#woman columnist

[yourdailyqueer]

Amaranta Gómez Regalado

Gender: Transgender woman / Muxe

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: born 1977

Ethnicity: Native Mexican

Occupation: Social anthropologist, activist, researcher, columnist

Note: In October 2002, a car accident fractured her left arm to such an extent that it had to be amputated.

[letmeliedown]

you can look up etymologies and find actual answers. you do not have to guess!

[swingleftnewsjunkie]

At CPAC over the weekend, right-wing columnist and podcaster Michael Knowles told the assembly, “Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” The crowd erupted in applause. Like many crises today, this escalation of rhetoric by the right is both a five-alarm moment and entirely, terrifyingly predictable. 

News organizations and activists denounced the statement as genocidal in its language and intent, and there is no doubt that it was, even though Knowles now denies it. After all, you can’t have transgender people without transgenderism, and one need only substitute another “-ism” to see why: “Judaism must be eradicated from public life” also means exactly what it sounds like.

How should we interpret Knowles’s horrific pronouncements? And why is the right targeting trans people in particular and at this moment? 

It’s admittedly difficult to talk about “genocide” in America without being dismissed as having a Cassandra complex, so let’s turn to history as a useful and distressingly on-point guide in this case. Let’s also examine the recognized societal indicia that tip nations into violent and hellish “final solutions.” 

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Attacks on trans identity kicked off German extremism

Those warning of the dangers of genocidal language deployed openly against an entire community have some disturbing history on their side. When Hitler rose to power as German chancellor in 1933, he enacted policies to rid the country of Lebensunwertes Leben, or “lives unworthy of living.” His targets included Jews, Roma people, disabled people and communists—but also specifically homosexuals and transsexuals.

We hear echoes of “lives unworthy of living” in the rhetoric of the right today. Radical podcaster and columnist for the Daily Wire, Matt Walsh, who has amplified Knowles’s attacks, recently told his listeners that he would rather be dead than have a trans kid. Knowles himself has argued on his podcast (which until recently he co-hosted with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)) that words like “genocide” do not even apply in the first instance, because being trans “is not a legitimate category of being.”

While many are familiar with haunting images of the first book burnings in Germany, which took place in May of 1933, most aren’t fully aware of their origin story.From https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa4530

The books and texts that provided the fuel for that first bonfire came from the library of the Institute for Sexual Research, founded in 1919 by Magnus Hirschfeld, a gay, Jewish doctor. As Scientific American notes, the Institute was “full of life everywhere” and provided incredible and groundbreaking gender affirmation care to trans individuals. Its mission was to provide a center for “research, teaching, healing and refuge” that could “free the individual from physical ailments, psychological afflictions and social deprivation.”

In other words, the first book burning in Germany, which led to copycat bonfires around the country, was an attack on a trans care institution. There are echoes of this today: The far-right has specifically chosen to target trans care centers in America, including repeated bomb threats to Boston Children’s Hospital, for providing gender affirming medical care. 

Yes, a call to eradicate “transgenderism” is a call for genocide

When news organizations such as Rolling Stone and The Daily Beast ran headlines that Knowles had called for transgender people to be eradicated, Knowles called the headlines libelous and had his PR department at the Daily Wire threaten to sue for mischaracterizing his statement. Knowles insisted he wasn’t calling for the eradication of people, just an ideology. (Rolling Stone responded by changing its headline to an even better one: “CPAC Speaker Calls for Eradication of ‘Transgenderism’ — and Somehow Claims He’s Not Calling for Elimination of Transgender People.”)

Dangerous semantics aside, even if we were to look at Knowles’ statement as a call to eradicate an “ideology”—which of course logically would mean the eradication of the practice of transitioning and therefore the eradication of all trans people—we very quickly run into problematic history. As author Brandon Friedman notes, 

In fact, during the six years of Hitler’s dictatorship prior to the outbreak of war in 1939, as the Holocaust Encyclopedia cited by Friedman notes, Jews felt the effect of 400 decrees and regulations that restricted all aspects of their public and private lives. This is what it meant in real terms to “eradicate Judaism” from society. Similarly, in America the internment of Japanese Americans began with the freezing of bank accounts, a curfew past sunset and sharp restrictions on travel.

Today, that same dire historical pattern could not be clearer. So far this year alone, there have been over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed, some of which are now signed into law, with a particularly cruel emphasis upon trans identity and trans kids. As trans rights activist Erin Reed observes, such legislation is surfacing in a majority of states in the country: 

In sum, the push to eradicate “transgenderism” and erase trans people is in fact already fully underway in much of the country.

We are on the doorstep of something truly terrible. But we can turn back.

