is the loss of a sense of public commitment. In this sense, Butler’s self-involved feminism is extremely American, and it is not surprising that it has caught on here, where successful middle-class people prefer to focus on cultivating the self rather than thinking in a way that helps the material condition of others. “

Such thinking now dominates academia. There is simply an unquestioning  rehearsal of something most of know not to be true thus Amia Srinivasan writes in The Right to Sex  “At birth, bodies are sorted as ‘male’ or ‘female’, though many bodies must be mutilated to fit one category or the other, and many bodies will later protest against the decision that was made. This originary division determines what social purpose a body will be assigned.”

What does ‘sorted’ mean here? A tiny number of intersex babies are born. A tiny number of people are trans and decide to change their bodies. The feminist demand to challenge gender norms without mutilating any one’s body no longer matters. What matters now is this retrograde return  to some gendered soul. This is not something any decent Marxist would have any truck with . Of course one may change over a lifetime and of course gender is never ‘settled.’ We are complex people who inhabit bodies that often don’t work or appear as we want them to.

But not only is there a denial of basic Marxism going on here , what becomes ever more apparent is  that there is a denial of motherhood. Butler said “Yet gender is also what is made along the way – we can take over the power of assignment, make it into self-assignment, which can include sex reassignment at a legal and medical level.”

Self-assignment is key . One may birth oneself. No longer of woman born but self -made. This is a theoretical leap but it also one that has profound implications for women as a sex class. We are really then, just the  host bodies to a new breed of people who self-assign.

Maybe that is the future although look around the word and there isn’t a lot of self-assignment going on. There are simply women shot and beaten in the street, choked to death or having  their rights taken  away. There is no identifying out of this , there is no fluidity here . This is not discourse. It is brutality and do we not have some responsibility to other women to confront male violence ?

Instead the hatred is aided and abetted by so called philosophers describing  other women as Terfs. It is utterly depressing.

The sexed body. The pregnant body. The dying body. The body is in trouble when we can’t talk about it . I thought of Margaret Mary O’Hara’s  beautiful and  strange lyrics and what they might mean. I await my child’s return from the hospital as hers is a difficult pregnancy and thank god they are on the case. The sex of the child she carries does not matter to me at all .

It simply exists. Not in language but within a body. 

Why is that so difficult to acknowledge? 

[duuhrayliegh]

male chivalry

warnings: okay so there is a trigger warning of sexual harassment and attempted sexual assault, language, men being gross, protective!bucky, angst a bit, i think that’s it, if you see anything else let me know

word count: 3230 :)

a/n: idk why it took me so long to finish this, but it’s here now!!! also this is based off this post from @teaboot (just the op bc the rest of it pissed me off :)) i hope y’all like it. i hope it’s what y’all expected idk, i’m proud of it.

i really hope i did the topics justice, if you don’t think i did, please shoot me a message and help me figure out how to do better. <3

p.s.: my requests and tag lists are open! also this is not beta read, so all mistakes are my own.

xoxo ray

ray’s m.list

************************************

It had been about three weeks since Bucky had first met the group of four at the protest. Bucky made sure to check in with Steve and let him know what he was doing. Steve was always worrying about Bucky, which was totally understandable because of everything they had been through.

Bucky’s day was a relaxed one with little to no time to dawdle. Over these three weeks, he had learned more from an eighteen year old than he ever thought he would. It was easier to open up to her, for some reason. Bucky hadn’t fully figured that out yet either, but he wasn’t going to question it.

Bucky had been going to his court mandated therapy with Dr. Raynor, to say they were making progress would be a lie. Honestly, Bucky was making more progress with the new individuals in his life. They knew what he did as the Winter Soldier-- no they know what the Winter Soldier did, Cassie made sure the distinction between the two was crystal clear. Bucky was still a bit cautious around them, not wanting to hurt them or be a burden to them.

It amazed Bucky how open they were with each other. Back in the 40’s, you didn’t express your feelings. Especially if you were a man, for fear of being labeled something unsavory. Even stranger still to Bucky was the encouragement and support that everyone gave to those in hard times. It warmed Bucky’s heart to see Penny comforting Freddie after his recent break up.

“Freddie and Ted had been together a little over six months,” Cassie explained to Bucky one night after the group had dispersed from the dining table. Bucky and Cassie were standing over the sink washing the dinner plates and cutlery. “Freddie was so in love with him. I thought Ted felt the same, but I guess that’s just how it goes, right?”

Bucky shrugged, this was one of his first experiences with modern romance. Dating in the 40’s was very rigid, which was to be expected, but nowadays everything is very fluid. It truly fascinated Bucky.

“I honestly don’t know.” Bucky shrugged as he dried the pristine plates. Just as he began to get lost in thought, Evie pulled him into a subject that he hadn’t thought of in a real long time.

“What was it like with women in the forties, Buck?” Bucky blinked at her and considered his answer carefully. The group had been teaching him how to handle some subjects sensitively.

“To be honest? The last date that I went on was to the World Expo of Tomorrow in 1943, the night before I shipped out to England.” He turned, leaning his weight on the counter behind him and crossing his arms over his chest. “I went with Steve, this was before he was Captain America, so when he was a little ol’ gangly thing. I had hooked us up with two women, one for me and one for Stevie, their names were Dot and Connie, I think.”

“No, no, that’s not what I mean, Buck. What was it like with women?”

Bucky tilted his head in question.“What do you mean?”

“What was it like with them? Like, how were they treated as a whole?”

“Oh, uh I think they were treated well? My Ma always told Steve and I to treat women with respect, so we did.”

“Right, but what about everyone else? How did they treat women?” Bucky was confused by the question and he began to think that he was giving the wrong answers.

“Um, I guess I don’t know. I guess they were treated how they are today?” Both of the girls in front of him released disdained scoffs.

“Well, that’s unfortunate, right Cas?” Cassie nodded at Evie and dropped her head in disappointment.

“Why do you say that?” Bucky asked. He was genuinely curious about what the girls were referring to. “I mean, I get that the treatment of women hasn’t always been good but it’s not that bad right?” The girls shared a knowing look, and then Evie sighed. She hauled herself out of her chair and nodded to Bucky.

