#trans racial adoptions

[ausetkmt]

A Washington state mother was charged last week with assault of a child after it was discovered that her daughter was receiving excessive medical treatment for unverified conditions.

Sophie Hartman of the Seattle suburb of Renton, Washington, who is white, adopted two Black children from Zambia where she worked as a missionary, according to court documents obtained by Atlanta Black Star. The children were removed from her home on March 17, 2021. One of Hartman’s daughters was held at a hospital, and doctors at the medical center informed authorities of the child’s “suspicious medical history.”

Hartman carried her 6-year-old daughter to an estimated 500 medical appointments over the span of about five years, according to charging documents filed on May 24. Doctors said that as a result, she has received an “unnecessary medical procedure,” as well as a surgically implanted feeding tube, with a cecostomy tube, to flush out the intestines. Though doctors advised against it, the young girl was also committed to a wheelchair and wore leg braces at least as early as 2016, court documents said.

In 2018, Make-a-Wish granted the child a wish. In a video sent to the foundation, Hartman explained that her daughter had Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood (AHC), a disease she said could cause her child to become paralyzed at any time.

“She can lose the ability to talk and go into all different types of seizures and have extreme pain. It’s really tough,” Hartman said in the video.

The 31-year-old mother also said that even the “best pediatric specialists” have no idea what to do, and that “…she needs access to oxygen because her breathing shallows and slows; she depends on her feeding tube when she’s unable to eat.”

Medical providers informed detectives that they did diagnose Hartman’s daughter with AHC, but only based on the symptom details that Hartman provided — symptoms that were only witnessed by her, according to search warrants.

A Seattle Children’s Hospital physician advised detectives that according to medical findings, it was likely that the child was not afflicted with the disease.

In 2019, “a group of (redacted) specialists and providers at Seattle Children’s Hospital” requested consultation of the Safe Child and Adolescent Network (SCAN) due to alarm concerning “a pattern of parental requests for increasingly invasive procedures based upon undocumented signs and symptoms reported by the parent,” read investigative reports.  

A report warning of the risk to the child was “co-authored by four medical professionals of the child’s care team,” and was “reviewed and signed by the medical director for Seattle Children’s Hospital.”

“This situation is a case of medical child abuse … ” said the report. “It is not necessary to know the possible motivation of a caregiver, only the outcome of the behavior. It is my concern that this pattern has resulted in unnecessary medical testing, medication, procedures, surgeries and debility of this child.”

In February 2021, the report was sent to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The Renton Police Department was contacted, and commenced their investigation.

Detectives also discovered diary entries written by Hartman, in which she allegedly described several instances in which she lied about having various diseases, such as meningitis and mono, in her youth, said court documents. Detectives noted that in one entry Hartman allegedly transcribed, “when it comes to suffering, I am a compulsive liar/exaggerator.”

Hartman penned an account of her work in Africa in a book that she said initiated her decision to adopt, reported The Independent. She received a flurry of interest once she publicly revealed the youngest daughter was diagnosed with AHC, and A GoFundMe page was established for a wheelchair.

The child’s various procedures date back to 2016, according to court documents. They also revealed that Hartman allegedly searched for “cochlear implants Black child,” “how to get paid to take care of a member of the family with a disability,” “making a pretend model of hearing aid,” and “funeral songs” on her iPad and iPhone.

In March, the child was taken from the care of her mother and monitored for 16 days at a local hospital, according to investigators.

“At no point during her admission were there any findings or reported symptoms to support any of her prior diagnoses. All the available evidence obtained during the course of her admission suggests (redacted) is a health young 6-year-old,” said court documents. Within the two week stay at the hospital, the child was able to eat and drink on her own, run and walk without the use of any aids and “demonstrated no need for a wheelchair”

Hartman was charged with second-degree assault of a child and second-degree attempted assault of a child. The state requested her bail be at $100,000 based on the defendant’s likelihood to commit a violent offense and interview with the administration of justice.

Hartman’s attorneys released a statement asserting that the charges “are based on false statements and misrepresentations of the medical record by a doctor at Seattle Children’s Hospital who has never seen the child or spoken with Ms. Hartman.”

In addition, they vouched for the legitimacy of the daughter’s illness, writing, “Contrary to the allegations of the King County Prosecuting Attorney, the child’s diagnosis was made by more than one doctor, is legitimate, and is based on a substantial record beyond the reports and information provided by Ms. Hartman.”

“That record includes independent medical examinations by multiple doctors, direct observation of the child by doctors and nurses at Duke and at Seattle Children’s Hospital, standardized testing results, videotapes of the child’s symptoms, MRI, EEG and other diagnostic tests. The King County Prosecuting Attorney has the medical records from Duke as well as records from Seattle Children’s Hospital amply supporting the diagnosis and the consistent reports of Ms. Hartman,” the statement read.

“Sophie Hartman is the mother of a young child with a rare neurological condition diagnosed and treated by doctors at Duke University Medical Center. … Ms. Hartman is innocent of these charges.”

Representatives of the Make-A-Wish Foundation released a statement soon after news broke of the investigation. “We are deeply saddened and dismayed to learn about the alleged child abuse case involving one of our former wish families,” read a statement provided to Q13 FOX. “This is a very serious allegation and any threat to the well-being of a child is not in alignment with the child-centered focus of our mission. We hope this matter is quickly remedied in the best interest of the child.”