Genocide Watch lists the 10 stages that that historically lead to genocide. Importantly, the group writes, “At each of the earlier stages there is an opportunity for members of the community or the International Community to halt the stages and stop genocide before it happens.”Image from https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/what-is-genocide/the-ten-stages-of-genocide/

As LGBTQ+ activist Alyssa McKenzie notes in a powerful thread, we have already gotten to eight of these steps with respect to the trans community:

This is why it is so vital, at this moment, for us to understand where we are in historical terms and what we must do to protect vulnerable minorities like the LGBTQ+ community. We must do so not only for their sakes, but because we know that this kind of hatred and targeting is a test: If the far-right can drive a wedge and cause a majority of the population to turn away from one vulnerable community, either through indifference or pure fatigue, then it also knows the country is susceptible to other forms of autocracy, madness and violence. 

Our first obligation as citizens of a free and, yes, liberal democracy is to guarantee the full participation of every member, and not ever allow demagogues and hate-mongers to silence any part of it, whether they call any of us communists, “woke,” or queers. We are not without power in the face of these attacks. We can lift up trans voices, call out trans hate, oppose anti-trans legislation, offer trans sanctuaries and donate to organizations fighting on the front lines.

The same right wing groups have already come not only for LGBTQ+ people but for women’s reproductive rights, for minority voting rights, and for press and academic freedoms. So this isn’t a drill. We know from history where this could lead if we fail to take a stand now.

The main difference between pre-war Germany and America today is that we have the benefit of their painful, devastating history. Our duty is to demonstrate that we have learned those vital lessons. When we hear that “trans rights are human rights,” we must not only concur loudly and with all our voices, but actively identify and teach the terrible mistakes from the past so that we never repeat them.

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By Jay Kuo

The Status Kuo provides political and legal analysis in plain English, with no paywall! In crazy times, a little clarity goes a long way. Subscribe to get my email sent to your inbox. And if you’d like to be a voluntary paid supporter, I thank you!

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“A DATELESS GIRL,” Vancouver Sun. February 22, 1933. Page 16. ----- Cruel and Inhuman Punishment ---- By Dorothy Dix ---

Dear Miss Dix, 

I am one of those dateless girls and am so resigned the situation that I wouldn't bother about it if it wasn't for my family. They have insisted upon my becoming a society debutante at much I am an utter misfit. I hate the social whirl. I don't speak the language of the girls whom I am thrown with and I can't enter into their conversation. I haven t the money to buy their interest by giving splendid entertainments. I wasn't cut cut to be the life of the party, yet I am expected to keep up a gay, witty and entertaining conversation to amuse the man with whom I happen to be. Partners don't ask me to dance with them and when I rebel against all this my family say that I am silly and what a fine wholesome girl I am and, of course, people like me and admire me. What am I to do? 

E.T.

Answer: I don't think there Is any more pathetic figure than the girl whose family try to force her into being a butterfly when she has none of the attributes of the butterfly and never feels at home in the rarefied atmosphere in which they thrust her. 

Perhaps mother was a belle in her day and she looks forward to living ver her triumphs in poor little plain Mary Ann, who is shy and retiring with never a word to say for herself and who has no more sex appeal than plate of oatmeal. Or perhaps mother is socially ambitious and depends on Mary Ann opening doors that are closed to her.

So she buys Mary Ann all sorts of pretty fluffy clothes that never for an instant disguise her Mary-Ann-ness. And she makes Mary Ann go to every party to which she is invited, where she sits around on the sidelines suffering agonies of embarrassment and mortification because nobody ever dances with her except the unwilling youths whom a hostess drags up to her wearing ! the expressions of lambs being led to the slaughter. 

And Mary Ann is a social flop and another reproaches her with it and wonders why the boys never pay her any attention and why she doesn't get married. 

It is a cruel and inhuman punishment for any woman to force her daughter to go "out in society," as the phrase goes, unless she wants to. Moreover, it is of no use, because unless the Lord gave a girl dancing feet no man is going to cut in on her, and unless Nature supplied her with IT she can't manufacture it for herself. 

Far wiser and kinder to let the girl find her own niche in the world. Let her go with the people who are congenial to her. Let her do the things she wants to do. 

My advice to any girl who finds herself a misfit in society is to go to work. Get a job. Interest herself in that, and for her comfort and also for mother's consolation - let her remember that a lot of the biggest fish swim around in business offices and rise to the bait of an intelligent ,quiet girl after they have fought shy of a dazzling, painted, vivacious one.

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Usa Today di Oggi giovedì, 15 agosto 2024

[nic-coughlan]

"i can pay her"

"you have made that high a sum?"