“Alright, let’s go take a walk, just you and me.”

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, just a couple blocks away to the Walgreens. Sound okay?” Bucky agreed, grabbing his jacket and waiting for Evie by the doorway. “We’ll be back soon, Cas.”

“Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea, Evelyn?” Bucky had only ever heard Cassie use Evie’s full name when she was getting in trouble.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine, Cas, I swear.” Evie glanced at Bucky, “Besides, I’ve got a Sargent escorting me, so we’ve got nothing to worry about.” She threw a smile to her older sister whose face was just a veil of worry and doubt.

Bucky and Evie exited the apartment building and neither of them had said anything since. Bucky was wondering what this whole exercise was all about, but he wasn’t going to say anything until Evie did. The pair walked up onto a crosswalk, causing them to stop and wait so Evie was able to turn the man beside her.

“So, before we go any further, I just want to set the scene for you.” She took a calming breath and it was now that Bucky realized that this was the first time that she was noticeably scared. His brows furrowed and he nodded as she continued. “It’s ten o’clock on a Wednesday night and you’re in Brooklyn, walking to your local Walgreens because you need tampons.” Bucky huffed out a small laugh as Evie playfully glared at the man.

“Yeah, yeah. The female menstrual cycle is hilarious as is the pink tax that is put on feminine hygiene products. Laugh it up, James.” She shook her head and pulled Bucky closer to the front of a building. “I’m trying to tell you something, ya asshole. So, you see that it’s dark outside because it’s late but you decide to risk it anyway because you have a flight to catch at four the next morning. You leave your apartment and you are greeted with this.” She gestured to the expanse in front of her.

“Alright, let’s go. And just a word of wisdom real quick before we really get going. Women are considered fragile but I’ve never seen anything as easily wounded as a man’s ego.”

“Wow, that’s quite a pearl.” Bucky caught up to Evie as she made her way down the street.

“So being a woman and even more so, being a woman at night, means that you have to constantly be on guard.” As they were walking, a man in a greasy white tank top passed them. The man’s head turned and he scanned Evie’s body.

“Goddamn, that’s a sweet little body there, baby girl.” Bucky’s head snapped around to the man, but Evie kept walking. Bucky looked over to Evie with concern riddling his features.

“Hey, sweetcheeks! Let me talk to you for a while!” The greasy man was now following Evie and Bucky. “I bet I can show you a better time than he can, baby girl. Come on, let me talk to you.” He reached his hand out, gripping Evie’s arm and pulling her to face him.

“Please don’t touch me.” “Get your fucking hands off her, you dick.” The man took a step backwards away from the pair.

“Well, fine you bitch! I didn’t want you anyway, fucking fat ass.”

“Hey, you don’t just get to fucking walk away, you jackass! Apologize to her.”

“Why should I apologize to her? I was giving her a compliment.” Bucky’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. Did this guy just fucking--

“Okay, buddy.” Bucky went to approach the man to settle their disagreement when Evie stopped him.

“James, leave it. Let’s go.” She kept walking and Bucky didn’t want to leave her alone, not after that whole debacle.

“What the fuck was that Evie?” He questioned quickly, she shook her head in response but never verbally responded to him. A few paces later, the pair was about to pass a group of men leaned up against the brick wall behind them. Brown paper bags crunched around bottles were grasped in their hands. Drunken laughter was ringing out through the near empty streets.

“Hey baby! Why don’t you come on over here so we can talk to ya!” One of the men began to step in front of Evie effectively stopping her movement. The eighteen year old took a few steps backwards, coincidentally into Bucky’s chest. His arms came up to meet hers, about to move in front of her in a protective stance.

“Woah, you got a bodyguard baby?” The man tilted his head and stared at Evie. “You know you don’t need him sweetheart.”

“Damn, baby girl. You’re fine as hell.” Another man walked to stand next to the first. “What do I gotta do to get you in my bed?”

“Please leave us alone.”

“No, baby girl I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen.” Bucky stepped in front of Evie protectively.

“I think she told you to leave us alone.” The two men in front of Bucky didn’t waver. Two raised brows and a fit of laughter later, they still maintained their ground.

“Why? You guys going somewhere to fuck? Already got a piece of that ass and don’t want to share it big man?”

“That’s just cold. You gotta share sometime. And it’s just easier to do it now rather than later.” Evie trembled behind Bucky and leaned up so only Bucky could hear her.

“Come on Bucky, let’s just go back to the apartment.” She tugged on his right arm, fingers digging into his soft flesh. Bucky was sure that he would have crescent shaped indentations where her nails laid in because of how much she was gripping him.

Bucky’s eyes flicked up and down the two men in front of him, assessing how much of a threat they were. They were clearly enough of a threat to frighten Evie to the point of wanting to go home. Bucky gave Evie a stiff nod, not taking his eyes off of the men.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going baby? We’re just getting started!” One of them yelled at the pair as he reached out to grab Evie’s forearm. A split second later, Bucky’s left hand balled into a fist and he launched it at the man’s face. A loud crack resounded and a groan left the man’s mouth as he hit the ground. A look of shock fell across the other’s faces as they saw Bucky standing over their fallen comrade. The group took several steps away from the pair, holding their hands up in surrender.

“Don’t you ever touch a woman without her permission, you fucking prick.” Bucky then turned quickly, grabbing Evie’s wrist tightly and hauling her away from the men. Several paces later, Bucky still held a tight grip on the girl's arm.

“Bucky, you’re kind of hurting me.” Evie’s voice broke through Bucky’s barriers. He let up on how fast he was walking and then dropped Evie’s arm.

Worried eyes scanned her body for any bruising, “I’m so sorry, doll. Are you okay?” Evie laughed as she was rubbing her sore wrists.

“Bucky, that’s normal for any woman. Ever.” Shaking her head, she began walking back towards the apartment. “We could’ve kept on going to Walgreens, but I wasn’t sure your fragile heart could take it.” Bucky drew in his brows and a deep frown etched itself into his features.

