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patriciavetinari · 2 years

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As a content reviewer, it gets very very clear for me that consolidation and endless strive for growth of social media in particular is centrism reinforced and is in the end always going to empower bigotry, no matter how hard will companies try to make it seem progressive and intolerant of hate.

I'm not very old, but I remember Ye Olde Internet, before twitter, instagram, youtube and even before facebook. Much like divine right of kings, social media that is so big seems inevitable right now, it's basically 2-3 monopolies consolidated into swollen creatures trying to grab everyone and force them into same space. Trying to make life outside of that blob impossible. That's never good and as humans, we don't actually need it. All of the benefits Internet connection granted us were arguably much better before Internet became synonymous with modern social media. Internet is possible without twitter, youtube, facebook and instagram (and now tiktok and also linkedin).

Before that, we had personal homepages to store our interests and dox ourselves if we really wanted to. We had message boards and forums for our hobbies and interests. We had cooperation on matters of science, art, technology, language, any professions that existed. We had chatrooms to meet new people, and we did transfer those friendships into real life, people became lifelong friends without twitter or tumblr and people got together without tinder or grindr or what have you.

I miss those days. Yes, those communities were smaller, there were no influencers, there was much less advertisement. Separating your online spaces, much like real life spaces, based on the topics, made sure that you could spot and weed out hateful communities early on. Hateful communities were known, skinheads had to indicate that their message board is for far right groups to ensure they will get the right people.

Should hosting hateful information be outlawed on a judicial level? That is a question of philosophy and law that we should have tackled if the Old Internet was to remain.

In the old days, it was much easier to create Safe Spaces. You create your own message board and chat room. I've been an admin of a message board. I could block people as easy as I do now on my Tumblr, so I could ensure me message board is for decent people discussing topics I want to discuss. Now, when I block an account on tumblr or twitter, I cannot ensure other people in my space will not get bothered by bigots or won't fall under their influence.

In the Old Internet, in smaller cliques of people, on personal homepages and in small chatrooms and on message boards very few people were in charge of making the rules what is acceptable on certain platform. It was very easy and absolutely ok to make a chatroom or message board and disallow conservatives. No issue whatsoever. You just blocked people and deleted their messages and could focus on discussing politics in your community with like-minded people.

With the social media that we have now, all of this sounds like sci fi, especially to young people. It seems inevitable that there are some idiots that might retweet you or comment on your post or lurk on your facebook. You can block them from interacting with you personally, but you are forced by the company to share platform with them still, they might bother your friends etc.

The Olden Days were not perfect. Message boards got big and messy and there was scandal and power takeover etc. But that's what was also good – it was quite easy to leave all that behind. If your message board turned nazi or violent, you grabbed your people and made a new message board and kept talking about lord of the rings or whatever.

It had very little influence on your professional life. People were more cautious with their info online in general, but no employer was googling your lord of the rings message board as they look up your facebook and twitter now. If you wanted to talk hobbies or cringe ships or politics anonymously in relative privacy with like-minded people — you could do that, very easily.

It was harder to grow and amass same following people on modern social media have. But instead of cherishing it for the good thing it was, we were sold the idea that it's bad.

It's bad because the strive for endless growth and endless popularity always means compromise. No big social media will ever ban conservatives from spouting hate and bigotry and outright evil shit. Every social media has gone softer and softer on hate speech policies specifically to accommodate bigots, even while claiming they are a safe space for all groups. It's an oxymoron. You can never have a safe space that is safe for both wolves and sheep.

And it's not even an issue. It's not an issue of free speech because those companies are not government companies. Access to twitter is not a basic necessity nor a human right. Just as I on my message board could outright ban anti-abortion talk and block every pro-lifer, twitter could do that in one policy update. Very easily. There is nothing legally stopping them. It's like a restaurant setting a shirt policy, you can just choose to do that.

I feel like young people especially view being banned from facebook for nazi shit same as imprisonment for denouncing the government or something. It's not. It's not a human rights issue. We are not punishing people for speaking, we just don't want them speaking that shit in our space. Just like a restaurant can deny you entrance for not wearing a shirt - it's not infringing on your freedom to wear whatever you want, but people are allowed to set rules for their spaces. I want the guests in my house to take their shoes off and wear slippers and me enforcing that is not infringing on my guests freedom to wear shoes – they can do that, just outside of my house.

A company could easily take such a stance. The reason no company is doing that is profit. It's not difficult to ban bigots. It's my current job to ban bigots. The reason I'm shit at it is that companies want bigots on their platforms because those bigots are profitable. They create content that gathers both support and outrage and all of that means more clicks, more people viewing ads and spending a lot of time on the websites in question.

Tumblr will never ban terfs not only because terfs are among @staff , they won't ban terfs because terfs are people doing the clicks and watching the ads and being active users.

Social media has a profit incentive. Small online clubs did not have that. They were free spaces where you did see some ads, but also had certain authority over what kind of people were around you in that space. If you wanted a message boards about community gardening with no nazis and no xtians and none of that trad shit - you could arrange that, it was very easy. You wouldn't be a tiktok community garden influencer, you wouldn't get sponsorships or free stuff or anything, you would have to actually be interested in what you do and talk shop with like minded people.