"slightly more if we are being honest"

everyone's absolute flabbergasted expression will forever be my favourite like not only is she one of the richest women but she's also humble about it and not boasting when she could have. she's also the luckiest woman like hellllooooooo look at her!! she's clever, witty, funny, so beautiful, just married one of the most eligible men who's wrapped around her little finger, she's mama to the future lord featherington and she's stinking rich with a career as a columnist. she's barbie, they're all ken.

[corporationsarepeople]

David Roberts on Twitter:

One thing's already clear: Harris's Happy Warrior persona a) is incredibly appealing to meme-happy young people, and b) drives the right craaaaaazy. It infuriates them on such a deep level. The best thing she can do is: stay happy, stay laughing, mock these clowns, have fun.

It's going to be difficult. The harumphing jackasses on the right will be joined by harumphing centrist columnists and harumphing cable news anchors, all of whom will harumph about how this is Serious Business and she needs more gravitas & etc. Ignore them.

One thing conservatives (and lots of conservative Dems) feel in their gut is that a black woman in public life shouldn't be happy, or joyful, or silly. She should be grateful that we let her in the door, right? She should be genuflecting & making us feel magnanimous, right?

There will be *enormous* pressure along these lines, explicit & implicit, even from people who swear there are no racist bones in their body. The very best way Harris can respond is with a serene smile. Stay confident, stay self-possessed, stay happy.

The more she stays openly confident & happy, the more it will drive the worst people crazy and the more they will drop the mask and get vicious. Let them. She's smiling & vivacious, they are grimacing & pinched.

She's young & hopeful; they're old & bitter.

She's brat, they suck.

Of course, this is asking for a level of self-control & equanimity that most people -- very much including myself -- do not possess. I would crumble under that pressure! I am not a happy warrior! But I think Harris can pull it off.

[yundeob]

A NIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD ☆ | ATEEZ SERIES

— featuring ot8!ateez in iconic HOLLYWOOD romance and rom-com movies

— TICKET BOOTH IS CLOSED! 🎟️ : the movies are about to start! all fics will have MATURE CONTENT! MDNI!

sit back, relax, grab your popcorn and tissues, and enjoy the silver screen . . .

THE PARENT TRAP ☆ | KHJ

TROPE: exes to lovers! divorced!au

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst, crack, slice of life

AS DIVORCED PARENTS to two twin daughters, you and hongjoong have your fair share of work cut out. Driving to piano lessons, cheering at hockey games, drop offs at each other’s houses, it can all be a little much. But could a relaxing summer retreat as a whole family possibly rekindle past emotions you’ve swept under the rug? . . .

— IN THEATRES

DIRTY DANCING ☆ | PSH

TROPE: bad boy!seonghwa, enemies to lovers!au , 60s!au

TAGS: nsfw, smut, angst, crack

THAT WAS THE SUMMER before JFK got shot, before the beatles came, and when you were working part time at your aunts summer resort. That was also the summer you met resident heart breaker and cocky entertainment crew member, Park Seonghwa. Remind yourself why you’re suddenly dance partners with him again? . . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

PRETTY WOMAN ☆ | JYH

TROPE: dilf!yunho x formerstripper!reader, strangers to lovers!au, contract lovers!au,

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst

LIVING IN BEVERLY HILLS comes with its perks. But for two different people such as yourself and multimillionaire business tycoon, Jeong Yunho, both of you can’t seem to find what you’re looking for in the so called ‘Land of Dreams’. So the proposal is simple really… let him spoil you with money, jewelry and clothes while in return, you stay by his side. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

MR AND MRS KANG ☆ | KYS

TROPE: marriage!au, established relationship, spy!au, assasin!au

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, ANGST, crack

WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT picture perfect suburban neighbourhood couple, Mr. and Mrs. Kang would be at each others necks trying to kill each other first. You’ve both come this far in your marriage while hiding your secret identities, but it looks like only one person can remain standing. I guess you both did promise “in sickness and in health”. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

ROMAN HOLIDAY ☆ | CS

TROPE: royalty!au, princess!reader x reporter!san, strangers to lovers!

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst

AS CROWN PRINCESS, you’re on a tightly scheduled tour of European capital cities. But after an especially rough day in Rome, you sneak out of the embassy to explore the so called Eternal City, running into no other than celebrity news reporter, Choi San, looking out for his next big royal scandal. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU ☆ | SMG

TROPE: college!au, stoner!mingi, enemies to lovers!au, fakedating(?)au, y2k aesthetic

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst, crack, slice of life

YOUR YOUNGER BROTHER Wooyoung is desperate in getting you, his older sister in college, to date so that he can finally date in highschool. The options for potential candidates are scarce, considering men flock away like birds the second you’re near. Good thing campus stoner and weirdo, Song Mingi is the same as well. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS ☆ | JWY

TROPE: fashioncolumnist!reader x advertiser!wooyoung, y2k aesthetic, fake dating(?)au, enemies to lovers!au, mutual pining