“What the hell do you mean that’s normal, Evelyn?” He thrust his arm behind them, gesturing to what they just went through. “Nothing about that was normal.” Still shaking her head, the eighteen year old shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s normal for women.” She glanced at Bucky as she continued on her way. “Also, I know that you were probably just defending my honor or protecting me or whatever, but I want you to really think back, Buck. Think about when you were picking up women in the forties, did you ever push when they didn’t want to have that drink with you? Did you continuously ask for them to dance with you?”

“No, I told you. My Ma raised me the right way.” They walked up to the apartment building and Bucky reached for the door handle. Evie began making her up the stairs, Bucky not far behind her. She stopped suddenly, a few flights before Cassie’s apartment.

“What about your friends?” Bucky was taken aback. His memories were still a bit fuzzy about those times, but he could remember clearly enough. Although he wasn’t quite sure what she meant by the questions she was asking.

“What are you getting at Evie?” He huffed while opening the door to Cassie’s apartment. Freddie and Penny were lounged on the couch with an almost empty bottle of wine. Cassie’s head shot up at the sound of the two walking in the doorway. Evie dumped her things off on the granite countertop and turned on her heel to stare at Bucky.

“Did you ever stop your friends when women said no?” The quiet laughter between Penny and Freddie stopped suddenly as Evie’s question hung in the air. All eyes were on Bucky as he gulped and thought back to the times at the bars. Out with Steve and the other Howling Commandos, did they ever do that? He tried to think of a time when they pushed for what they wanted to happen. Of a time when the woman they were pursuing reluctantly gave in because they wouldn’t leave her alone. Evie didn’t wait for an answer, she could see that he was processing everything.

“So why did you stop those guys back there?” Her brows raised and her head tilted in question. Bucky took a deep breath and was about to answer when Evie cut him off. “By punching that guy out there, you’re a hero and we should all thank you and congratulate you for doing the right thing.” She stepped closer to Bucky and the three in the living room understood where Evie was going.

“What do you think would have been said if I would’ve punched him? Sure, you would’ve said something snappy and nice about how I can take care of myself. The general public though? They would say that I overreacted.”

“Easy Evie, he’s still learning.” Cassie said quietly. Bucky was thankful for that, he still did have a lot to learn but it felt like Evie was attacking him. That’s the point, you fucking dumbass. If you had been berating her for putting herself in danger by punching that guy, you would think she was reckless.

“Her point, Bucky, is that the double standard for men and women goes beyond what we expect. Everyone goes crazy for the knight saving the damsel, but everyone hates the damsel for saving herself.” Freddie explained from the comfort of the couch. Bucky nodded, starting to understand the concept. “And her questions about your old buddies. That has to do with the fact that you’re part of the problem.”

“What problem is that?” Bucky was honestly scared to know the answer but he knew to fully learn, he had to get all the facts, both good and bad.

“Stunting the growth of feminism. Being one of the people perpetuating the fact that it’s okay for men to be violent, but not for women.”

“Violence in the form of defending oneself in any capacity.” In Bucky’s line of work, he sees tons of capable and strong women. Natasha, Okoye, Shuri, Sharon, he could think of so many. Then he tried to think of when any of them got the limelight like Steve or himself.

“So it’s like anytime that there would be press releases for the team, and the interviewers would come and ask us questions,” he paused to think how to word what he wanted to say, “they always ask the guys about like super important things like how we’re keeping the city safe and stuff. But when they talk to the girls, they ask about their workout schedule and if they can wear underwear under their suits?”

“Yes, it’s exactly like that Bucky. That’s just a different form of it.” Evie replied quickly. She came up to hug Bucky. “I didn’t mean to attack you or anything, but this is something that we all feel is really important for you to grasp now that you’re back out there.”

“And now that you can recognize when it’s happening, the next important step is to stop it before it happens.” Penny yelled from the living room as she downed the last of the bottle in her hand.

“I’m so sorry, Evie. I didn’t know.”

“I know, I’m sorry too. You’re still figuring stuff out, but I needed you to see what it was really like for women.”

“Okay.” Bucky nodded. “How can I help this situation?” The group exchanged proud looks.

“Well, educate everyone around you. Don’t let it happen when you’re around.” Cassie said as she walked into the kitchen to crack open another bottle of wine. “And just support women. Push our problems into the public’s eye.” Bucky smiled, he could handle that, he was good at that.

Considering he was on his way to becoming a member of the Avengers, he would be able to influence from up high. He could openly support groups that were run by women, for women. He was used to standing in the background for things he didn’t believe in, so standing for something that he did was going to be a cakewalk.

A concern floated into the forefront of Bucky’s mind. He looked down at Evie, who had just recently released him from her death grip of a hug. “You know how to defend yourself right?”

Evie’s brows raised in a challenging manner, “Do I look like I don’t know how to defend myself?” The man shook his head and smiled as the surrounding group laughed. Cassie poured a glass of wine and cracked open a bottle of beer for Bucky.

They all made their way to the comfy couches to snuggle in for a movie night, satisfied with their teachings for the night.

“What are we watching tonight?”

“Well, in the spirit of feminism, we are going to watch Legally Blonde.” Penny commented as she picked up the remote. “And it’s Freddie’s favorite so yeah.”

The lights clicked off as the opening credits ran for the movie. Bucky looked around his group of friends as they giggled at the screen. Evie had her head in Cassie’s lap and she was stretched across the sofa with her feet tucked under Bucky’s thigh. Freddie and Penny were curled up in the loveseat across from where Bucky was. Pieces of popcorn and glasses of red wine were being passed from person to person, with the exception of Evie who was still underage. The energy surrounding the five of them was something Bucky hadn’t experienced in a long time and he wasn’t going to give it up anytime soon either.

A large grin overtook his face, although today was one of the harder lessons for him to learn, he wouldn’t want anyone else to be teaching him.

***********************

@mishaandthebrits

[lightdancer1]

One of those small insidious elements of institutional misogyny

Is that menstrual products are both highly priced and taxed. This is one element of institutional misogyny that trans women do not have to face, but it is worth the spotlighting because it is part of the reality that cis women have to face. One of the elements that's led me to rethink my younger self's distaste for blue dog/conservative Dems is the reality of bills like like this in my own home state.

Between this and Covid John Bel Edwards is a fine illustration of the gap between the most conservative Dems and the Republicans. If someone reacts or responds to this with "Joe Manchin" I will point you to a map and tell you that you are talking about another state and that even then Manchin does vote with the Dems where it comes up for a vote. That's why he tries to stop things from getting there because he knows he'll have to vote for it.

