hot take but transphobia and homophobia are inexorably linked and saying “this thing is transphobic, not homophobic!” or “this thing is homophobic, not transphobic!” is absolutely useless in most contexts. jokes about how ugly and weird “men in dresses”, jokes about someone breaking gender roles, jokes about someone looking like the “opposite” gender… legislation saying that two people of the same legal sex cannot get married or adopt… trans people of every orientation and cis gay people face so many of the same problems!
that’s WHY it’s LGBT! it’s why gay people and straight trans people work together! because homophobia and transphobia and intertwined and linked and you cannot dismantle one without dismantling the other! ignoring either homophobia or transphobia in favor of the other is missing the point!
you people do realize that just because licensed conversion therapy is illegal in some states it’s not like…magically not a problem anymore right? like the laws in most states only ban licensed or medically affiliated conversion therapy. Ex-gay “ministries” and other religiously affiliated or unlicensed groups can still market conversion services in states like California, Nevada, and Colorado so long as they’re presented and run like “voluntary and non-medical services.” Supposedly liberal states have some of the most active and extremist conversion programs in the entire country because of these loopholes. I know so many people who have been subjected to conversion therapy, in both legal and illegal states, whether they were minors who couldn’t leave or young adults being coerced by family, to the point where some of them were sent out of state for weeks on end before returning as completely different and self-hating people. Most programs advertise themselves as being completely voluntary, but it is extremely rare for that to be the case. Allowing unlicensed services to continue also opens up the door for even more extreme abuses, as the methods are no longer regulated by the healthcare system. I’ve had friends experience sexual assault at the hands of “religious guides” at unlicensed ministries, undergo aversion therapy by way of electric shocks and other pain, and experience mind-numbing psychological torture that some will likely never recover from. This is acommonexperience, and you can findsimilar narratives littering the internet. Most of these people attend camps and therapy offered by ministry services, which very often fall under the category of “religious counsel.” So you can’t make a blanket statement like “well it’s just illegal in that part of the country” because it’s never that easy for us.
people have said this before but just. to reiterate. ‘representation matters’ is the antithesis of ‘fiction doesnt affect reality’. you can’t claim both.
if you agree that positive representation (for example, well written, humanized gay characters) can normalize and help gay teenagers, then you inherently have to also accept that negative representation (for example, accepted and sympathetic pedophile characters) can normalize pedophilia to people. this is the same vein of the same critical thought. you can’t claim that representation matters if you also believe that someone writing ‘non con’ adult / child porn is fine since its fictional.
don’t misunderstand this as ‘rape / incest / pedophilia etc can never be used in fiction’ because they obviously can, don’t be disingenuous. a story about rape recovery which brings awareness to sexual assault and the impact etc is NOT the same as a story where a rape scene is intended as pornography. get a grip.
I’ve seen several people being like “ummmmmmmmmmm nobody was mad that a cis man playing a pre op trans woman on oitnb” it was literally Laverne’s twin brother who she personally asked to do it so as not to trigger her dysphoria like do you not see how that’s an entirely different situation
Um, it’s better than that actually. Laverne was totally willing to do it because that’s her job as an actress (although it could have triggered dysphoria) but the directors didn’t want to put her through that when she so happened to have a convenient twin brother because like how often do you get that lucky?
So on the one hand you have filmmakers utterly disregarding trans people’s experience and just doing whatever the fuck they want. And on the other hand you have filmmakers being very aware of trans issues and caring so much about a trans woman’s wellbeing that they didn’t want to put her through something potentially triggering when it wasn’t necessary. Big difference.
This whole “trust Tumblr blindly” thing is eventually going to kill someone, as I became pointedly aware of on one occasion I was making fun of how poorly a particular bleach-based drain declogger was working on my sink and got a chorus of really dangerously misinformed people telling me to pour vinegar in after it because all cute little cool kid diy home care blogs they’re following talk about vinegar like it it’s the big secret the cleaning companies don’t want you to know.
And I cringed knowing that someday, some Well Actually expert who read a blog article once is going to give that advice to someone who unfortunately didn’t take high school chemistry and isn’t aware that MIXING VINEGAR AND BLEACH MAKES CHLORINE GAS.
holy fucking jesus tits reblog to save a life
OK I actually got a full on A* for GCSE Chemistry and if I ever knew this I’ve forgotten it. Seriously reblog this.