[pbs-theundeadmaggot]

I fucking hate celebrations so much all it is, is a reminder of how unwanted I am. I mean fuck my own mother traded me in like a piece of junk as soon as I was born. There was no first milestones or mediocre talks about what your child’s been up to or how amazing it is that they slept through the night. In fact I cried every single damn night, at 5 I was crying myself to sleep while I waited for anyone to hear me.

Spoiler, I’m still waiting.

With my birthday coming up it’s especially hard, I literally have no friends and there’s the expectation of partying and having fun when in reality all I do is sit in my room day by day, alone and rotting away. I have no-one and even if I did have someone I’m not sure I’d even be able to really connect with them. Hell I can’t even tell my mum I love her or show her an inkling of affection because the fear of being rejected and losing that person is too much to even comprehend.

I mean how sad is it that at 5 I’d figured out that it’s easier to show you don’t care, so there’s no expectation and pressure, then to care. I learnt to live silently and thrive in my own pain and suffering because truly nobody cares, nobody fucking listens and I’m just so sick of everything.

[bijoumikhawal]

"Racism is a European invention and unique to them" huh

[marudol]

kabru and the dungeon lords

kabru is a very critical character to dungeon meshi for a thousand and one reasons, and not merely for his status as the point-of-view character in the story's b-plot. kabru represents the compass by which dungeon meshi's world works. he has big-picture motives that involve the entire world, much grander than the original a-plot of "let's save falin."

he is our classic hero, a character who suffered great personal tragedy and must ensure that no one suffers the same fate. as such, he is a great parallel for dungeon meshi's most integral characters:

the dungeon lords themselves.

🚨manga spoilers ahead.🚨

thistle

picture this: you are a child, separate from anyone else in the world who looks like you due to circumstances beyond your control. you are taken by pale-skinned adults who try to treat you well; who clothe you, feed you, and put a roof over your head.

it is not enough.

who am i describing - kabru, or thistle?

kabru-thistle parallels focus on their shared past as trans-racial adoptees. their shared experiences are not a universal one to all trans-racial adoptions in the dungeon meshi universe: the floke twins are treated well by their gnomish foster (grand)parents; allowed to be children while they are children and treated as adults when they are adults.

not all trans-racial adoptees are given the same courtesy. kabru was raised by an elf who infantilized him, even once he was fully-grown. milsiril did not always know what kabru needed from her, so she defaulted to treating him the way she would treat an elf his age rather than understand what his age meant as a tall-man.

by contrast, thistle was raised by tall-men. freinag saw thistle as a son and so he and delgal thought themselves as brothers. but as delgal aged and matured, thistle remained stagnant. eventually, delgal's relative age surpassed thistle's- but no one could even conceive of that, because thistle's numerical age made the tall-men around him treat him as an adult rather than a teenager.

they both feel immense responsibility for the tragedies suffered by their people. kabru explicitly believes there must be a "reason" he survived utaya and that the reason was to destroy the dungeons to ensure it never happened again, and thistle IS the reason the golden country survived their war, and why eodio made it to adulthood all.

kabru and thistle are characters pre- and post-accomplishing their goals. kabru has yet to assume total responsibility; thistle already has.

they must save them- they must protect them all.

[🩵]

marcille

once upon a time, a child lost a parent before they were ready to, and the trajectory of their life changed forever. desperate to understand, the child grew into an adult and dedicated themself to preventing their personal loss from happening to anyone else ever again. as a result, they looked downward into the dungeon's depths.

they will find the answers they seek.

who am i describing- kabru, or marcille?

marcille and kabru stand as important secondary figures to laios, our main protagonist. in the words of another excellent post, they are the heaven foils to laios's earth. where laios is grounded and thinking about the here and now, they have both identified big picture problems plaguing their world and pursue these goals with intense fervor.

however, these goals have been diverted by censorship. marcille cannot access information about historical ancient magic through traditional means and the elves won't tell kabru what happened to utaya's dungeon, so they both decide to go and do something with their own two hands.

entering the dungeon is a step towards their grander goals, which are both rooted in opposition to long-lived supremacy. critically: the solutions they come to are vastly different.

marcille's solution is very fantastical - "fixing" everyone's lifespans by making EVERYONE long-lived (though her original solution seemed to be more grounded; being a lord gave her the chance to indulge in the full fantasy).

on the other hand, kabru wants something more concrete and based in the real world. he wants to use the dungeon as a means to an end before destroying it entirely, whereas marcille wants the dungeon to be the end. hers is a magic idea borne about by escapism, while kabru wants to solve a societal problem with something tangible to improve the lives of the shorter-lived without resorting to the fantastical.

(note the similarity in these compositions!)

kabru and marcille are aiming for the heavens; they have chosen to act as stewards to bring about a better future for as many people as possible.

but eventually, they must crash back down to earth.