In the end the gap between the fascist and the Democratic Party is a literal matter of life and death and results that do matter. One does not have to relish the thought of voting for the Blue Dogs but the gap is literally that between 'governor who accepts the pandemic is real' and the feral madness in Texas.

[coochiequeens]

An inspiring headline of women

Cherie Animashaun, a junior at Niles West High School, has dedicated her adolescence toward helping youth and empowering women.

Animashaun, a 17-year-old former Evanston resident who recently moved to Skokie, has always had a passion for teaching and mental health awareness, expressed through her after-school tutoring, volunteering with local youth and now providing mental health resources.

“I know a lot of people my age have struggled with their mental health, so I am always trying to work on that,” she said. “Any project I can do that spreads awareness or brings a strategy, I want to do it.”

After an internship this summer at Kan-Win, an organization working to eradicate gender-based violence, especially for women and children in Asian American communities, Aminashaun decided she wanted to do work in her own community to support young women, so she started Her Rising Initiative, a nonprofit organization that delivers resources to an orphanage in Nigeria and partners with programs in Evanston and Chicago to elevate students, female athletes and immigrants.

Journaling and writing have always been a big part of Aminashaun’s life, and her idea was that it could also help other young women to have a space where they could be guided to share their thoughts and feel supported – the premise of her Compass books.

Animashaun sells two versions of the books – an adult edition and a teen edition – with all proceeds dedicated to her nonprofit, which is not registered with the IRS, so purchases are not tax-deductible. Both books have built-in planners, but the adult edition has a budget tracker, grocery list and focuses more on careers, yet still provides activities such as coloring pages.

The teen edition is more interactive, with much of the same content but focusing on “tween issues.” Animashaun writes in the description on Her Rising Initiative’s website, “At one point, I got tired of seeing adults making content for teens that didn’t truly represent or interest us. The following book is something I wish I had a few years ago, so I’m glad it’s in your hands now.”

Animashaun has partnered with Girls Play Sports (GPS) where she is a youth coach and board member. GPS empowers young women in Evanston through sports, encourages them so they don’t stop playing and recruits young female athletes like Aminashaun as leaders.

At events where GPS is selling the books, it receives 50% of the profits. She also partnered with Little Saints Orphanage in Nigeria; Aminashaun will use the proceeds to buy resources like menstrual products and food to send over to help those in need.

She will be selling her books at Evanston Made’s holiday market, and they are available on its e-store, as well as Amazon.

“I’ve undergone quite a lot of personal transformations in my pretty short lifetime,” Animashaun said. “From the girl who would throw her thoughts aside and constantly let people walk over her to a young woman working hard to get her beliefs and goals across. My wish for this initiative is to fund and create more resources for the girls around me, as well as the girls across horizons.”

[therefrigerated]

My Take On The "No Shame Period" Campaign

It’s my absolute dream that a woman should be able to go to a regular restaurant and ask for the menu with a heavy flow pad, as you might say. 

Hey kings! Hey queens! If you’re new here, I’m Paarth. Now, this thing has always bothered me that how the hell can I, as a sophomore, contribute to abolish this senseless absurd taboo. So what exactly is the point of me writing this? The thing is, even if I could impact just one person to give up on this silence, it’d all be worth it. So yeah, here you go. This article is distributed into 4 parts, a. Menstrual education should not be restricted to only women, b. Should menstrual products be made free? c. Encouraging eco-friendly alternatives to regular sanitary pads and finally d. The takeaway. Let’s get into it.

An incredible number of girls and women in our societies, especially those from not so affluent backgrounds with crisis settings who are impoverished and extremely vulnerable experience period related pain. Period shame is even more dangerous than the pain itself, because it makes barriers for them to access the basic menstrual health information and supplies. 

 It’s high time to start normalising the process because it is totally natural, and essential, part of the reproductive cycle; about half of the human population has or will experience it at some point of their life. It’s absolutely unbelievable that this process is shroud in mystery, leading to so much of unnoticed and systematic exclusion, and ruthless discrimination.

Menstrual education should not be restricted to only women. 

The first thing we need to do is to normalise this so-called stima of menstrual education and to demystify the ordinary human biological process and finally start promoting it as a human right and not only as a women’s issue.

“My aunty told me I should stay away from boys,” a 16-year-old girl in Zambia told UNFPA. 

“I want to study but the boys started bothering me,” a 13-year-old in Madagascar said.

The question is how to end this shame? Silence plays a significant role in perpetuating these beliefs, but things need to change. The upfront conclusion is to finally educate all the people of the globe, irrespective of their sex, genders, country, race etcetera and to encourage the issue as a human right issue. Education is the ultimate key to end the ongoing taboo. People need to know that menstrual blood is not impure, just like any other blood from a part of body, this blood too starts decomposing and thus emanates an odour.

Should Menstrual Products Be Made Free?

India eliminated its 12% tax on feminine hygiene products in 2018. This was after a year of lobbying by advocacy groups and even celebrities. ... In 2004, Kenya was the first country to abolish sales tax for menstrual products.

Every month, an uncountable number of girls and women face the cycle of pain, discomfort, shame, anxiety, and isolation. Yes, the periods, the menstrual periods. In so many countries like India, we have so many low income and even middle income families, where the access to sanitary cups, sanitary pads, tampons is very limited. As a result, women often rely upon these proxy materials like mud, leaves and even animal skin, in some part of the country. Hygienic and safe toilers are rarely available. One in ten girls aged between 14-21 years, even in developing countries like the UK can’t regularly afford menstrual products, forced to stay home.

The change has already started taking place, efforts have been made worldwide to empower and educate adolescent girls as well as guys about menstruation, and to highlight the right of women and girls to hygienically manage their periods. We applaud all of these efforts made by strong men and women leaders across the globe! 