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, angst, crack, slice of life

LISTEN, IF IT MEANS getting a promotion at your editorial company as a news journalist instead of pop culture and lifestyle columnist, you’d do anything. And that includes pretending to be the most annoying and clingiest girlfriend to some guy for 10 whole days. But just so you know, Wooyoung likes clingy. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

ROMEO & JULIET ☆ | CJH

TROPE: unrequited love, star crossed lovers!au, mutual pining, secret romance (shakespeare be rolling in his grave rn)

TAGS: nsfw, smut, fluff, ANGST

FOR CENTURIES, a plague of hatred and hostility has been present in the relations between the House of Choi and your own. You know you can’t be together, but yet why do you keep catching that dark haired boy staring at you so longingly? And why do you want him just as bad?. . .

— not yet in theatres . . .

a/n: for updates, follow my blog! this will be a work-in-progress so I ask for your support:(🙏

taglist: @vent-stink @dazzlingstarrs @vcutparis @xpixie @potatos-on-clouds @showingmafandomlove @bibbleypoof @kpop-will-kill-me @avantalem @beabatiny @gabrielle-brugger @nsixns @amaranth1ne @stayminho @myblovedjyh @kkeshia @rebekah-reads @yoonbroom @4kwp @butterflydemons @iwaizumiismybae @soobinsputnik @stayatinykatsy @atitties @justconniez @kitten4sannie @ghostskilledmyaddiction21 @cheolsthicthighs @morethingsfandom @geminiml95 @byuntrash101 @quailbagutte @syubseokie @newworldwritings @urmom26john @sleepy-kat-here @pearltinyy @hjshyhyssnmgwyjh @cursedeastern @starryunho @piratekingateez2001 @jiminbility @paumll @drinkingrumandcocacola @roomsofangel @channies-bbg-room @meanaonthemoon @teeztopia @pommelex @kiln9z @sanhwalvr @youresolivlie @edawg77 @a-0206 @summer-gyu @bvidzsoo @yoongzsmile28 @tournesol155

taglist became too long so find the second taglist here💀 no longer taking requests

[driverlando]

🗞️ EXTRA EXTRA !! charles leclerc has a secret wife of five years and a 1 year old son, rumor has it they got married after 5 months of knowing each other

Congrats of 2k 💗💗💗

EXTRA EXTRA!! Charles Leclerc’s Secret Life Revealed: A Wife of Five Years and a One-Year-Old Son!

In a surprising twist worthy of a blockbuster film, the Formula 1 world has been shaken by astonishing news: Charles Leclerc, the talented Ferrari driver and Monegasque star, has reportedly been married for five years and is the father of a one-year-old son!

According to a flurry of rumours that have quickly gained traction, Leclerc, known for his composed demeanour on the track and spotless public image, has kept a significant part of his life under wraps. Sources close to the situation claim that Leclerc married his wife in a secret ceremony just five months after they first met.

A Secret Romance

The romance, described as whirlwind, reportedly began in 2018. At the time, Leclerc was emerging as one of Formula 1’s rising stars, having just secured a seat with Sauber. In a classic tale of love at first sight, the couple allegedly met at a mutual friend’s private gathering in Monaco. “It was electric,” an insider close to the couple shared. “They were inseparable from the moment they met. There was just an instant connection that no one could ignore.”

Despite the rapid pace of their relationship, sources say the couple chose to keep their love affair under the radar, a decision likely influenced by Leclerc’s burgeoning career and the intense media scrutiny that comes with it. The pair reportedly tied the knot in a private ceremony, attended only by their closest friends and family, with no hint of the event leaking to the public or the press.

The Hidden Family

For years, the Leclerc family has managed to stay out of the limelight. The couple’s close-knit inner circle respected their wish for privacy, allowing them to raise their child away from the public eye. The existence of their son, who just turned one, has only recently come to light, sending shockwaves through the motorsport community and beyond.

The secrecy surrounding their family life raises questions about how they managed to keep such significant personal milestones hidden from the media. Speculation abounds that the couple may have used their connections and resources to maintain their privacy. “It’s a classic case of the rich and famous living by their own rules,” one gossip columnist quipped.

A Perfect Storm

The timing of this revelation couldn’t be more dramatic, coming just as Leclerc is battling for a strong finish in the current Formula 1 season. The news of his secret wife and child adds a fascinating layer to his already intriguing narrative. Fans and media alike are now buzzing with questions: Who is this mystery woman? How did they manage to keep their relationship so secret? And, perhaps most intriguingly, why?

Some speculate that Leclerc’s desire for privacy might stem from a wish to protect his loved ones from the pressures of fame. “Charles has always been very private about his personal life,” a source close to the driver revealed. “He wanted to ensure that his family could live as normal a life as possible, without the constant scrutiny and intrusion that comes with being in the public eye.”