I miss that time.

#long post

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scifimagpie · 6 years

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The Conversation about "Partisan Divisions" is All Wrong

I need to scream somewhere. Every media outlet I like, and probably some I don't - today, it was Vox, which I usually like enough - has done a "gee I don't understand why there's so much partisan division going on right now owo *shrug emoji*" type of piece. Look - we can't have a "civil conversation" when part of the platform of the party is about not accepting the human rights of the other people.

The screaming - is this real?

It feels like the world is gaslighting me, trying to remember when legislators would disavow the KKK and mean it. I know those elements were lurking. This is probably my white privilege talking, at least to some extent.

But we can never have "civil partisan conversations" or "reach across the aisle" until we, as a society, stamp out fundamental intolerance's validity as a political position.

I miss conservatism that was rational and reasonable, a time when it meant caution. Yes, the racism and prejudice were in there, lurking and growing, but there was a time when they were at least openly disavowed.

Now, in the face of a fractured center and left, trying to explain this feels like a sort of strange nostalgia for an imagined thing. Was it ever really so?

Nostalgia mode: engage

I miss conservative conversations where we could talk about how much spending and actually have reasonable discussions. But conservatism has been usurped by fascism and nationalism. I mean sure, it was always there, somewhat, but I'm pretty sure there was a time it wasn't okay.

I hope for the rise of conservatives again - but that can only happen safely if they are willing to flush bigots out of their ranks. Until that happens, we can't have conversations safely. Until we accept that some respect for people's fundamental rights must be at the core of an argument, and that the question is not always "whether or not," but sometimes "how much," politics will not be safe for those who are disenfranchised. We have spent too many years debating whether First Nations people (in Canada and America) or Black people (mostly in America) deserve upgrades and full rights that we've accepted that as normal - instead of a heinous and terrible argument in the first place.

We cannot legislate away fundamental human rights, something both Canada and America have done for decades and centuries, and consider that an acceptable casualty rate of democracy and negotiating across the aisle.

A plea to the right

I address this essay not just to people on the left, but more so, to the people who probably don't read my articles and posts - to the families and campaigners who dislike or are frustrated by us. People in the Manosphere, people in the center, family members who just don't understand why we don't like Trump - this is for you. I come not to insult you or belittle you, but to beseech you.

Conservatives who still believe that, say, trans people deserve to exist and black people shouldn't be shot - I don't mean to alarm you, but you are now basically liberals. At least compared to some of your comrades or fellow soldiers, or however you might wish to be addressed.

Please, those of you who identify in the centre or the right - I ask, nay, beg of you: flush out your ranks. I realise it can be tempting to ally with someone to get legislation pushed through, but those of us facing a true fight for our rights have no wish to harm you. We on the left, we children of abuse and of plural identities - we wish only to exist in safety and comfort. This need not threaten or remove your comfort, not on a fundamental level.

Sure, there are scary conversations that might make you upset or even angry - things we have been through ourselves, and go through still - but all of us want to be housed, alive, taken care of medically, and to have full bellies. And we actually want that for you, too.

We want everyone to be called by the gender prefixes they prefer and identify with, to marry who they love, to have families by their own choice, to be fed, and to have access to an education. We want running water and heat and air-conditioning and safe living conditions for everyone. That includes you.

Please, when it comes time to vote - ask yourself who cares about the fundamental human rights issues. And then tick off their name.

All we have left is to strip away the technicalities and subtle arguments, and beg you for our lives.

*** Michelle Browne is a sci fi/fantasy writer. She lives in Lethbridge, AB with her partner-in-crime, housemate, and their cat. Her days revolve around freelance editing, knitting, jewelry, and nightmares, as well as social justice issues. She is currently working on the next books in her series, other people's manuscripts, and drinking as much tea as humanly possible. The mailing list * Books on Amazon * Medium * Twitter * Instagram * Facebook * Tumblr * Blog

#conservative #manosphere #trump #voting #human rights #leftist #left #dialogue

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pepperstrawberry · 6 years

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Thoughts on the Ban...

For those that don’t follow the MTG side of things, this might not interest you as much: Long story short, some folks have been harassed, others have been banned because of it.

Now, I have been seeing the usual ‘they did nothing wrong’ posts here and on twitter. So I’m going to make things a touch more clear here:

Jeremy of MTGHeadquarters/unsleevedmedia/thequartering was hit with a perma-ban in all things Magic for harassment. This is very good news. For too long, his brand of garbage has been deeply rooted in just about every corner of really every fandom if we are honest. For Magic, this means LGS, Protour/grand prix, Twitch chats, Twitter, Amino, and here in our little corner of the net. He is one of many, but it’s a solid start. Wizards, as well as our community as a whole have put up with the garbage enough and it’s time for everyone to get with the program of ‘inclusivity’ or just get out. Getting a perma-ban is really the least that can happen to the sort of crass, garbage spewing, super negative, red-pill swallowing, alt-right/nazi sort that Jeremy is.

In short, good riddance.