But, at the end of the day, the needs of 300 million women and adolescents remain buried on a large scale. The reason is simple, because they are often embarrassed for casual and candid discussions about menstruation. It is time to finally give up on this senseless, pointless, absurd silence and start normalising the free menstrual girls. My dream is that  a woman should be able to go to a regular restaurant and ask for the menu with the heavy flow of sanitary pads. How can it be possible? By simply talking about it, just like we talk about our usual social and human issues. I believe that only words can change the world. Menstruation, a sign of a good health, must be normalised and in fact celebrated. 

Encouraging Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Sanitary Pads

Out of less than 20 % of the women who use some sort of sanitary products in India, the majority of them are only aware of regular sanitary pads. The problem with them is that sanitary napkins are 90 percent of plastic, even the upper layer commonly referred to as the fabric layer is a plastic woven sheet.  

A regular sanitary pad could take about 500-800 years to decompose because it’s made out of plastic that is totally non biodegradable and stays in the environment for absolutely ages.

Some cool  alternatives of the regular sanitary pads could be:

Menstrual Cup-  It is like a small, flexible, funner shaped cup kind of a thing which is made of silicone and rudder. It is inserted directly into vagina and provides absolutely leak fee experience for about 12 hours and is totally reusable. For the record, it can be used for more than 10 years, making it both environmentally friendly and economical.

Cloth pads- These come with the same mechanism of that of the disposable ones, the difference is that it is made of cotton layers encased in a waterproof fabric that can be washed or rescued.

Period panties- These are the undergarments with built in period protection that can be worn as normal knickers that we wear in general. This is the most comfortable, user friendly alternative of the regular sanitary pads which makes it the best option with heavy flow? They are reusable, washable, and absolutely long lasting. Can anything be better than that?

Outro- The Final Takeaway 

Menstruation is a normal and regular event in every healthy adolescent girl’s life. They need the support of their governments, families, and all the people around to them to have the access to at least basic sanitary products and gender equity to manage their periods We can take inspiration from many other countries like Kenya, which now provides absolutely free sanitary pads to girls in education, and Ethiopia, which now has established menstrual hygiene. Our strong community leaders, both men and women, the social media influencers are perfectly positioned to abolish this unwholesome stigma. The parents, especially in rural India, need to be educated about what are the things that are wrong, which is most likely to cause unintentional harm to our youth. For the purpose of establishing a social change, education is the key. The people from all the genders must be educated about menstruation and basic reproductive health to empower them to discuss comfortably about their periods and menstrual health. Not to mention, we should finally stop calling this process as ‘impure’ or ‘dirty’ because it is the cause of our very creation of life, the creation of human beings, our very own existence. How can anyone even to dare to call this process as ‘impure’, it is no different than calling our very creation as impure. 

[bitchesgetriches]

MASTERPOST: Everything You Need to Know about Repairing Our Busted-Ass World

On poverty:

Starting from nothing

How To Start at Rock Bottom: Welfare Programs and the Social Safety Net 

How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

Ask the Bitches: “Is It Too Late to Get My Financial Shit Together?“

Understanding why people are poor

It’s More Expensive to Be Poor Than to Be Rich

Why Are Poor People Poor and Rich People Rich?

On Financial Discipline, Generational Poverty, and Marshmallows

Bitchtastic Book Review: Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado

Is Gentrification Just Artisanal, Small-Batch Displacement of the Poor?

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 1: Healthcare, Housing, and Labor Rights

Developing compassion for poor people

The Latte Factor, Poor Shaming, and Economic Compassion

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Stop Myself from Judging Homeless People?“

The Subjectivity of Wealth, Or: Don’t Tell Me What’s Expensive

A Little Princess: Intersectional Feminist Masterpiece?

If You Can’t Afford to Tip 20%, You Can’t Afford to Dine Out

Correcting income inequality

1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap

One Reason Women Make Less Money? They’re Afraid of Being Raped and Killed.

Raising the Minimum Wage Would Make All Our Lives Better

Are Unions Good or Bad?

On intersectional social issues:

Reproductive rights

On Pulling Weeds and Fighting Back: How (and Why) to Protect Abortion Rights

How To Get an Abortion 

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

You Don’t Have to Have Kids

Gender equality

1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap 

The Pink Tax, Or: How I Learned to Love Smelling Like “Bearglove”

Our Single Best Piece of Advice for Women (and Men) on International Women’s Day

Bitchtastic Book Review: The Feminist Financial Handbook by Brynne Conroy

Sexual Harassment: How to Identify and Fight It in the Workplace 

Queer issues

Queer Finance 101: Ten Ways That Sexual and Gender Identity Affect Finances

Leaving Home before 18: A Practical Guide for Cast-Offs, Runaways, and Everybody in Between

Racial justice

The Financial Advantages of Being White

Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job

The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander: A Bitchtastic Book Review

Something Is Wrong in Personal Finance. Here’s How To Make It More Inclusive.

The Biggest Threat to Black Wealth Is White Terrorism

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 2: Racial and Gender Inequality 

10 Rad Black Money Experts to Follow Right the Hell Now 

Youth issues

What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Loans

The Ugly Truth About Unpaid Internships

Ask the Bitches: “I Just Turned 18 and My Parents Are Kicking Me Out. How Do I Brace Myself?”

Identifying and combatting abuse

When Money is the Weapon: Understanding Intimate Partner Financial Abuse

Are You Working on the Next Fyre Festival?: Identifying a Toxic Workplace

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Say ‘No’ When a Loved One Asks for Money… Again?”

Ask the Bitches: I Was Guilted Into Caring for a Sick, Abusive Parent. Now What?

On mental health:

Understanding mental health issues

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

Stop Recommending Therapy Like It’s a Magic Bean That’ll Grow Me a Beanstalk to Neurotypicaltown

Bitchtastic Book Review: Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

Coping with mental health issues

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Self-Care

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD 

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics 

On saving the planet:

Changing the system

Don’t Boo, Vote: If You Don’t Vote, No One Can Hear You Scream

Ethical Consumption: How to Pollute the Planet and Exploit Labor Slightly Less

The Anti-Consumerist Gift Guide: I Have No Gift to Bring, Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum

Season 1, Episode 4: “Capitalism Is Working for Me. So How Could I Hate It?”