The Rumour Mill

As the world eagerly awaits more details, rumours and theories are flying thick and fast. Some suggest that the secretive nature of Leclerc’s personal life could be part of a broader strategy to maintain focus and control over his public image. Others believe it’s simply a case of a man wanting to keep his private life separate from his professional achievements.

While the identity of Leclerc’s wife remains a closely guarded secret, there are whispers of her being a non-celebrity, which could explain the lack of public interest in her identity until now. “She’s not someone from the limelight,” another source added. “They have been careful to avoid places and events where they might be spotted together.”

What’s Next?

As this story continues to unfold, one thing is certain: Charles Leclerc’s secret family revelation has set the gossip columns alight. The world will be watching closely to see how this revelation impacts his career and public persona. Will Leclerc finally open up about his personal life, or will he continue to keep the world at arm’s length?

For now, the Ferrari driver remains tight-lipped, with no official statement from his camp. However, fans and commentators can’t help but wonder how this will affect his future both on and off the track. Will this revelation prove to be a distraction, or will it humanise the driver, making him even more relatable to his fans?

Stay tuned as we delve deeper into the mystery surrounding Charles Leclerc’s secret life. The racing season just got a whole lot more interesting, and this is one story that promises to keep the paddock buzzing for a long time to come!

For more breaking news and exclusive gossip, keep your eyes on our feed. You never know what high-speed secret might come to light next!

[guitarstringed-scars]

how to lose a guy in 10 days- t. oikawa

y/n is the advice columnist for u-tokyos weekly newspaper. her best friend yui has just been dumped (again), and she claims its cause of her looks. y/n argues that its actually because of how she behaves in romantic relationships. desperate to push away from her repetitive writing and to prove her point, y/n pitches her article idea to her editor. “how to lose a guy in 10 days.” the plan? start dating a random guy, and convince him to dump her in just 10 days. the guy? toru oikawa, star setter of u-tokyo's volleyball team, who has, unknowingly to y/n, just made the confident bet to his entire team that he can make any woman fall in love with him in just 10 days, and he's willing to prove it.

toru oikawa x f!reader smau/written

warnings/notes: university au, language, drinking, oikawa starts off as an asshole, don't worry he gets better, might end up being more written than smau, maybe a bit of angst, not a lot though cause it's a rom com, kys jokes, not totally true to the "how to lose a guy in 10 days" plot, just based off of the premise pretty much, lots of ooc, probably some grammar mistakes, check individual chapter warnings for more info.

taglist: open! send an ask or reply to be added.

status: complete!

cast list:

papergirls and paperboys | VB team

table of contents:

day zero

day one

day two

day three

day four

day five

day six

day seven

day eight

day nine

day ten

[yourdailyqueer]

Mineko Nomachi

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: 17 March 1979

Ethnicity: Japanese

Occupation: Writer, columnist, illustrator, presenter, activist

[mariacallous]

A woman without biologicalchildren is running for high political office, and so naturally that quality will at some point be used against her. Kamala Harris has, in the short period since she emerged as the Democratic candidate for US president, been scrutinised over her lack of children. The conservative lawyer Will Chamberlain posted on X that Harris “shouldn’t be president” – apparently, she doesn’t have “skin in the game”. The Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, called Harris and other Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives”.

It’s a particularly virulent tendency in the US, with a rightwing movement that is fixated on women’s reproduction. But who can forget (and if you have, I am happy to remind you of a low point that still sticks in my craw) Andrea Leadsom, during the 2016 Conservative party leadership election, saying that Theresa May might have nieces and nephews, but “I have children who are going to have children … who will be a part of what happens next”. “Genuinely,” she added, as if the message were not clear enough, “I feel that being a mum means you have a real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake.”

It’s an argument about political capability that dresses up a visceral revulsion at the idea that a woman who does not have a child should be vested with any sort of credibility or status. In other comments, Vance said that “so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids trying to brainwash the minds of our children, that really disorients me and disturbs me”. He appears so fixated on this that it is almost comical: a man whose obsession with childless women verges on a complex.

But his “disorientation and disturbance” is a political tendency that persists and endures. It constantly asks the question of women who don’t have children, in subtle and explicit ways, especially the higher they rise in the professional sphere: “What’s up with that? What’s the deal?” The public sphere becomes a space for answering that question. Women perform a sort of group plea to be left the hell alone, in their painstaking examinations of how they arrived at the decision not to have kids, or why they in fact celebrate not having kids, or deliberations on ambivalence about having kids.