As for Travis Woo. Even setting aside his ‘thought experiment’ about Hitler (please read as much sarcasm as you can into ‘thought experiment’), and even ignoring his racist slurs against Japanese people, and even accepting his word that he didn’t know what was going on in his little ‘Magic for Bad’ facebook group (which, seriously? You named it that, what did you freaking expect would happen?), there is an important fact that remains: He was creator and mod for that group, and as per his statements it was months ago the ‘First pick draft’ ladies thing happened. My dude? You are still responsible. You DO NOT turn of your alerts for a room you create/mod. That shows a lack of respect and an ignoring of responsibility. And on top of that, rather then deleting it, he just locked it.

Look, I get it in some cases, you are worried about these toxic people finding new homes... thing is, they will only learn (if ever) by being shunned for their actions. If every group does this, kicks out of or closes down ever room that these jerks are hanging out in, while informing them as to the why, even if they are thick, they are going to eventually start to think that maybe the problem is with them. Not all of them, mind, but more then you would expect would start to come around.

Some of these jerks are just brats that were never forced to grow up (ironic consider many of them think folks like us are the babies because we ‘can’t handle a few words’).

Leaving them to just fester without appropriate action can actually cause the issues to be come worse not better.

And the cherry on top was his active stating on twitter about ‘disavowing’ the actions of folks like Jeremy and his own facebook group. My dude, again: You DON’T GET THAT LUXURY. Your room, your responsibility. You accept responsibility, you accept the mistake you made, you make apologizes as appropriate, and you SHUT THE DANG THING DOWN. He did not do these things. Part of me feels like if it were just this one thing, that -maybe- a year ban is a bit much... But then you bring back in his history, and it almost doesn’t feel enough.

Be happy, Travis Woo, that you got just a year with option to appeal. Your history puts you into a precarious position

Four others tied to these issues were also banned for 4 months, but I have no further info on them, so not going to go on any longer on this part...

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Now, all this said: Things everyone should take from this:

1) “They are just words” is not a justification. “Just a joke” isn’t a defense. And “They did nothing wrong” is just a flat out lie. As far as Jeremy alone goes, even if you discount the tweets in the Professor’s video, there where long enough clips of Jeremy’s actual voice and statements that a clear case can be made. If you honestly still think he did nothing wrong, then there is literally no convincing you and no point in continuing any conversation.

2) Creating a place the like of “Magic for bad”, even as a joke, has large potential for harm. If it was meant to be satire, remember that satire is not an easy thing. Far too often, even well meaning satire can be used very easily for awful. A satire, poorly aimed/understood is no different from the real thing. A room like Magic for Bad should have either been sharply modded or never created in the first place.

What we need is more places of honesty and respect rather then more places of sarcasm and “satire”. Sarcasm and satire only work in small doses, and are even harder to create and spread on the net due mostly in part to who many social media platforms are text based. Sarcasm especially can get lost without the right tone behind it. A place of honesty and respect will build a stronger, healthier community then one based on jokes that are assumed everyone understood (and that is giving benefit of the doubt that said ‘jokes’ are not just being an asshole and using a BS defense)

3) Putting an emphasis here: We, as a community, on tumblr, twitter, at your lgs, on twitch, at protours and grand prix, need to respect and hold each other accountable. To raise the standard and to continue make the world around us that much more welcoming.

We are all human. We are all deserving of at least the most basic of respects. And Magic, as a game and a culture, is not the property of one aspect of this community, but for the whole.

IMPORTANT:

If you feel the need to defend the named people above, or people like them; if you honestly think that the Prof’s vid didn’t have any evidence, if you think we are all ‘snowflakes’ or some garbage like that, and especially if you are some alt-right, red pill, nazi, unfollow me.

No, I’m not joking. I have zero time for you. This post is not a debate, it’s a statement of history and purpose going forward. We, as a community on tumblr and twitter, came together over the last week plus. Many of us declared a standard of respect and acceptance. We raised a banner around each other.

Tolerant of all but Intolerance.

A paradox, but one necessary for society to grow in a healthy, vibrant way. And Harassment is a form of intolerance. It’s someone saying ‘no, you don’t belong’. I’m sorry, no. People like Jeremy are like brats in a crib, crying that other kids are getting toys too. Stop being a brat. Share. Be welcoming or get out. That simple.

A cosplayer is doing something because of passion, because of love. A spike can even show compassion for a timmy/tammy White, Black, Yellow, Red, and any others, all are human And let love be love, let people be who they are, even if it doesn’t make sense to you.

It’s that simple, and it’s not hard.

#Pepper Rants #Heavy thoughts #mtg community #Our Standard

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kincringeemporium · 6 years

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mytranshealth is literally a site with a team that works with actual doctors who have studied about, worked with, and treated trans people for years. trusting a system that even ADMITS to being behind on lgbt related health as a whole over people who have been doing research and treatment for years kinda further proves the point as to why you are wrong. added to that, none of y'all have proof of detransitioned people on tumblr, not that they don't exist, but where is the proof?