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 1: Healthcare, Housing, and Labor Rights 

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 2: Racial and Gender Inequality 

Shopping smarter

You Deserve Cheap Toilet Paper, You Beautiful Fucking Moon Goddess

You Are above Bottled Water, You Elegant Land Mermaid

Fast Fashion: Why It’s Fucking up the World and How To Avoid It

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[freedominthedarkmp3]

Feel like starting shit today. Whenever there's a discussion on the taxes on period products, there's ALWAYS a number of women who intervene in favor of ditching pads by using the menstrual cup, which is in their opinion inherently better. They usually are extremely rude and accuse those who choose not to use the cups of being bigots, not knowing their bodies, etc.

I honestly don't give a shit about that it's better for the planet, that is less expensive, that it lasts 10 years. There are people who can't or don't want to use the cup, so stop being an asshole and fight for the elimination of period product taxes!

[moved2radiationvibe]

michigan stopped having a tax on menstrual products let’s gooooo 

[beeshavethrees]

A/B/O-verse Worldbuilding

Since I've recently gotten back to writing for my A/B/O fic Peppermint Perfume, I wanted to share some of the biological side of things that isn't heavily touched on in the fic, especially because some things differ from your standard A/B/O AU. This isn't at all necessary to understand the fic, but it's always fun to worldbuild, so I figured I'd share! :) Also, please don't take this scientifically, as I am not a biologist. I did my time in biology/lab, and now I'm out and do not want to go back; I'm also fairly sure I retained absolutely nothing from that experience outside of a vivid memory of the sensation of slimy agarose gel covering my hands. As such, this does not reflect anything actually rooted in science, haha. It's just a take on your standard A/B/O verse.

Check it out under the cut!

In this AU, the A/B/O designation serves as a secondary determination (I'm using "phenotype" because that's how I've seen it described before by other fanfic writers, and how it's used in my fic, but that's not exactly the proper term for it) beyond sex for an individual, with such characteristics really only arising with puberty. Alphas get an extra boost in their muscles, for example, as teens -- although it is worth noting that omegas don't usually begin their heats until around their early twenties when they're mostly physically developed.

Alphas, betas, and omegas all have slightly different scents and senses of smell that counteract the other's. Alphas have earthier, herbal scents and are generally better at picking out some particular pheromones from others (allowing them to pick up fear, etc. better), part of the reason why they're naturally protective of others as they can sense when something is wrong, but this also makes them good at sizing up their competition. They're also instinctively protective in any case -- if they have the ability to protect others, why shouldn't they? In general, they also are more likely to have a stronger sense of smell than others, but Thomas' case is still quite the outlier. This is in part why they're stereotyped as being a bit overbearing, but serving as good leaders and protective mates.

Omegas, conversely, have very sweet and fruity scents. They're still capable of picking out pheromones like alphas can, but are better at picking up the scents associated with fear and pain as a protection mechanism. Overall, they are also very good with picking up unrelated environmental scents, making them both good therapists and good with food-related jobs. This is also why they're stereotyped as working best with other people, particularly children.

Finally, betas have a notably minty scent to themselves and actually have a worse sense of smell than alphas and omegas; their pheromones also naturally cancel out those of others, making them good in jobs that require them to be quick-thinking, unbiased, and level-headed. Many go into health-related jobs! This leads them to be stereotyped as more intellectually-oriented than some others.

A lot of this ties back into the nature of omegas and their heats. As mentioned earlier, omegas have their first heat in their early twenties, usually after a few cycles in the months prior of having short pre-heats (periods leading into a heat where an omega will exhibit some symptoms of their body prepping for heat). For female omegas, their heats will occur a few times a year when they're more fertile, and can affect her menstrual cycle for that month.

For male omegas, their heats will often correspond to when their partners are more fertile (if their partner has such organs that they have a menstrual cycle -- for simplicity, I mostly use "female" for this, although there are always cases such as intersex individuals and those who have wacky situations due to genetics being weird); if their partner does not have regular cycles, or doesn't ovulate for whatever reason (they're a male, or otherwise they have something preventing this), their heat cycles will usually fall to occurring at a predictable time every few months, but can still change with their partner's situation. If nothing else influences them, some omegas will have shorter but more frequent heats, and others might have very few longer heats a year. Although a female is fertile more frequently than an omega would normally have their heats, they won't suddenly have more common heats; those heats simply serve as a back-up to ensure they're more likely to parent children at some point.

Omegas who are unbonded have stronger and longer heats from their bodies basically saying "come fuck this!" and physically respond more to the scent of an alpha, although heats are physically taxing and as such only occur a few times a year. In the case of male omegas, they're more likely to have a submissive attitude towards sex, and are biologically more capable of being on the receiving end (so to speak) than males of other phenotype -- and to some extent, this has its roots in biology (checking that other males are able to perform, for example, or even helping to reduce competition and infighting). Because of an omega's heat and how they work, in the modern day there are viable products that create synthetic chemicals that mimic alphan pheromones, particularly as this makes heats shorter and easier. Omegas who have been with an alpha for some time will in fact fall into cycles of having much, much milder heats (such as spending a few days tired and slightly more horny) simply because they have a mate and can take matters into their own hands from there, so there's no point in undergoing a taxing cycle for no reason. For omegas in relationships with betas or other omegas, again, synthetics are available, although regular sex does to some extent help in any case. Similarly, something similar to birth control exists to help inhibit cycles by providing doses of the hormones produced in response to being with an alpha, although some omegas have difficulty getting this without some sort of partner (laws are in place to protect those who are asexual or have a reason to abstain from intercourse/have medical issues that necessitate medication). The specifics vary between male and female omegas, but they generally will impact heats, and for female omegas, can be specially manufactured to also stop them from getting pregnant.

Male omegas cannot get pregnant, although female alphas can; both male omegas and female alphas are born slightly less commonly than female omegas and male alphas. Male omegas are still stronger than female omegas, and male alphas are stronger than female alphas (betas falling in the middle). In terms of the evolution behind this, male omegas had many of the benefits of being omegan (promoting copulation through heats, having a better sense of smell for sensing sickness or rotten food) while still being strong enough to provide protection for other omegas and those caring for the young. Conversely, female alphas would also provide some strength and protection even if being down for the count from childbirth. Female omegas and male alphas are generally the most fertile.