Also don’t use bleach to clean up if your cat pees outside the littlerbox (or urine in general for that matter, species doesn’t really matter here I think). I did that in a small space and it took me a bit of coughing and wheezing and wanting to tear my eyes out before I went, “wait, fuck, I just gassed myself”.
Be aware of the chemicals you are using even if they are natural cleaners.
The problem with the idea of 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of recreation as a structure for a day is that it simply can’t work that way. If I’m expected to be at work at 9, then my work day must begin at 7. Allowing myself a rushed experience to wake up and get to work. And I live close to work. So either my recreation or my sleep needs to take a hit, but for some people it could be more. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week as a basis for full time work is honestly unreasonable at that point. Because it isn’t actually 40 hours a week, it’s 50 hours a week lost to a job, of which 10 is unpaid.
some of my coworkers have 2h of transit to get to work, which takes 4-5h off their free time. working full time is a bad idea and shouldve never been a thing
And let’s not forget that maintaining a clean home and providing food for yourself takes over 20 hours a week (appx 20 hours in-house, and varying hours spent running outside errands) if you are completely abled.
Ppl act like preventing the spread of hateful ideology is a slippery slope to obscene restrictions on free speech, but don’t see the spread of hateful ideology as a slippery slope toward…ppl embracing hateful ideology
True, but also not true. Upon thinking on this topic deeply i’ve realized that not all methods of halting the spread of hateful idealogy is equal. While I definitely agree that punching a real nazi is a great pastime, it has consequences for YOU if you go beyond that and become utterly and obsessively consumed with hate for them. It will allow them to rally behind their fellow zealots and say, “see! They are just like us, those hypocrites!” And thus they have actually GAINED a step, instead of LOSING one.
What should we do instead? Ostracize. Show them we care not one whit for their ridiculousness. Take them out of our social circles and ANY measure of power, ESPECIALLY political, which we HAVE THE POWER TO HELP DO IF THOSE OVER 18 FVUCKING RESEARCH THE ELECTEES BEFORE YOU WALK UP TO THE VOTING BOOTH AND RANDOMLY BUBBLE. We have the power to assert ourselves politically, socially, and protest any of their “rallies” and better yet? We wouldn’t have to deal with our side going to jail or worse. Do it legally, but quickly, peacefully, and brutally. Offer no quarter, but do not fall into the pit yourselves.
how can anyone look at this and think “this is okay. this is normal”?
In case anyone wants more info, this has been a thing pretty much always. Children without the right to legal representation has been documented since 2004 (although it’s almost definitely gone on longer.) However, the average number of unaccompanied minors in court from 2004-2017 was LESS THAN HALF than the number in 2018. Both the Bush and Obama administrations did not prosecute families, and so they did not have to go to court. The only times unaccompanied minors appeared in immigration court pre-2018 was in cases of drug trafficking, which is why the numbers are substantially less.
In the US, non-citizens do NOT have the right to an attorney if they cannot afford one, and that includes children. There was a class action lawsuit in 2016 attempting to gain this right for minors, but it was rejected. There are non profit groups who provide pro bono lawyers in cases like this, but they were already overextended in 2017 when the number of immigrant minors in court was less than half what it is this year.
In conclusion, Trump SUCKS and America is not much better.
Me: I don’t know if I ever want to be pregnant, I’d rather adopt a kid or two that are a bit older
Someone: Are you SURE? Older adoptees present UNIQUE CHALLENGES
Me: We are discussing human beings not digital pets
Literally every child every born and/or parented presents unique challenges. It’s like people are unique individuals…..or something………….
An amazing and revolutionary concept
When people ask me, “Why do you want to adopt teenagers?” I always answer, “Because you asked like that.”
I’m real over it.If I become a foster mom to a 17 year old kid and I get the privilege of the option to adopt them? You better believe I am legally making that kid mine.
“They’ll be a legal adult in no time, why spend the money to adopt? They’ll be aged out of the system.”
There’s no aging out of family, Marvin.
“They might be rebellious or smoke or do drugs or steal things! What if they won’t listen to you?”
Then I guess I’ll have to step up and do some fruxking parenting, Stanley.
“You want to adopt problem children then?”
All. Children. Are. Problem. Children. If you’re not prepared to deal with the fact that at some point, any child ever, whether you birthed them yourself or adopted them at any age, could become a problem? Then you are NOT ready to have children, and should really just step off and let the people who actually want to be parents live in peace with their kids.
Procrastination Station 