1) mytranshealth.com. COM. com as an ending means it is not a legitimate organization and cannot be used for research on various topics

2) please consider the following:

Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues. APA Web. 2015.

In a diverse, varied society like this one, it can often be difficult to discern what is real and what isn’t; especially among adolescents, the struggle to challenge ‘the norm’ while also fitting in with one’s peers can lead to behaviors that adults may not understand. Adolescence is a time of turbulent change for anyone, but for transgender young people, it is perhaps doubly so. To provide a brief definition, the American Psychological Association states that gender dysphoria is “a conflict between a person’s physical or assigned gender and the [one] with which he, she, or they identify” (APA). Gender dysphoria ranges from minor to severe; symptoms include long-lasting anxiety and depression, distress regarding one’s sex characteristics, and a strong desire to live as a gender besides what is assigned. Much lesser known are nonbinary people, or those who experience an atypical kind of dysphoria that causes them distress when treated as male or as female; they are neither, and make up possibly a third of the transgender population - while less than five percent of the overall population is transgender (Webb).

Scientific explanations like these have helped to ease societal confusion and thus bring more understanding to what transgender people experience. Even so, a large portion of society remains stubbornly opposed, believing that transgender people do not deserve to be treated as their mental, self-identified gender. However, an Internet community known as ‘MOGAI’ or ‘marginalized orientations, .genders, and identities’ has begun to reignite the public’s confusion about transgender issues; MOGAI believe that gender dysphoria is not necessary to be transgender, that personality traits equal genders, and that transgenderism should not be listed as a result of a mental condition.To highlight the inaccuracy of what MOGAI believe are genders, an example from their community is: “hircinic: a gender that feels both human and nonhuman with an underlying tone of power and otherworldly energy” (mogai-watch). This community shows us the other side of transphobia: promotion of rhetoric that could ultimately lead to transition therapies no longer being covered by insurance. Life-saving treatments would be listed as cosmetic, and transgender young people would struggle even more to live as their authentic selves, stunting their emotional development and ruining their mental health.

The Microsystem: Home

Transgender children and adolescents still living with their parents are the first to suffer from MOGAI misinformation. As blog posts, articles, and online quizzes are so readily available, even parents most unfamiliar with social media have at least once been exposed to mentions of transgender issues. In an ideal home, when a child attempts to come out as transgender male or female, their parents or guardians understand that the child’s gender is due to their dysphoria; they are aware that the child needs to ‘transition’ (gradually change their characteristics and traits to those of their self-identified gender) in order to alleviate their distress. In an intolerant home, the child would not be accepted; common outcomes of parental rejection include homelessness, heightened anxiety and depression, and at worst, suicide – over half of transgender youth will have attempted suicide by their twentieth birthday (Marsh, 2011). However, most parents only are aware of strictly binary male and female transgender people, regardless of their feelings toward these people. When a child attempts to come out as nonbinary, parents frequently confuse MOGAI ‘genders’ with the child’s legitimate atypical dysphoria.

Exosystem: The Internet

Not only parents are gathering dysphoria-related misinformation from online communities, so are adolescents. MOGAI ideologies have permeated the information that reaches our adolescents’ homes, or microsystems. When one searches for ‘nonbinary’ on social media sites like Tumblr, the results are overrun with false MOGAI genders such as hircinic. Formal studies have not yet been published detailing the effects of common transphobia and MOGAI transphobia on specifically nonbinary youth. Regardless, an overwhelming majority of nonbinary social media users describe their parents confusing their real identities with MOGAI identities; this suggests that the Internet, which acts as an exosystem, has a direct and detrimental effect on the home, or the microsystem.

It is important to clarify that youth who ascribe to MOGAI beliefs are not at fault; rather, adolescence is a time of defying social norms while simultaneously seeking like-minded peers. For adolescents struggling to define their gender, the MOGAI community holds a strange allure: they can be as unique as they want to be, even going so far as transitioning while not experiencing gender dysphoria. Yet despite their uniqueness, they can still feel solidarity with young people in similar situations. The MOGAI community also touts a sense of rebelliousness and rejection of the current political climate; what with so many adolescents speaking out against the openly transphobic Trump administration, they seem to fear the idea that MOGAI is in any way transphobic. The Internet is driving the MOGAI issue forward, confusing parents and adolescents alike; if the exosystem and microsystem are so closely linked, do the iterations of the problem in both systems share a solution?

The Solution: Education and Science

The answer is yes: educating MOGAI adolescents and misinformed parents is critical to ensuring the well-being of transgender youth. Social media users who support the medicalization of gender dysphoria have already begun attempts to prove that MOGAI ideologies harm the transgender community, but frequently resort to insulting or shaming their opponents. Both sides are rife with name-calling, strawman arguments, and unnecessary hatred toward ignorant but not malevolent teenagers.

Many adolescents in the MOGAI community believe that being cisgender is oppressive, thus that they will not be accepted if they are simply cisgender and non-conforming. Already suffering from confusion about their identities – and likely bullying for cross-dressing or other non-conforming behaviors – they fear further rejection by their peers.