[🩵]

mithrun

a long time ago, a dungeon lord met their maker and the demon ate its fill, but failed to breach the surface. carnage and destruction was sown in its wake. in the aftermath, a survivor dedicated himself completely and utterly to the cause with no room for reproach.

the dungeon will be conquered. and if he has it his way, it will be conquered by his hand.

who am i describing- kabru, or mithrun?

if thistle represents kabru's past and marcille represents kabru's present, than mithrun represents one branch of kabru's future- and a rather bleak one.

mithrun has suffered great tragedy at the hands of a dungeon and, as a result, dedicated himself to be what he believes is his one remaining desire: to finally be consumed entirely. he thinks he has nothing else to live for, so he runs himself ragged every single day just to inch closer and closer at a chance to kill himself while pursuing his goal.

this great fervor is one that kabru artificially mimics long before meeting mithrun. kabru is willing to die for his goals. he does die for his goals. he thinks he is going to die without a chance for resurrection when he sabotages the canaries, which is why his 'last' thought is "it's up to you now, laios!"

remember: kabru believes his survival has to serve a purpose- his survival must have been 'worth it.' in order to make his own survival palettable, kabru dedicates himself entirely to the dungeon's destruction without long-lived intervention as a means to avoid repeating utaya's fate. kabru self-deprives, fails to care for himself, and he is constantly killed in pursuit of his goal to conquer the dungeon before people like the canaries can. while kabru has desires, he only indulges in the one that has guided him for over a decade.

functionally, he and mithrun are identical when they first meet.

kabru has purposefully deprived himself of his desires beyond ensuring another utaya doesn't happen again, and mithrun is proof of what happens when you follow that to its logical conclusion. however, over the course of their week together and the final arc of the story, kabru makes the choice to divert from mithrun's fate.

kabru looks into the eye of his ultimate goal, and in the culmination of his arc, ultimately refuses this destiny.

what do you want, kabru? are you hungry, kabru?

kabru indulges. instead of blindly following through the dungeon's destruction and sacrificing what he wants for the greater good, he wants, and he befriends laios instead of ending his life. he leaves mithrun's fate behind...

...and senshi- one of the most steadfast representatives of dungeon meshi's thesis- sets mithrun on a path where he, too, can learn to chase after newer, healthier desires.

[🩵]

laios

one day, a child was hungry for the answer to a question: "what is wrong with me?"

there is no satisfactory answer. a mother and a sister believe nothing is wrong, but everyone else in their small world disagrees. those eyes, that personality- something must be wrong.

but there is no recourse.

so, these children endeavor to focus on the world around them in ways that won't hurt them. one chooses to study and love humans, because humans are beautiful and complex and amazing. the other chooses to study and love monsters, because monsters are easier to understand and always obey one simple rule: eat or be eaten.

they double down on their interests soon enough. monsters have hurt one child enough, and humans can't get enough of hurting the other.

you know which one is kabru. you know which one is laios- dungeon meshi's fabled narrative foils.

laios and kabru are as textually close to being explicit foils as humanly possible. the first sentence of kabru's page of the adventurer's bible says it perfectly: "in every possible way, he's a contrast with laios. laios loves monsters, while kabru has an endless interest in humans" (56).

in basic terms, a foil character is a character with traits that contrast against another's, typically the main protagonist. this contrast serves to highlight the themes of the story, and we see that illustrated perfectly with laios and kabru.

where kabru has denied himself care, laios gives it to him without thinking. where laios believed no one could ever want to be his friend, kabru proves him wrong. the nature of nourishment and human connection are both critical foundations to dungeon meshi's story, and the main character struggling with human connection while his foil struggles with nourishment is no mistake.

kabru wanted to be laios's friend all along. the b-plot of dungeon meshi is driven by kabru's unconscious desire to understand and ultimately aid one inscrutable laios touden. the reason they cross paths at all is because kabru wants to meet him! he takes a chance when toshiro appears and sees his chance through.

but kabru doesn't realize it until he's already said it. he betrays himself, completely unaware that his supposed interest in the touden siblings skews a little more to the right than he could have possibly known.

killing laios would have been the ultimate preventative measure. he was yet to be dungeon lord, and with the canaries intent on handling marcille, kabru could have dealt with him right then on that cliff. but kabru doesn't take the opportunity because he doesn't want to.

he'd rather befriend laios than see him dead, and he takes the chance by the sleeve and doesn't let go until he is listened to.

and in the end, kabru is rewarded for his leap of faith: laios puts an end to the demon. laios has ensured that another utaya will never happen again.

laios saves the world.

all because kabru allowed himself to be selfish.

[alwaysbewoke]

THIS BABY IS NOT SAFE!!!

wtf?!?!?! i truly hate trans-racial adoption. the horror stories i've heard.... LAWD!!!

[punkeropercyjackson]

The thing about Jason is that he IS a feminist and racially inclusive character but because he treats the women and poc in his stories well,not because he's 'female-coded' or a substitute for canon poc.Now i do support transfem readings of Jason or Lina as i like to call her and consider him canonically afrolatino but that's because i love trans women fictional and real and am afrolatino myself so Jason reads as afrolatino to me from personal experience.And a big part of the latter is the diversity of his cast!!