Behind all this lies some classic old-school inability to conceive of women outside mothering. But one reason this traditionalism persists in ostensibly modern and progressive places is that women withdrawing from mothering in capitalist societies – with their poorly resourced public amenities and parental support – forces questions about our inequitable, unacknowledged economic arrangements. A woman who does not bear children is a woman who will never stay home and provide unremunerated care. She is less likely to be held in the domestic zone and extend her caregiving to elderly relatives or the children of others. She cannot be a resource that undergirds a male partner’s career, frailties, time limitations and social demands.

A mother is an option, a floating worker, the joker in the pack. Not mothering creates a hole for that “free” service, which societies increasingly arranged around nuclear families and poorly subsidised rights depend on. The lack of parental leave, childcare and elderly care would become profoundly visible – “disorienting and disturbing” – if that service were removed.

“Motherhood,” writes the author Helen Charman in her new book Mother State, “is a political state. Nurture, care, the creation of human life – all immediate associations with mothering – have more to do with power, status and the distribution of resources … than we like to admit. For raising children is the foundational work of society, and, from gestation onward, it is unequally shared.”

Motherhood, in other words, becomes an economic input, a public good, something that is talked about as if the women themselves were not in the room. Data on declining birthrates draws comment from Elon Musk (“extremely concerning!!”) . Not having children is reduced to entirely personal motivations – selfishness, beguilement with the false promise of freedom, lack of values and foresight, irresponsibility – rather than external conditions: of the need for affordable childcare, support networks, flexible working arrangements and the risk of financial oblivion that motherhood frequently brings, therefore creating bondage to partners. To put it mildly, these are material considerations to be taken into account upon entering a state from which there is no return. Assuming motherhood happens without such context, Charman tells me, is a “useful fantasy”.

It is a binary public discourse, obscuring the often thin veil between biological and social actualisation. Women who don’t have children do not exist in a state of blissful detachment from their bodies and their relationship with maternity: a number have had pregnancies, miscarriages, abortions and periods. A number have entered liminal stages of motherhood that don’t conform to the single definition from which they are excluded. A number extend mothering to various children in their lives. Some, like Harris herself, have stepchildren (who don’t count, just as May’s nieces and nephews didn’t). A number have become mothers, just not in a way that initiates them into a blissful club. They experience regret, depression and navigate unsettlement that does not conform to the image of uncomplicated validation of your purpose in life.

But the privilege of those truths cannot be bestowed on creatures whose rejection of the maternal bond has become a rejection of a wider unspoken, colossally unfair contract. Women with children are handed social acceptance for their vital investment in “the future”, in exchange for unrewarded, unsupported labour that props up and stabilises the economic and social status quo. All while still suffering sneeriness about the value of their work in comparison with the serious graft of the men who win the bread.

On top of that, women have to navigate all that motherhood – or not – entails, all the deeply personal, bewildering, isolating and unacknowledged realities of both, while being subject to relentless suffocating, infantilising and violating public theories and notions that trespass on their private spaces. With that comes a sense of self-doubt and shame in making the wrong decision, or not being as content with those decisions as they are expected to be. It is a constant, prodding vivisection. That, more than anything clinical observers feel, is the truly disorienting and disturbing experience.

[homeofatlas]

French Connection

Authors note: I project so much in these fics I genuinely couldn't look at a picture of Elisa for two weeks when i heard she was with someone. I love to write though so hopefully i'm back. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to keep writing. No grammar checks.

Summary: You interview Elisa and Gay panic. Hard.

Word Count: 1.2k

Tw: Lots of gay panic and some swearing

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Honestly? You know nothing about soccer. But the journalist who was supposed to be covering this event had come down with a nasty flu and hadn’t been able to come. Being the only journalist in the office without a family you got stuck at a women's soccer game on a cold sunday afternoon. Don't get yourself wrong, you loved to watch athletic women running around but typically if you watched any sports at all it was at home on your comfy couch. Not only did you have to sit through, take notes, and try to decipher what was going on in the game but you had little to no time to research the players you were supposed to interview directly afterwards. You were a culture columnist not a sports commentator for christ's sake! 

Your boss had emailed you last night asking, practically begging, you to go in the other journalists place. You’d accepted but only because you were getting paid overtime. You’d like it on the record that this wasn’t your cup of tea.

After what feels like forever the team you're supposed to be interviewing, psg feminine or something, wins. You say thank you to whoever's listening that the part you know nothing about is over. Making your way to the team and flashing your journalist badge which gets you into the team headquarters you find the coach congratulating the players. You wait for him to finish before introducing yourself and explaining that you're here to interview some of the players. He calls over a couple players named Karaouchi, Geyoro, and De Almeida while you grab your phone to record and a pen to take notes. The women walk over to you while joking around with each other, clearly in a good mood about their win. 

