Because I spend so much time now in a very professional, gender normative work environment, I have to remind myself that I love weird people, I am weird, I want to be weird, and being normal is truly horrifying. I’m thinking of that experience of seeing someone on the street or on the bus who is working some kind of weird, non-normative look and feeling some delight and relief, like the person’s existence is making space for you. I have often felt that way when I see other visibly queer or visibly trans people, or other kinds of rule-breakers. It’s beautiful to see people taking those risks and its wonderful to have those moments of mutual recognition with a stranger in the midst of a hostile world.
You won’t allow me to go to school.
I won’t become a doctor.
Remember this:
One day you will be sick.
“
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Poem written by an 11 year old Afghan girl
This poem was recorded in a NYT magazine article about female underground poetry groups in Afghanistan. An amazing article about the ways in which women are using a traditional two line poetry form to express their resistance to male oppression, their feelings about love (considered blasphemous), and their doubts about religion.
One of the best articles I’ve read all year. Here’s the link
(via grrrlstudies)
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I will give you an example of how race affects my life. I live in a place called Alpine, New Jersey. Live in Alpine, New Jersey, right? My house costs millions of dollars. In my neighborhood, there are four black people. Hundreds of houses, four black people. Who are these black people? Well, there’s me, Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z and Eddie Murphy. Only black people in the whole neighborhood. So let’s break it down, let’s break it down: me, I’m a decent comedian. I’m a’ight. Mary J. Blige, one of the greatest R&B singers to ever walk the Earth. Jay-Z, one of the greatest rappers to ever live. Eddie Murphy, one of the funniest actors to ever, ever do it. Do you know what the white man who lives next door to me does for a living? He’s a fucking dentist! He ain’t the best dentist in the world…he ain’t going to the dental hall of fame…he don’t get plaques for getting rid of plaque. He’s just a yank-your-tooth-out dentist. See, the black man gotta fly to get to somethin’ the white man can walk to.
“
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Chris Rock
see, this is something that aforementioned idiot should listen to. if you think racial equality exists because we have the same purported opportunity to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, ask if we even started at the same point, when people of color didn’t even have the same opportunities to set up a foundation for the life of this generation. you think your white grandparents got the same jobs as a person of color’s grandparents, so that they could retire and you would know they’d have access to healthcare? you think your white family was offered the same rates (or even chances) for home loans as a family of color’s so that you didn’t have to work a job through high school to meet rent? you think that your mother worrying if you’re going to get into a good college is hard enough? what if on top of that, your mother also had to worry that you might get gunned down in the street because of the color of your skin?
i’m sorry buddy, but you are wrong, and chris rock is so, so right.
(via wordsandturds)
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What men mean when they talk about their “crazy” ex-girlfriend is often that she was someone who cried a lot, or texted too often, or had an eating disorder, or wanted too much/too little sex, or generally felt anything beyond the realm of emotionally undemanding agreement. That does not make these women crazy. That makes those women human beings, who have flaws, and emotional weak spots. However, deciding that any behavior that he does not like must be insane– well, that does make a man a jerk.
And when men do this on a regular basis, remember that, if you are a women, you are not the exception. You are not so cool and fabulous and levelheaded that they will totally get where you are coming from when you show emotions other than “pleasant agreement.”
When men say “most women are crazy, but not you, you’re so cool” the subtext is not, “I love you, be the mother to my children.” The subtext is “do not step out of line, here.” If you get close enough to the men who say things like this, eventually, you will do something that they do not find pleasant. They will decide you are crazy, because this is something they have already decided about women in general.
I’m not gonna sit around and waste my precious divine energy trying to explain and be ashamed of things you think are wrong with me.
Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.
![lipstick-feminists:
[image description: a series of four Tweets from Raven-Symone (@MissRavenSymone); first reads “I’m living my PERSONAL life the way I’m happiest. I’m not one, in my 25 year career to disclose who I’m dating, and I shall not start today.”; second reads “My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I’m datings to know. I’m not one for a public display of my life.”; third reads, “However that is my right as a HUMAN BEing whether straight or gay. To tell or not to tell. As long as I’m not harming anyone.”; fourth reads, “I am a light being made from love. And my career is the only thing I would like to put on display, not my personal life. Kisses!”]
squintyoureyes:
This is SO raven. <333333](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m48blzl7dU1qkml3ro1_1280.png)