His adoptive mom is an arab-chinese woman,his love interests are a wasian/half cambodian woman an egyptian woman and a darkskin black woman,his brothers he gets along with are that mom's bioson and his eldest brother on his dad's side who's romani and the remaining brother he's on good terms with is THE FIRST EVER BLACK ROBIN who is also the ONLY one he's always liked and been nice to and the only white character he actively likes is also a girl and has a completely platonic relathionship with him.This along with Jason's personality and other individual traits is why i have such a black view of him,because he feels afrolatino to me

That's what gets me about fanon Jason being claimed as a minority!!!Canon Jason actually works as one with a design update only but it CAN'T be just him!That's not representation or good writing!Instead of Talia bashing or some random ass white woman replacing her,she should have her pre-Morrison history employed and act like a typical brown/asian mom in a positive relatable and accurate way.Instead of sweeping Jason's girls under the rug for BEING girls and acting like it's not misogynistic because you're shipping him with Roy as if og Rhato dosen't have racialized misogyny fused into it's formula,explore their romantic dynamics with him and how they diffenterate and have in common and fucking care about Rose,Artemis and Dana as their own characters too as they're much,MUCH more than just 'DC's failed attempts to make Jason straight'.Instead of infantilizing Dick and animalizing Damian,make Dick Jason's cool reliable older brother he was close to as Robin but never mollycoddles him as Red Hood which JASON dosen't want as seen by his dislike of Roy and give him and Damian equal respect if not Damian way more since he's done way less bad fore more understandable reasons.Instead of lying about their age difference,aknowledge that Stephanie in current canon is 19 at the oldest while Jason is 23 at the youngest and in pre-reboot he was 19 when she was in high school and very specifically NOT a senior so yeah,it IS a minor x adult ship in almost every scenario they meet in the ship content

And for fuck's sake,STOP LEAVING OUT DUKE!!!!!!!The blue eyes Batkids rule isn't real,it's never been brought up in canon or joked about in official sources,it's segretation y'all made up!'Honorary Batkid' my ass,he's so literally Robin-coded the writers gave him light powers and 'The Signal' as his mantle!You know NOTHING about superheroes if you actually think Duke's not a core Robin,a Batboy AND a Batkid-Or if you think Jason's supposed to be a normie,a power fantasy or an abuser!He's a tragedy and commentary and an adventure and a comedy and same goes for Talia,Rose,Artemis,Dana,Dick,Damian,Duke AND Stephanie!Jason wouldn't wanna be Jason without them and they also do NOT exist just for him because they're his loved ones,not his tokens!Y'all want Jason Todd?Ight,then you want the Red Hood cast too because they're a package deal.You don't?Then keep that shit to yourself and invest in a dating app since you clearly can't write anything except white ass porn

[librarycards]

Hello, do you have any books on children's rights and patriarchy to recommend? 🥺

this is very much a category in-progress; children's rights discourse has advanced a great deal in the last few years (and will almost certainly continue to)! here are a few texts I recommend [with the caveat that these generally address children's rights but have other foci]:

Jules Gill-Peterson, Histories of the Transgender Child (also, Jules's substack!!)

Eric Stanley, Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable

Stanley & Smith, eds., Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex [in both, Stanley / Stanley & Smith track the process by which youth, particularly queer/trans youth of color, are rendered unpersons)

Kathryn Joyce, The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption [discussion of adoption –– in many cases, explicit child trafficking serving christofascist ends –– is inextricable from children's rights and is far too often ignored]

I have learned perhaps the most about children's rights and youth liberation from queer/trans disabled & Madppl. Remi Yergeau's Authoring Autism as well as Eli Clare's Exile & Pride have been pivotal here. Samuel R Delany's Heavenly Breakfast also has an incredible set of passages on youth liberation, harm reduction, and substance use.

Finding blogs like (now-inactive) We Are Like Your Child have been transformative, as have Mel Baggs's (z"l) body of work, which I discuss in more depth here. One final shout is to Parenting Decolonized, who call attention to the entanglement between racial capitalism, ableist cisheteropatriarchal white supremacy, and the oppression of children, incl. its reproduction via the nuclear family form.

[reasonsforhope]

"While mainstream media increasingly cover violence and legislative attacks against trans people, many scholars and activists worry that focusing just on violence and discrimination fails to capture the full experience of being trans.

Drawing on the success of movements like the Black Joy Project, which uses art to promote Black healing and community-building, trans activists are challenging one-dimensional depictions of their community by highlighting the unique joys of being transgender.

My research on trans parents affirms the reality of trans joy. From 2019 to 2021, I interviewed 54 transgender women — both current and prospective parents — from diverse racial and class backgrounds across the country.

I found that while many have navigated discrimination in their parenting journeys, they also have fulfilling parent-child relationships, often with the support of partners, families of origin and their communities.

Gender euphoria

Scholars and community members use the term gender euphoria to describe a “joyful feeling of rightness in one’s gender/sex.”

It diverges from the diagnosis of gender dysphoria, or a sense of conflict between assigned sex and gender identity typically associated with feelings of distress and discomfort.

Gender euphoria celebrates feeling comfortable with who you are and how you are perceived by the world.

Some people transition with a specific set of goals, while others discover new sources of joy and new facets of their identity over time.

Many of the trans women I interviewed expressed their gender euphoria in relation to their role as mothers. A Black trans woman in her 20s, whom I will call Gloria, experiences joy in being recognized as a mother.

“I love being called Mom. That’s the greatest thing,” she told me. “I love waking up every morning to see [my child’s] beautiful face. It keeps me motivated.” ...

For many trans people, transitioning opens up a new set of possibilities. When I asked Adriana, a trans Latina in her 30s, what it was like to come out as trans, she told me,

“I’ve never been happier. The happiest day of my life was when my daughter was born, and the second happiest day of my life was when I [started transitioning].”