Again, betas fall somewhere in the middle of everything, and are very good at falling into empty roles to fill them, when it comes to actually reproducing. However, day-to-day in society, betas still maintain their more clear cut roles and areas of expertise. There isn't exactly a hierarchy -- an omega is not below a beta or an alpha -- but each phenotype will trend towards certain roles in society and can have harmful stereotypes associated with that, hence why you have cases where omegas are turned down simply because they won't "fit" in the environment of working a particular condition.

This got really long, oops. It's also not very organized. But I just wanted to throw out some thoughts, in case someone found them interesting, or just as future reference for myself. I also pulled all this together from my own ideas and a few different fics I've read in the past, so I hope it's an interesting take, but one that's still rooted in familiarity. ^^

[discyours]

Could you make a list of ur opinions?

I can try, but I never really learned how tumblr works so I don’t know how to make this an actual page on my blog. Once I do figure out how I’ll definitely link to this. I’ll go off the top of my head for most frequently asked/what I think is most relevant, but if there’s anything you’re missing feel free to ask. 

Gender: 

Gender is, in short, the roles that are ascribed to sex. This includes the idea that anyone who is born female is bound to be docile, caring, or even just more likely to like pink. But gender identity also falls under this. Defining a woman as someone who wants to be female is referring to something - an action, a personality trait, a feeling, a thought - beyond sex as what “makes” a woman. Gender is not fake, but it is a social construct and in my opinion it’s a harmful one. Whether deliberately created to oppress women (like is the case with women being expected to be submissive) or originated as a relative accident like with certain fashion trends, gender roles end up restricting women’s freedom. Believing in female liberation means being against, or at least critical of that. 

Gender identity: 

Again, falls under gender but I think it deserves its own answer. I don’t think gender identity is necessarily “fake” either. When people say that they “feel like” a woman rather than a man I don’t think that they’re lying. I may take issue with the wording just like I may expect people to be critical of their own reasoning when they explain that their gender identity is male because the idea of being a man feels right to them whereas being a woman doesn’t, but I do understand how they feel. I relate to the feeling myself and I do think that the average trans man feels differently about this than the average cis (meaning non-trans) woman, however I’m not convinced that this feeling is rigid or innate. 

So I don’t think gender identity is “fake” or complete nonsense, but I don’t think it’s a particularly useful category either. There’s no reason I should be sharing bathrooms with people who have an internal sense that they should be male rather than female over people who lack the ability to use urinals and require trash cans to dispose of menstrual products. There’s no reason for me to share changing rooms with people with similar genderfeels rather than people who have similar bodies to mine and are statistically far less likely to sexually assault me than people with a different type of body. 

In the context of feminism we need to recognise that sex is the category in which women are being oppressed when they suffer FGM, when they’re put into menstrual huts, when they’re denied reproductive freedom, when they’re kept out of government positions because of their unreliable, hormone driven female emotions, when they’re missing out on jobs that an equally qualified man would be accepted for because their employer doesn’t want to risk having to deal with them getting pregnant. Sex, not gender identity. 

Egalitarianism: 

I actually don’t get asked about this much which is a shame because I know that people are thinking it; if it’s just about wanting women to have rights then why not be an egalitarian? Why, unless you hate men and want them to be below women rather than being equal? 

There’s multiple reasons. For one, feminism started as a women’s rights movement and women do not owe it to men to change that as soon as they decided they were done fully opposing it. There would be something inherently disgusting to me about denying women their own movement for their own issues regardless of where I stand on egalitarianism. 

But beyond that, I oppose the idea that we just draw a line at men’s current quality of life and decide that that’s the standard women must be judged against. The idea of it is misogynistic but in practice it’s harmful too; we’ve all seen those “if you want equality then women need to join the draft” and “if we’re equal then can I punch you in the face?” statements. This form of “equality” is still just letting men control the standard for women’s lives. Is still forcing women to fit into a system built by men. 

A lot of egalitarians seem hypocritically focused on equal outcome which I also disagree with. The ratio of men to women that die during physically taxing jobs is hardly any more of an issue than the ratio of men to women that die during child birth. There are biological reasons for these discrepancies (one moreso than the other, but there’s still never going to be an effective way to have a 50/50 sex split in every single job) and compensating for them for the sake of some vague concept of “equality” is pointless. The inadequacies in female-specific healthcare are a big reason to have a movement specifically for women’s rights, to have a movement that can advocate for improvement. Likewise if a lack of health and safety regulations in manual labour disproportionately affects men, that’s a good reason for a men’s rights movement to advocate for improvement (not that either of these can replace non-sexspecific advocacy groups which are also very important). I just don’t believe that women have any responsibility to merge with or be involved in men’s rights movements, considering women have historically always been oppressed by men and men still hold the majority of political as well as financial power. 

Liberal feminism: 

Liberal feminism is often what people refer to as mainstream feminism, but I don’t think it’s right to write off liberal feminism as a whole just because I disagree with the direction that mainstream feminism has gone. In simple terms liberal feminism is just feminism which seeks more individual freedom for women within the current system, whereas radical feminism is focused on class freedom and radically changing the system if not creating a new one altogether. I don’t fully disagree with liberal feminism and in fact I don’t believe any form of feminism that doesn’t at times utilise more liberal solutions has any way of succeeding. Getting more women into our current government without actually overhauling our political system and changing the reasons that women are kept out of government positions is liberal; I still only vote for women when I can, and encourage other people to do the same because when we’re unable to change things completely, it’s better than nothing. 

The reason I lean more towards radical feminism is because I ultimately don’t find liberal solutions to be good enough. I don’t want to regulate the porn industry, I want to abolish it. I don’t believe any amount of regulation or “reclamation” can ever make the sex industry ethical and while completely eradicating it is never going to happen, having that as the end goal at least means that you never stop pushing. The same thing goes for just about all other systems which oppress women; I fundamentally disagree with liberal feminists that giving individual women more individual freedom about whether or not to participate in these systems is ever going to be good enough.  

Sex work: 

I don’t believe that consuming or procuring sex work (ie being a john or a pimp) can ever be ethical as I don’t believe that consent can be bought. If somebody would not have sex with you without being paid, I don’t see that as true consent. There is something inherently coercive about having to choose between not having the money you need or having sex with someone. Coerced sex is not consensual and we all know what non-consensual sex is. 