When you look up from grabbing your things out of your bag, your eyes pass over them lingering on the one standing in the middle. You aren’t sure how you didn’t notice her before. Her strong features and full laugh leave you slightly breathless as you look at her. You need to avoid eye contact with her at all costs because you’re already short of breath and the gay panic is making all your thoughts leave so you need to get this done quickly. Composing yourself you take a deep breath and smile at the woman closest to you. 

“Hi I'm Y/n and I'm interviewing you guys today! So we’ll start by saying your names and then I'll ask you a few questions about your match today, sounds good?”

The women all nod and agree. 

You press record on your phone and hold it up to the first woman. 

“Grace Geyoro.”

You move down the line to stand in front of the middle one. Flickering your eyes up to her you can see the gleam of seat on her forehead and her twinkling eyes as she leans in to speak. 

“Elisa De Almeida.”

You swallow and curse yourself for ever thinking you might be able to avoid those eyes. It should be illegal to be this good looking, especially when she’s sweating, you think. These aren’t workable conditions really, your gayness prohibits you from being normal around attractive masc women. Forcing yourself to move on you hold the phone up to the next woman. 

“Sakina Karaouchi.”

“Great, thank you. I’ll ask a question and whichever one of you wants to answer can.”

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Time skip to after the interview

After the interview you let the women leave to go do whatever they do after games while you finish up your notes. Your body feels hot all over from every time you met Elisas eyes. The plan of trying not to look her directly in the eye was immediately scrapped the first time you’d truly looked into them. Her brown eyes had made your stomach swoop yet, you found yourself unable to look away. Her entire presence had trapped you. The entire interview you’d been trying to come up with a way to keep it going and speak with her more. Your limited sports knowledge has never come back to bite you in the ass so much. 

Seaking briefly to the head coach and get a quote or two from him regarding the days match, you pack everything into your purse before making your way through the tunnels and out into the parking lot where most people have cleared out from this afternoon's game. You see the cars of what must be mostly staff and players left. Walking through the parking lot you find yourself thinking of those brown eyes again. You can always find her instagram and reach out in hopes of another interview you tell yourself. You have to see her again, you don’t know if you can fathom living in France knowing there's a woman that beautiful out there and you never tried to make a move. Pulling your keys out of your purse you unlock your car before you hear your name being called from behind you. Slowing your stride you glance behind you to see Elisa crossing the parking lot quickly checking both ways to make sure it’s okay to go. You stop and wait for her to jog closer to you before turning to face her. Her cheeks are red from the wind blowing roughly against your faces. It makes it harder for you to see the sunspots and freckles which lie over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. You pray you’ll get a chance to one day count how many of them there are littered on her face. 

Chest heaving from how quickly she crossed the parking lot she huffs out your name again. She looks lost almost, her eyes roaming around your face as if looking for something. You don’t think you’ve ever seen someone whose face was so expressive. It’s so incredibly endearing you can feel your body warming again with her proximity despite the cold which is seeping into your coat by the moment. You breathe her name back to her with a small smile. 

She swallows looking around the parking lot. You can see her hand playing with and adjusting the straps on her bag before looking back at you again. 

“I was wondering if you’d let me interview you. Except over dinner or coffee and it’d be mutual and less of an interview and more of a date?” She squeezes her eyes shut and winces. 

A smile overtakes your face. 

“Yeah I’d love to go for dinner or coffee on a mutual interview but more date.” 

“That sounded way better in my head by the way.”

“It always does, doesn’t it.”

You two smile at each other before you remember that’s your cue to give her your number. You could just give her your instagram but she’s like if i woke next to you everyday for the rest of my life i could face something new about you to admire level cute so your number it is. 

After more staring and smiles she walks you to your car before turning around and walking to her own. Sitting in your car for a moment letting your heart beat settle you can’t help but thank god your coworker is fighting for her life with the flu.

[therobotmonster]

"Doctor Martin, why are you an atheist?"

Director Maria Kleinheart wasn't the sort of person who asked indirect or idle questions. She was in every way a Kleinheart, the spitting image of her grandmother. Only she wasn't staring out from a yellowed ad in a back issue of Popular Science or Woman's Day, she was staring from across desk made of polished slate.

Emil Martin didn't respond immediately. That sort of question usually came with an invitation to services or a badgering about Pascal's wager. That didn't fit what he knew about the director, though that wasn't much. An intense religious conversion would explain the rumors around her distance from the rest of her family.

"Director, is this a personal or work related question?" Emil finally asked.

"Work." She replied.

"Is that appropriate?"

"Yes. This is about security clearances."

That made even less sense. Emil decided to risk a lecture on his eternal soul and answered truthfully. "Pretty standard, insufficient evidence."

"Would you rather it be true?" She asked. "Would it be comforting to know you existed for a purpose, that someone was in charge of your existence, caring for you?"