As teens are overwhelmingly more apt to listen to peer, more adolescents must learn for themselves why MOGAI ideologies are harmful; they must then share what they have learned and refrain from engaging in Internet discourse battles with those who do not agree. Difficult as it is for adolescents to take the ‘moral high ground’, coping methods must also be learned; the first step to avoiding a heated argument is to stay calm and focus on the facts. In the case of an online argument, one of the most effective things a person can do is simply blocking the offensive user. When ‘trolls’ no longer have a platform to send inflammatory comments, arguments tend to ceae.

While adolescents are more intelligent and more resourceful than often thought, both coping strategies and facts cannot come only from teen Internet communities. Instead, information from healthcare professionals – and even parents of transgender children – is needed. With more and more adults skilled in social media, opportunities are arising for them to become involved in issues like the two sides of transphobia. Explanations that acknowledge atypical gender dysphoria while at the same time separating nonbinary identities from MOGAI may have higher success than explanations that don’t. Any explanation mentioning gender as a choice or glossing over the importance of dysphoria should be avoided; some adolescents take offense to these and ignore the information, while some believe the information as fact.

MOGAI is an unfortunate issue that cannot be solved with one seminar, article, blog post, or study; as well as professionals and youth working together, time is a key ingredient. In the end, teens’ MOGAI phase is often just that: a phase. Those who have moved on from believing these ideologies are in a unique position to share their experience with younger, less educated teens; not only can doing so lessen online controversy, but can provide parents with the facts that they need to take comfort among the confusion.

Works Cited

American Psychological Association. What is Gender Dysphoria? APA Web. 2016 February.

Hircinic. mogai-watch.tumblr.com. 2 February 2018.

Marsh, Amy. The Fatal Effects of Transphobia. GoodTherapy Web. 22 November 2011.

Webb, Arielle et. al. Non-binary Gender Identities Fact Sheet. The Society for the Psychological

~delta

#long post #truscum #tucute #transmedicalist

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a-polite-melody · 7 years

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The Institutional Oppression of Aspecs Masterpost

In brief, most of the oppression asexual and aromantic people face is socially based, because aspec identities are still rather invisible. These forms of oppression have been covered in great detail, from facing erasure to experiencing bias and prejudice, all the way to being raped as a way to “fix” their orientation. Some forms of institutional oppression do exist, and I’m going to link some sources about those forms of oppression (along with a brief description of the post linked) in the body of this post.

Most of the sources are going to be to Tumblr posts (though some of those do link to outside sources), mostly because, again, with aspec identities being rather invisible, there isn’t a lot of talk about their oppression on mainstream platforms beyond social media websites. In terms of things like masterposts or large collections of links put together into a post, I’ll pull out the most relevant topics and links to discuss.

I should also note that most of this focuses on asexuality, mostly because aromanticism is even less visible and there’s even less written on the topic of aromanticism.

Side note 1: these posts are listed in the order that I found them, and as such any duplicate items will be listed under the first instance I found them. For example, if there was a link to the same blog post in the first and second posts I pull sources from, that particular blog post will only be listed in the first post’s sources. If I have missed any duplicates, please let me know!

Side note 2: there will be two links for each source: the link on the name will direct you to the original post, while the link in the [x] will direct you to an archived version in case the original is taken down or edited in the future.

Trigger warnings for: discussions of religious discrimination and conversion therapy, as well as bigotry in some of the linked posts/articles.

The Aphobia Masterpost [x]

by @livebloggingmydescentintomadness This is a great place to start. It goes over mostly social oppression, as that is more common among invisible orientations, but there are some wonderful resources on institutional oppression. The entire post is worth checking out if you have the time.

Religious Institutions:

Religion and Asexuality Overview [x]: This WordPress article is a collection of links to posts relating to one of a few religions (Islam, Christianity, Mormonism, Buddhism, and Paganism, as well as a bonus link to one about Atheism) and how those religions treat asexuality. That tends to be unfavourably, often claiming that one cannot be a good member of their religious community while being asexual because a core part of the religion is to get married and procreate (even sometimes being the most holy thing one can do). While some asexuals do get married and do have sex and end up having children, there is a general disdain for any lack of such desires - which are generally attributed to aromanticism or asexuality. Otherwise, and outside of relationships, asexuality is seen as taking away one’s ability to choose celibacy, as asexuality, while does not preclude you from having sex, is often seen that way by society. Thus, no personal restraint is thought to be required for an asexual to maintain a vow of chastity before/without marriage, which is the core element to these religious vows.

Religious Intolerance of Asexuality 1 [x]: This Tumblr post goes into detail about how the Catholic Church, while not explicitly naming aromanticism and asexuality, does discriminate against and hold negative opinions on those orientations. Some of these views include that romantic love is a cardinal virtue, and to deny it is to deny God’s grace, having no want for sex is rejecting God’s plan for humanity surrounding the Original Sin, sexual attraction is a core part of humanity, and that not feeling romantic or sexual attraction is an impossibility.