Family and community connections

While some trans people do experience rejection from their families of origin, that is not true for the majority of the community.

In a 2015 national survey of over 27,700 trans adults, the U.S. Trans Survey, 60% of respondents reported having families who are supportive of their trans identity.

Trans women also form chosen families with friends, co-workers and other community members. Relationships with other trans people can have particularly positive effects on identity development and overall well-being, including emotional resilience, self-acceptance and a sense of connection.

Trans community care

In addition to caring for their biological and adopted children, the trans women I interviewed felt a responsibility to take care of their community.

Sometimes this care manifested as parent-child relationships, in which respondents provide financial or emotional support to LGBTQ+ youth.

Maggie, a white woman in her 50s, didn’t know she was a parental figure for her “queer kids” until they tagged her on Instagram to celebrate Mother’s Day.

“Someone might go, ‘Hey, can I stay on your sofa tonight? I’m having a hard time.’ Well, yeah, of course,” she said.

“Or they might hang around the shop [I work at], and only later it dawns on me, ‘Oh, this was the only place they could come and get affirmed and not feel weird.’” ...

Miriam, a white trans woman in her 60s, agreed that she has a lot to learn from younger trans people.

“A lot of my community today, people who I count as family and my beloveds, are not of my generation,” she said. ‘Beloveds’ is the term she uses to describe her platonic loved ones.

“I learn a lot from my beloveds in their 20s and 30s, who don’t have the same baggage I [dealt with] about how I could be and who I could be.”"

-via GoodGoodGood via The Conversation, July 14, 2023

[himejoshikaeya]

hmmm i wish more people actually talked about how kaeya is a non-white refugee being raised by a white family in a predominantly white nation. in my personal opinion, i feel like everyone should read up on trans racial adoption, bc it plays a huge role in kaeya and the way they see not only themselves, but also khananeriah as well -- it'll also add a lot more nuance to many "ragnvindr brothers" interpretations, and why many people may feel uncomfortable with using ragbros as a label. this isn't anti ragbros / kaeya and diluc being siblings or anything, however all i ask for, is for people to actually acknowledge kaeyas culture and racial identity. idk i need to go shower lol

[gatheringbones]

best books of 2022 rec list:

fiction:

chouette by claire oshetsky

forty thousand in gehenna by cj cherryh

fierce femmes and notorious liars by kai cheng thom

sula by toni morrison

everyone in this room will someday be dead by emily r. austin

jane eyre by charlotte bronte

villette by charlotte bronte

non-fiction:

gay spirit by mark thompson

we too: stories on sex work and survival by natalie west

transgender history by susan stryker

blood marriage wine & glitter by s bear bergman

love and rage: the path to liberation through anger by lama rod owens

gay soul by mark thompson

between certain death and a possible future: queer writing on growing up in the AIDS crisis by mattilda bernstein sycamore

the man they wanted me to be: toxic masculinity and a crisis of our own making by jared yates sexton

nobody passes: rejecting the rules of gender and conformity by mattilda bernstein sycamore

cruising: an intimate history of a radical pastime by alex espinoza

gay body by mark thompson

what my bones know: a memoir of healing from complex trauma by stephanie foo

the child catchers: rescue, trafficking, and the new gospel of adoption by kathryn joyce

the opium wars: the addiction of one empire and the corruption of another by w. travis hanes III

a queer history of the united states by michael bronski

the trouble with white women by kyla schuller

what we don't talk about when we talk about fat by aubrey gordon

the feminist porn book by tristan taormino

administrations of lunacy: a story of racism and psychiatry at the midgeville asylum by mab segrest

the women's house of detention by hugh ryan

angela davis: an autobiography by angela davis

ten steps to nanette by hannah gadsby

neuroqueer heresies by nick walker

the remedy: queer and trans voices on health and healthcare by zena sharman

brilliant imperfection by eli clare

the dawn of everything: a new history of humanity by david graeber and david wengrow

tomorrow sex will be good again by katherine angel

all our trials: prisons, policing, and the feminist fight to end violence by emily l. thuma

if this is a man by primo levi

bi any other name: bisexual people speak out by lorraine hutchins

white rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide by carol anderson

public sex: the culture of radical sex by pat califa

I'm glad my mom died by jenette mccurdy

care of: letters, connections and cures by ivan coyote

the gentrification of the mind: witness to a lost imagination by sarah schulman

skid road: on the frontier of health and homelessness in an american city, by josephine ensign

the origins of totalitarianism by hannah arendt

nice racism: how progressive white people perpetuate racial harm by robin diangelo

corrections in ink by keri blakinger

sexed up: how society sexualizes us and how we can fight back by julia serano

smash the church, smash the state! the early years of gay liberation by tommi avicolli mecca

no more police: a case for abolition by mariame kaba

until we reckon: violence, mass incarceration, and a road to repair by danielle sered

the care we dream of: liberatory & transformative justice approaches to LGBTQ+ health by zena sharman

reclaiming two-spirits: sexuality, spiritual renewal and sovereignty in native america by gregory d. smithers

the sentences that create us: crafting a writer's life in prison by Caits Messner

[unamazing-sheep21]