There may be some people who don’t need the money but do it regardless because they enjoy it/want extra cash, especially in “milder” forms of sex work like camming or stripping. But the reality is that the vast majority of people (90% of prostitutes) who do “sex work” do not want to and would be doing something else if they had the option. Their suffering is more important to me than the enjoyment of the select few who do want to be “sex workers”, and that of the johns they “service”. 

That being said, I support the Nordic model which criminalises the consumption and procurement of sex work but decriminalises actually being a sex worker. This model has been shown to reduces trafficking as it reduces demand, and it doesn’t harm sex workers (who are the ones we’re trying to protect). Sidenote, I hate the term “sex work” as it already goes along with the idea that sex can ever be a job and should be held to the same standards as one when it comes to the ethics of being indirectly coerced by a need for money - however I’ll use it when I need to to explain my stance to people who do use the term. 

Surrogacy: 

I view surrogacy similarly to sex work; as an unethical and unnecessary commodification of women’s bodies which puts their health and safety at risk, and is often indirectly coerced through financial needs. Viewing parenthood as being primarily about who “claims” a newborn rather than who actually carried and gave life to it is inherently patriarchal and sets a terrifying precedent. Pregnancy puts a huge strain on women’s physical as well as mental health, and ending the process with a cheque or a sincere thank you rather than a baby can be mentally devastating, even if you knew from the start that you wouldn’t keep it. It is morally inconsistent that surrogacy is often legal in places where it’s illegal to receive money for giving away an organ or your blood; policies that are in place to avoid turning the poor into a class of kidney-suppliers. The idea of consent magically justifying everything falls way short when the same concept hasn’t been applied to blood donations for aforementioned reasons, and when you’re stuck to a contract. If we’ve agreed that consent to sex does not count if it’s irrevocable, why is surrogacy treated differently? 

Much like with sex work, the demand always far outweighs the supply which means that the few women who sincerely and genuinely want to do this don’t just justify the whole thing. I believe a system similar to the Nordic model should be in place, where there’s no legal repercussions to being a surrogate but where attempting to recruit one is illegal. 

Communism: 

I’m definitely a leftist and radical feminism itself has marxist roots. I recognise that capitalism plays quite a big role in women’s oppression through the barriers that women experience to enter many forms of paid labour, and the unpaid labour that is expected of them. Capitalism also leads to the commodification of women’s bodies through sex work or surrogacy. That being said, the inherently authoritarian nature of communism simply can’t be justified in my opinion. People who are corrupted by power exist under every system, which is why authoritarianism can never be safe regardless of the ideology it’s attached to. Even a “benevolent dictator” will die eventually if they don’t get overthrown first. 

Transmedicalism: 

I view transmedicalism as a harmful ideology. The brain sex studies transmedicalists often link are extremely flawed; incredibly small sample sizes used to draw overreaching conclusions, and a failure to account for neuroplasticity (the fact that your brain’s structure can change over time). Their insistence that transition is the only option for dysphoric people is harmful to all dysphoric/trans people, and often worsens dysphoria while also discouraging the development of alternative treatments. Their claims that all detransitioners were never really trans in the first place and every person who transitioned must’ve secretly been dysphoric regardless of their insistence otherwise are based on no actual fact, just a need for their ideology to make sense. 

[sky-chau]

Hey So Capitalism Sucks And The World Is On Fire

Now I know this won't magically fix everything but hear me out.

So as we all know roughly 51% of the world population bleeds on a regular almost monthly basis. Its not our fault that the world is on fire and capitalism sucks, but like there are things to think of in the long run if we would like to start eliminating as much plastic as possible.

Capitalism sucks and so does our legislation. Currently in some us states there's a tax on period products. If you think about it long term, there's a lot of money going into just having a damn cycle. Its never ending. As long as you live and bleed you have to keep paying for this bullshit.

Also the world is on fire and the things most Americans use to stop the bleeding in our pants is not super eco friendly.

Pads are foam and plastic (oil products)

Tampons are cloth with a plastic carrier thingy (also oil products)

Over time all that plastic waste adds up.

(NOTE: I don't mean to shame anyone who uses these products as reasonably some people have a hard enough time affording the disposable products, much less bat an eye to reusable alternatives.)

This in the long run is not super sustainable and in theory only makes the wage gaps worse as this is not an expense (most) men have to deal with.

So if not pads and tampons, then what will stop the bleeding?

In replacement of tampons there's menstrual cups- a menstrual cup is a reusable silicon cup that catches the blood and only needs to be emptied once every 12 hours and can go without washing for as long as you have your period (save the cleaning till your done bleeding). It's small flexible and I can guarantee you will fit in any vagina given enough patience. Every cup brand is a little different, but most have simple cleaning instructions like "wash with warm water and vagina friendly soap". (There was a myth going around that said you had to boil them which is dumb because most specifically say NOT TO BOIL.)

Menstrual cups run around 40 USD and the brand I use comes in two sizes, one for people under 40 who have not given birth, and one slightly larger cup for folks who have either had a baby or passed the age of 40.

So the most any given person would need to spend on the cups over the course of a lifetime is 80 USD. that's 80 USD to never have to buy pads or tampons again.

The alternative for pads is period panties- period panties are just like regular underwear but Yknow are more absorbent. This is a good choice for folks who are skeptical of cups.

You can wear them the whole time your on your period but if you happen to think that's gross you could always buy more than one pair and rotate them as needed. They wash in the sink or the washing machine depending on what you have available.

They vary in price but from what I've seen tend to stay in the 30 to 40 USD range. So worse case scenario, your one of the folks who decides they need two to feel clean, that's again 80 USD to never have to buy pads again.

So like thats all kinda expensive in upfront investment, and many people can't afford it. But think for a minute how fuckin great for the less fortunate of us if homeless shelters and other organizations could collect unused period panties and menstrual cups as donations, to give out to the people who have trouble affording the disposable counterparts.

Heck if were going big here, I say someone (maybe not me because I'm 16) should start an organization dedicated to giving out reusable period products, it could really do some good.

So just consider my insignificant pipedream for a moment. Let it play around in the headspace.