Religious Intolerance of Asexuality 2 [x]: This Tumblr post provides a screenshot (as well as a broken link to - actual link here [x]) of a blog post written on a religious (presumably Christian) website that claims that asexual people do not exist, as sexuality is a gift from God, which makes it part of the human identity. Further reading of this blog post provides a source that this religion website, or the religious people who created the post, are in at least some way accepting of gay people. Another reblog of the Tumblr post added that their church preached that women are required to have sex with their husbands, even if they don’t want to. While not all people who are asexual abstain from sex, and not all people who would choose to not have sex are asexual, the link between asexuality and someone having no sex is very solid within Straight society.

Religious Intolerance of Asexuality 3 [x]: This blog post discusses the ways that the Islamic Orthodoxy discriminates against and holds negative opinions of asexuality, and can be inferred similarly about aromanticism. Rejecting sex and marriage (specifically with the “opposite” sex) is viewed as deviant behaviour, and the Quran outlines the disciplinary action that is accepted for wives who refuse to have sex (which includes forms of verbal, physical, financial, and mental abuse). These laws render it next to impossible for someone (specifically a woman) who would be more comfortable in a celibate marriage to negotiate for that as their husband has full control over their sexual life. While this is not an issue only faced by those who are asexual, or faced by all asexuals, these religious laws do target those who may not feel sexual attraction.

Religious Intolerance of Asexuality 4 [x]: This is another post from the blog discussed in “Religious Intolerance of Asexuality 3”. This particular post covers the topic of how the exclusion of asexual people from the LGBTQ+ community further removes Muslim asexual women in particular from any sense of community. Because of the near impossibility for a sex-negative, sex-repulsed, or even sex-neutral asexual woman to be comfortable in marriage that would require them to have sex with their husbands regardless of their choice in the matter, they are removed from any community of their faith for failing to want marriage, which is a large part of what is expected from their religion. Denying asexuals the community that has been built within the larger LGBTQ+ community would deny them the comfort that belonging to and identifying with queerness that the author feels.

Religious Intolerance of Asexuality 5 [x]: This WordPress article is another collection of links that discuss how asexuality is treated within various religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Lutheranism). Most of these posts center around how these religions expect the followers to have children or participate in sex after marriage, which can be things that asexual people do not want on the basis of not feeling sexual attraction.

Healthcare/Mental Healthcare Institutions:

Why We Need Mental Healthcare Without Asexual Erasure [x]: This article on Everyday Feminism discusses how therapists dismiss asexuality as being something temporary that will disappear with age, or as being a symptom of mental illness. This dismissal can lead to serious difficulties in romantic relationships, and can end up putting people into dangerous situations regarding consent and sex. It can also cause further feelings of depression or cause other further harm to mental health, and denies self-acceptance. It also briefly talks about the differences between hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) and asexuality that can often be overlooked by mental health professionals, as they assume that any lack of sexual desire causes their patient distress, even when that is not the case, and they look for solutions for the lack of sexual attraction where they shouldn’t be.

Asexuality was listed in the DSM and HSDD until 2013 [x]: This Huffington Post article discusses the controversy within conversation about asexuality within the medical community. Included are topics such as the blanket diagnosis of asexuals as having HSDD that stems from the conflation of asexuality with the disorder, the earliest mentions of asexuality in scientific literature with Alfred Kinsey’s sexuality scale (1940’s) where asexuality was simply a category who did not fit on his scale, and a huge lack of scientific publications on asexuality from the time of Kinsey to 2004, making it easier for misdiagnosis of asexuality as HSDD.

Our orientation has been and continues to be pathologized [x]: This links directly to the HSDD Wikipedia article’s criticism section. The third bullet point under the “General” criticisms is the one of primary interest. This point states that the way in which HSDD was defined pre-DSM-5 pathologized asexuality because an asexual’s lack of sexual desire may not be maladaptive.

Asexuals have been put through corrective therapy 1 [x]: In this WordPress article, the author discusses their experience with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with regards to their grey-asexuality and how it was abusive. Their therapy consisted of being told that labelling themselves as grey-asexual was disordered thinking, thinking that they were asexual when they had a partner and sex was readily available to them was incorrect, and how this all led to them ending up self-isolating until they ended up in a psych hospital. The main take-away from this article is about the importance of finding a therapist who will not invalidate your identities and to stay safe within the mental health world as an asexual.

Asexuals have been put through corrective therapy 2 [x]: This blog post deals specifically with getting mental health treatment in South Korea as an asexual person. The author laments that there is no treatment available for your mental health as someone who is asexual, and that often, people will disregard or invalidate your orientation or gender if it isn’t one of the more mainstream ones.

Asexuals have been put through corrective therapy 3 [x]: This forum post from The Asexual Visibility & Education Network prompted asexual people to share corrective behaviours they’ve faced specifically for their asexuality. Along with discussions of corrective rape, coercion into sex to “fix” asexuality, and other invasions of personal boundaries, one member recounted an experience where a friend asked if there were medications they could be put on to “fix” their asexuality.

Asexuals have been put through corrective therapy 4 [x]: This Tumblr post details a form of corrective therapy that the author was put through by a counselor on the basis of being a sex-averse asexual. These forms of therapy include having sex until they liked it, having various tests done to determine what was wrong with them, and being prescribed many types of medications to “fix” the “problem”. Another person reblogged the post to add their experience with corrective therapy that involved their therapist implying that their asexuality may be caused by pain associated with their disability, or that it may be caused by repressed memories of sexual abuse.