I love Kaelumi but it should be a little bit toxic on both ends. Lumine with her crippling codependency issues and Kaeya with his crippling independency issues. Lumine with her abandonment issues and Kaeya with his trust issues ( both earned from their big brothers 🙏🏽‼️) Lumine with her awful inability to fully understand empathy and Kaeya's shitty inability to fully convey his own emotions. Lumine's well off self having no stable job Vs Kaeya who grew up a rich boy and now lives off a knights salary. Thinly veiled first generation immigrant metaphor (no place to belong and always othered) Vs guy who actually canonically went through trans racial adoption. Their tendency to help others even when it gives them no reward. Their intense sibling drama which is so far unique to just them in all of Teyvat. That one line where Lum say's she prefers Cryo slimes and Aether prefers Pyro slimes (what are they trying to tell us?). How one of the main places to find her ascension flowers is near his childhood home. They should punch eachother in the throat in an emotionally charged battle and then kiss sloppy style immediately afterwards ( in the rain‼️‼️‼️).

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has adopted former President Donald Trump’s platform for the Republican Party. The new platform removes the party’s opposition to same-sex marriage — though conservatives have signaled that they’d like to overturn it — and also "softens" conservative opposition to abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF), two issues that Republicans worry could hurt them in the November election. The platform’s anti-transgender goals, numbered 16 and 17 among its 20 goals, are stated thus: “Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children,” and “Keep men out of women’s sports.” Chapter 9, Section 5 of the platform promises to “end Left-wing gender insanity,” stating, “We will keep men out of women’s sports, ban Taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, and stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition, reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations, and restore protections for women and girls.”

[...] The platform also echoes the Republican opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in schools by promising to “expose politicized education models.” The platform also promises to “restore Parental Rights in Education”, a dog whistle for opposition to anti-racist and LGBTQ+-inclusive education. Anti-LGBTQ+ groups like Moms for Liberty and Leave Our Kids Alone have functioned under the banner of “parents’ rights.”

“We trust Parents’ Knowledge and Skills, Not CRT [critical race theory] and Gender Indoctrination,” the platform states. “Republicans will ensure children are taught fundamentals like Reading, History, Science, and Math, not Leftwing propaganda. We will defund schools that engage in inappropriate political indoctrination of our children using Federal Taxpayer Dollars.” As for higher education, the platform promises to “fire Radical Left accreditors … restore Due Process protections, and pursue Civil Rights cases against Schools that discriminate.” The line about accreditors may refer to the College Board, an organization that gives high school students a chance to pre-earn college credits through Advanced Placement (AP) tests. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) publicly criticized the board last year and tried to get it to drop AP test questions on racial justice movements and queer theory — he failed. The platform repeatedly mentions that Leftists should be removed from government. It also promises, “Republicans will use existing Federal Law to keep foreign Christian-hating Communists, Marxists, and Socialists out of America. Those who join our Country must love our Country. We will use extreme vetting to ensure that jihadists and jihadist sympathizers are not admitted.”

The GOP’s proposed platform contains several anti-trans items, such as keeping trans women out of women’s sports, de facto support for bans on gender-affirming care, support for forced outing policies under the guise of “parental rights”, and pushes the lie that trans people are a “danger” to women and girls.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In anti-gay and anti-trans campaign ads, the threat to children was essentially a threat to the social body, embodied as a generalized child of the racial majority. A majority of ads portrayed prepubescent white children, pictured as between two and 10 years old, described as “little,” “small,” “young,” or “impressionable.” At times, teenagers were included in stories of sexually experimenting teens and hustlers. Almost all children pictured in these ads appear to be white, evoking appeals to protect children of the dominant race. Ads occasionally described these children as “your daughter” or used scenarios about one’s own children. However, 85 percent of frames address children more generally, often referring to “our children,” as in “protect our children.” For example, a 1994 Idaho campaign ad proclaimed: “They will demand…the right to adopt our children.” The children in question are not the reader’s children, who presumably are not up for adoption, but rather the community’s children. In this imaginary, “our children” are implicitly heterosexual, gender normative, and reared by heterosexual parents trying to protect them from exposure to LGBT life. This generalized child represents not just the imperiled subject but also perhaps the most vulnerable part of the public body, a symbol of community vulnerability, the perpetuation of society, and maintenance of the social order. Queer theorist Lee Edelman (2004) refers to this concern as reproductive futurity, an investment in white heteronormativity and its future that is fixated on children. The threat to reproductive futurity was surprisingly white itself. All portrayals of gay men and trans women in the Religious Right literature appeared to be white. Racial ideologies have long conflated homosexuality with whiteness (Collins 2005; Connell 2014), which is echoed in Religious Right literature that constructs homosexuality as both intrinsically male and white (Herman 1997). The threat to the generalized white child from within the majority race may be the construction of the ultimate stranger, individuals subsumed within the public body who are marked only by their gender and sexual variance.

[defining-trans]

Why is being transgender different that being trans-racial?

While race and gender are both social constructs, they are not equivalent. For one, race as we define it today is a concept created by and for the benefit of white people, the most privileged class within the racial hierarchy, with the sole intent of subjugating people of color. (This is not a perfect comparison, but think of it this way: there are hundreds of different names for types of servants in a castle, but only the royal family has titles like "king" and "queen.") Gender identity is and has historically been defined by individuals, primarily individuals who do not feel that they fall within the strict man/woman gender binary, or the male/female sex binary.