"Not really." Emil replied. "I'm rather Hitchenisan in that regard."

"Good enough. Follow me."

-

"BE NOT AFRAID."

The words seemed to come out of the air itself. The thing was at the center of the large, expansive lab that had once been a missile silo. It was a sphere, surrounded by two rings of brass-like metal. The rings were lined with hemispherical semi-translucent white glass or crystal protrusions. The inner ring spun slowly, as did the central core, though only the faintest irregularities in its glowing blue-white corona revealed that motion.

The outer ring was held in place with steel chains, each link six inches in diameter. Two chains locked the ring to the floor, while a third latched the top to the ceiling. The cuffs the chains connected to seemed to have been welded shut around it.

"BE NOT AFRAID." It 'spoke' again. Its voice was clear and musical, but wrong and artificial at the same time. It sounded like familiar voices; his mother and father, his cousins, his old school pals, his boyfriends, even Director Kleinheart, each synthesized poorly via an AI speech simulator, all speaking in perfect time.

Every time it spoke, Emil smelled his grandfather's sweet cornbread fresh from the oven.

"That looks like an angel." He finally gasped.

"Looks like." Director Kleinheart smiled. He wasn't sure she could do that. "I knew we picked the right man."

"This is why you were asking about my beliefs?"

"Yes Doctor Martin. You see, freedom of religion is an extension of the principle of innocence until proven guilty. Once one faith is shown to be correct, all others are revealed as wrong."

"And you wanted to make sure I, what, wasn't guilty of being wrong?"

"No, the mistaken are innocent of everything except the actions they directly take." Kleinheart continued. "It's the ones who would take this to mean they were right that are fifth columnists to an unaccountable alien power."

"Oh." Emil replied. He didn't know quite what else to say.

"I want you on our team that's studying it. We need to know how it works, what it's made of, what those things its made of can be used for, you know the drill."

"BE NOT AFRAID." Again came the smell of cornbread.

"Are the restraints necessary?" Emil asked. "It is telling us we don't need to be afraid of it."

"Oh, we thought that too at first." The director said. "But we've already learned quite a bit about our little intruder here, even a bit of its 'source code' for lack of a better analogue. That message isn't meant for us."

"What is it then?"

"Can't you guess, Doctor?"

Dr. Emil Martin shrugged. "I have no idea."

"It isn't giving us a warning."

Director Kleinheart smiled for the second time in Emil's memory and spoke again.

"It's repeating its orders."

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Gloria Swanson (Don't Change Your Husband, Queen Kelly, Sadie Thompson, Sunset Boulevard)—the absolute BALLS this woman had! an icon of the 1920s, her career had simmered down, decent living in radio, deciding you know what? you know what i'll do? I'll star as the haggard old aging decrepit horror icon in Sunset Boulevard, that's what I'll do. Nobody else in Hollywood would take the part (every other actress didn't want to be framed as a has-been)—gloria said, fuck that, I'll eat this role alive and serve cunt the whole time. she was still so gorgeous when they made Sunset Boulevard they had to intentionally make her up/costume her to make her look older than she was. mad respect for the screen legend who says yeah, i am a screen legend, i was always that bitch and here I am again to prove it

Mary Nolan (West of Zanzibar, Desert Nights)—mary nolan had star quality in spades but her career was sadly plagued by tragedy and scandal (though really a lot of what was characterized as "scandal" by the press was more like "men being physically abusive"). she reinvented her career multiple times, first becoming very popular as a ziegfeld girl in the early 1920s under the stage name imogene "bubbles" wilson (said a columnist of the time, "only two people in America would bring every reporter in New York to the docks to see them off. one is the President. the other is Imogene "Bubbles" Wilson.") but after some shit involving a shitty dude got her fired from the follies for negative media attention she went to europe and made films in germany under the name imogene robertson for a few years. in 1927 she accepted the offer of a contract from united artists and returned to the u.s., taking on the stage name mary nolan. she was received favorably in films like west of zanzibar as lon chaney's daughter, and desert nights opposite john gilbert, but she began having difficulty finding work in the early 30s, having at that point acquired a morphine addiction, and she made her final film appearance in 1933, intermittently working in vaudeville and nightclubs. uh well this propaganda ended up super sad but here's a short clip of her in action in a 1930 movie

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman. (remember that our poll era starts in 1910, so please don't use propaganda from before that date.)

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Gloria Swanson:

She was THE idea of a 1920s sex comedy star, and was a hot (and totally unhinged) older woman in Sunset Boulevard. Hot as a young woman and as an older woman? Yes plz

I feel like she would slay in alternative fashion

her performance as Norma Desmond in sunset boulevard makes me insane. I love her

Mary Nolan:

Shockingly modern style of acting! She could pop up today and be a starlette all over again