Asexuals have been put through corrective therapy 5 [x]: This is a Reddit thread discussing the Everyday Feminism article “Why We Need Mental Healthcare Without Asexual Erasure”. A couple of people talk about their experiences needing to educate therapists on what asexuality even is. One person in particular states that all six of their former therapists have attributed their asexuality to depression, as well as struggling to find a gynaecologist to help with a chronic pain disorder associated with the vulva that was ace-friendly and didn’t focus on pain management being focused solely on sex.

Posts of people describing the hardship they’ve faced for their asexuality 14 [x]: This Tumblr post contains someone refuting the claim that coming out as asexual is easy because of the pathologization of asexuality. They state that they are having trouble getting medical treatment because doctors see asexuality as the problem that needs to be “fixed”. They also repeat statements of other asexuals about what they’ve faced for being asexual, such as being pressured to submit to electroshock therapy, being denied medication, and more.

Schools (in relation to sex-education):

Aphobes have asserted that asexuality should not be taught in school 1 [x]: This Tumblr post brought up that asexuality isn’t taught in schools, but should be - along with other sexualities. An aphobic person replied that asexuality should not be taught in health classes at schools, which is advocating for the continued institutional asexual oppression faced in school systems.

Aphobes have asserted that asexuality should not be taught in school 2 [x]: This Tumblr post brings up the question that if explicit descriptions of sex, genitalia, and vaginal birth, why would asexuality be too sexualizing to be brought up in a sex education class? An aphobic person replied that it would confuse “lgb” kids who haven’t yet felt sexual attraction, and will use asexuality as a way to internalize homophobia. It is pointed out, however, that teaching about asexuality would not promote that. And again, advocating keeping asexuality out of sex education programs with relation to orientation further ingrains institutional asexual oppression.

Aphobes have asserted that asexuality should not be taught in school 3 [x]: This Tumblr post discusses a reason why asexuality should be taught in health class; to help asexual teens to not feel like something is wrong with them. Aphobes continue to dismantle that reasoning by derailing and claiming that asexuality is of low priority compared to other orientations that should be discussed in health classes, while at the same time claiming that teaching about asexuality would actually be harmful, and again pushing to keep institutional asexual oppression in place.

Government Institutions:

The Spinster Movement, and how they were treated as queer [x]: This Tumblr post includes a rebuttal against asexuality being a queer identity. The rebuttal goes into detail about how the two ways people were labelled as queer were deviating from gender norms and not having hetero sex. This grouped people who would now be considered asexual in with those who are gay, lesbian, or multispec. A specific time in which what we would now consider asexuality was historically oppressed by governmental institutions was the Spinster Movement. Some highlights: Spinsters, who were women who did not have or want sex, were barred from teaching in schools, along with lesbian women because it was thought that they would destroy children and society. There was also a movement pushing to evict spinsters from Britain and send them to other countries (Canada, Australia, the US).

Things to Remember [x]

by @marigoldcrossing This is a small post that links to sources on a few different cases of asexual oppression. Again, most of these are forms of social oppression, and parts of it have been covered above, however there is one specific type of oppression that was not addressed before.

Employment:

Employment Discrimination Against The Asexual Community: A Growing Trend [x]: This article on The Asexual Visibility & Education Network website is more of a cautionary article than anything else. With the increased awareness of asexuality, there are going to be more openly identifying asexual people entering the workforce. With known bias against the asexual community, it is thought to be possible that asexuality will be discriminated against in hiring practices and within the workplace.

Was I Fired Because of My Asexuality? [x]: This WordPress article details the events leading up to the author being terminated from a job. They worked well as an employee at the restaurant that they were employed at. After a co-worker went into detail about her sex life, their boss was told that they “had a bad attitude”. After refuting that statement by telling their boss that their co-worker went into graphic detail, they were fired for lying. They theorize that this may be because of their sex-repulsion as an asexual who, while sex positive, is also repulsed. Their reaction to hearing graphic details about someone’s sex life may not have been receptive, and led to the read of them having a “bad attitude”.

An Untitled Post [x]

by @smalltalktorture (who I am unable to tag, but I will link to anyways), with contribution from @eriluvs This is not a post with many links, it is just the one Tumblr post. It is a first-hand account of personal discrimination and thoughts about how being out as asexual could affect you.

Employment and Housing:

The author of the original post details their boss finding one of their social media accounts and discovering that they are asexual. They bring up that, legally speaking, employers can’t fire an employee based on their orientation (or gender), however the fact that this does happen to people of other orientations, as well as overhearing that their boss was trying to find ways to make them leave their place of employment supports that being outed as asexual in some way can be a serious detriment to your career. Another Tumblr user brings up the Discrimination Against “Group X” (Asexuality) study [x] which shows results that indicate people are less likely to hire and rent to people if they found out that they are asexual. They also point out that, while many people claim you can avoid this occurring by simply not telling prospective employers or landlords that you’re asexual, being out in any form can lead to accidental outing, or for those people to happen upon the information without the asexual person telling them.