I can understand why there would be cause for confusion - many people use the terms 'sex' and 'gender' interchangeably, and the western, colonialist concept of sex we still use today has historically been used by the patriarchy to subjugate women.

In an unhelpful turn of linguistics, 'male' has become shorthand for 'man' and 'female' has become shorthand for 'woman,' and vice versa. (Which, of course, is why many trans men object to being called 'female,' many trans women object to being called 'male,' and many nonbinary people object to being called either - such language is often employed as a roundabout method of misgendering.)

Additionally, you should know that "transracial" can also refer to an orphan who was adopted by a parent and/or guardian that is of a different racial background. Unfortunately the term has become bastardized thanks to people like Rachel Dolezal.

So, in short, being transgender is different than calling yourself "transracial" (in the sense of "I was born [race A] but I now identify as [race B]") primarily because of the vastly different reasons behind the creation of gender and race, and the disparity in the impact of said concepts on marginalized people.

[readingsquotes]

...As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in Between the World and Me,

“You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.”

...we need to understand that “Indigenous”—always capitalized—is an intrinsically political term, created in response to colonization.

In a place that has never known colonization, there’s no need for a concept like “Indigenous.” Before the Europeans came to Abya Yala, we were simply “people.”

Then the colonizers invaded, destroyed our traditional governance structures, killed our people, stole our lands. In this part of the world, they called us “Indians” to distinguish us from them, and they made laws to codify our inferiority. “Indian” became a social and legal reality.

But “Indian” was a colonial term specific to the Americas. In other places, colonizers used terms like “aboriginal” or “native,” along with a wide variety of (other) slurs.

The umbrella term “Indigenous peoples” was adopted by the nascent Indigenous peoples movement of the 1970s as an explicitly internationalist term to highlight the commonality of experience between disparate peoples around the world. It was also, in part, a radical act of self-naming meant to repudiate the othering implicit in received names like “Indian.”

That is, resistance to colonization was always part of the definition and the intent. This is part of why attempts at precise technical definitions like “the first people to live in a place” always fall short.

As Sámi scholar Troy Storfjell says,“Indigeneity is an analytic, not an identity. … Indigeneity describes a certain set of relationships to colonialism, anticolonialism, and specific lands and places.”

Put another way: the onset of colonization creates the categories of Indigenous people and colonizers (or “settlers”). The persistence of colonial structures maintains them.

That’s why it’s pretty much only fascists who say things like “Germans are the Indigenous people of Germany.” The term is nonsensical in that context, and using it that way only detracts from the intent—and therefore potency—of the word.

It’s also important to note that within Indigenous and Decolonization studies, “colonialism” refers to particular systems of domination that emerged after 1491.

... But “Indigenous” isn’t a badge you win for life; it’s a description of your relationship, as Storfjell says, “with specific lands and places.”

...What about Jews in North America? Remember, the form of colonialism still underway in North America is not primarily exploitation colonialism (like that practiced by the British in India), but settler colonialism. Under settler colonialism, foreign colonists (settlers) attempt to replace Indigenous people, taking control of the land and imposing their own cultural systems by killing, expelling, or forcibly assimilating the original inhabitants. 

Under the racial apartheid laws of the antebellum US, Jews were legally defined as white and therefore allowed to own property in the form of enslaved Africans and stolen Native land (and they did both). They were settlers from the get-go.

What about those later Jewish immigrants who came to the US and Canada fleeing the pogroms of the Russian Empire? Certainly, they left Europe as refugees. But why, precisely, was this the Land of Opportunity for them? Why did their children and grandchildren largely Make It?

Because they weren’t Native or Black, of course. They were settlers. And like many generations of settlers before them, they faced persecution and marginalization … until they learned how to act like the Europeans who had arrived earlier.

None of this means that Jews don’t face antisemitism in North America, or anywhere else. What we’re talking about is a particular positionality in a colonialist system. Jews, Muslims, queer and trans people, disabled people—many, many types of people are marginalized and threatened by the oppressive power structures of colonial states. And many of those people still wield settler power, nevertheless.

...

There’s a reason that by and large, when Indigenous people look at what’s happened in Palestine since 1948, we know whose experience looks the most like ours. Hint: It’s not the Israeli Jews.

We too, have been told that our lands were empty when the settlers arrived (“A land without a people…”); subjected to forced removal; murdered by armies hand-in-hand with settler posses; slandered as uncivilized, backwards, intrinsically violent; told that the elimination of our villages, towns, and cities was an accident, regrettable, inevitable—then had them rebuilt, filled with settlers, and renamed in a foreign language. We’ve had our sacred sites destroyed; our cultures criminalized; our very existence labeled an obstacle to peace and security. 

When we see an Israeli state friendly with settler colonial powers like the US, Canada, and South Africa, a state happy to massacre Indigenous Guatemalans to serve its own goals, there’s a reason we don’t feel like we’re looking at Indigenous governance. 

It’s not what we created the word to mean.

...

We know whose experience looks the most like ours.

Remember what I said about how it’s the conditions of colonialism that create the categories of settler and Indigenous? Because “Indigenous” and “settler” are not identities or awards or punishments—they’re labels describing relationships within positionalities of power.

[littlefankingdom]

I watched the One Piece live action and here are some notes I took.

I'm a huge One Piece fan since I was like 10-ish? And so, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it. It had a lot of impact on my personality (Nico Robin is my role model). This live action adaptation matters to me and I'm going to rant. Spoilers ahead.

The director is a woman, and one of the two writers is a woman. Manga and anime are male dominated hobby (and the comic's world is sexist), so the live action of the most popular shōnen being run by women is so great, imo. Also, it's pretty successful, in contrary to other attempts, so it's a win for women.

Garp's actor is a very handsome man. Wtf, they made Garp hot. He also has a beautiful Welsh accent, which is great because it's an accent that gives a "tough guy" impression. At least, it does for me.

Luffy's actor is perfect. This Luffy is slightly different from the original one, but he's perfect in his own way. I will die and kill for him. Also, him being brown with a white grandpa is so good, it had a racial gap between the two of them, where there are already a generational one and a moral one. Like, the white grandpa in the army do not understand how his brown grandson do not like the gov, because he doesn't see it from where he is when the kid does.

Alvida's actress is so beautiful, she's so pretty. I suddenly support women's wrongs.

Damn, the violence is going up a notch (Roger executed on screen, Mr 7's body cut in half, MERRY IS FUCKING KILLED,...)

The actors for Koby and Helmeppo are queer (They/Them pals) Oda is, once again, showing his support to the trans community.

I do not like the colors. It's too dark for One Piece, imo. Look at how saturated the colored pages are, I would have preferred it to be more saturated. I know, this is because of the CGI (issues are less perceptible this way), I'm going to need to make some edits. But, they didn't have to do it to the costumes too. Like, Buggy, except from his hat, his outfit is not flashy like it should be. Would help with the colored hair if it was more colorful and flashy.

Young Luffy wear the same shirt as in the manga is a nice touch.

THERE'S A CAVENDISH'S WANTED POSTER IN SHELLS TOWN!

Dead bodies smell strongly, and Zoro is bringing half of one in a bar???

Episode 2 is pure art. I love it so much.

Buggy is attractive, wtf. I find him more pretty than Shanks.

Bogard is so cool looking. I'm gonna die if Hina is introduced one day (she's going to be so cool)

They changed the "If you’re gonna point your gun toward someone, you better use it" scene. The new one is cool, but the original is iconic.

THE MUSIC WHEN LUFFY REALIZES THAT SHANKS LOST HIS ARM! It's like the orchestra is interrupted, incredible, love it.

Nami and Zoro's siblings' energy is so strong.

Kaya and Nami interraction about the dress "it belonged to my mother" is so good, Nami gets uncomfortable because she also lost her mother and knows how it is to cherish her memory. But Kaya is nice and share it with her, which break her view of rich folks.

The decor's department must have had the time of their life for this show. It's a great job.

Zoro wanting to wear black and drink wine in the 3 episode, he's already embodying being Mihawk's adopted brat.

Kaya makes the oof roblox sounds when she slapped Usopp.

Usopp x Kaya let's gooooooooooo my boy deserves the best (Oda confirming a romance with one of his protagonists is huge)

Zoro IMMEDIATELY trying to look at something else the moment Kaya kisses Usopp.

Luffy sitting on Going Merry with "We Are" playing... Art.

Without a cook, they are eating pasta, with some fruit and drink (just like me, fr).

Garp is wrecking a brand new ship!

Episode 5 Title Card, my beloved.

Mihawk music, and voice, and character: beautiful.

"Oh, I do like your hat." Mihawk to Luffy upon meeting him, great.

Sanji needs to stop talking about food, I'm getting hungry but I'm broke and a terrible cook.

"Oregano is for savages!" 😂 ok kiddo.

Me watching Zoro nap for a whole episode because of 1 cut: "Bro, you’re going to go through so much worse, you better stop whining rn"

The "YES, YES WE DO" after Sanji says "heard you guys need a cook" is so good.

Sanji is, like, the only one after Nami to have the most experience sailing, they fucking need him.

Buggy coming back all the time is perfect. Love him.

Having Bell-Mere slaps Nami was not ok. Y'all are ruining a character I loved.

Sanji knows a man that can cook well is attractive.

Usopp and Luffy are 17 and drinking, and Koby is 16. Underage drinking baby 🍻

Garp is already having the crisis he has during Marine Fort Arc, it’s going to be difficult for him.

Buggy be swinging being carried by Sanji, who's fighting.

Luffy breaking Arlong's sword axe thingy is badass.

The fishmen are so ugly and weird looking

Buggy saying "I'm gonna get out of here" with 🖕🤡🖕(If we ever get young Ace, I expect so much vulgarity from his little shit mouth)

Usopp exploding star was badass.

Sanji's ass after Mouton Shot.

Zoro "Yeah, you're gonna fit in just fine" means you're as crazy as all of us

Sanji opening is arms for Nami and Nami ignoring him to hug her bros, lol.

Arlong Park destruction be crazy.

Sanji little laugh.

Luffy is a true bestie to Usopp.

It’s the confrontation from after Seven Arc

It's Logue town after right? Like, where Luffy's father is introduced? With the comparison to Roger? But they just compared them, are they going to do it again?

The wanted poster is the exact same, with usopp in the background.

Employee of the month lol.

Alvida and Buggy meeting, the bad bitches.

Mihawk and Shanks!!! (Shanks gave him the "ableist pos" look, lol)

Smoker introduced -> Logue Town