An Untitled Post [x]

by @intersex-ionality (who I am unable to tag, but I will link to anyways) This post deals mostly with how aspec exclusion is a form of, and stems from, respectability politics. Near the end of the very detailed post about what respectability politics are and how they are being applied in aspec exclusion, some links to outside sources are given, some of which deal with institutional forms of oppression.

Religious Institutions:

Asexual people face expulsion from their social and religious groups for coming out [x]: This Tumblr post details the issues faced by asexuals when they come out. Of particular interest is the reaction of religious friends, who claim that asexuality is caused by Satan, and that asexuals need saving from their orientation through embracing Christ.

Asexuality is considered invalid and sinful under western Christian doctrine [x]: This blog post was made by a feminist author who interviewed a married asexual woman for her book relating to Christianity beliefs about sex, faith, and politics. This post discusses how, though asexuality should, in theory, be the goal of those who are unmarried and Christian, but discussions of sexuality within Christian settings counter that, as there is the claim that everyone has sexual desire - and even further that God’s ideal for a married person is sexual desire expressed in marriage.

Their marriages can be dissolved [x]: This blog post discusses how the Catholic Church looks upon asexual marriage. The central part of Catholicism and marriage is that married people must procreate. Taking this to a further extreme, if the couple refuses to consummate the marriage, or even procreate, their marriage is invalid within the Catholic Church. There are exceptions made to this rule for those who cannot procreate for medical reasons, but the choice to have a sexless marriage, which may be the only form of marriage some asexuals are comfortable in, no such exception applies.

Healthcare/Mental Healthcare Institutions:

Asexual people are still actively pathologized by modern medicine [x]: This Tumblr post gives a brief discussion of how asexuality was classed as HSDD by the DSM until 2013. It is also stated that even though asexual people are exempt from diagnosis of HSDD if they identify their lack of sexual desire as part of their asexuality in the most current version of the DSM, this would require all people who are asexual to be familiar enough with the term to identify with it. With asexuality still being a rather invisible identity, an asexual person could be misdiagnosed as having HSDD.

It’s used as a valid reason to engage in conversion therapy instead of a chance to educate 1 [x]: The author of this Tumblr post takes the problems with the current version of the DSM further, in terms of identifying that some practitioners may not accept asexuality as a legitimate orientation and will still attempt to “fix” their lack of sexual attraction. These treatments may include hormone therapy and other forms of treatment through drug therapy to change the asexual’s orientation - which is considered to be a form of conversion therapy.

It’s used as a valid reason to engage in conversion therapy instead of a chance to educate 2 [x]: This Tumblr post is a rant about the lived experiences and individual struggles the author has faced because of their asexuality. This includes having been sent to conversion therapy as a young teen, which left them feeling broken and alone.

Is Asexuality a Perversion? [x]

This is a direct link to a Baptist Church forum.

It has been brought to my attention that this is a satire website. I am, however going to leave this here for two reasons:

1) It’s entirely possible for people to come across this website, not know that it’s a satire website, and take it as being an accurate statement of how these people and their religion perceive asexuality.

2) The forum post shows ways in which scripture can (and has been in some of the other sources) used to target asexuality along with other non-straight orientations.

The Comment Section: Nothing Bad Happens [x]

(For some reason I could not access the whole article via Google Chrome, however the archived version is fully available on Chrome if anyone experiences similar issues.) This is a link to a blog post about the problems with some claims against asexuality. In particular, it links to a section called “There are no laws against it. What rights are they fighting for?”. My main focus is the third paragraph under this heading. The entire article, as well as the full study linked at the beginning with “[Return to Overview]” are fantastically written, and I’d suggest reading them if you have the time.

Government Institutions:

The author of this article points out that laws exist preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, in certain states (as this is written by an American blogger) asexuality is not included under those orientations that cannot be legally discriminated against. This furthers the idea brought up earlier, that asexuals who are outed could be denied jobs by employers, house rentals from landlords, and the like. Also touched upon are consummation laws in regard to marriage, and that, how if an asexual negotiates with their partner to have a sexless marriage, it would not be considered a true marriage by law.

Is Asexuality a Sexual Orientation? Legal Definitions [x]

This is a link to a blog post that outlines how asexuality may not be covered under anti-discrimination laws as it is not always legally considered an orientation.

Government Institutions:

The author of this blog post very quickly states that, in the state of New York, asexuality is legally a sexual orientation, however the answer is either no or not as clear in other states. The only state that was found to explicitly include asexuality among sexual orientations in non-discrimination bills was New York. Considering that many bills define sexual orientation by giving a list, it can be unclear whether asexuality would legally be a sexual orientation, as it may be impossible to know unless a case was taken before a court in that state. As such, it could be the case that asexuals would not protected by these bills and could legally face discrimination for their orientation.

Inclusionist Masterpost [x]

by @socialjusticeichigo Another fantastic masterpost. This one is much more broad, including many different topics that inclusionists deal with. I’m, again, only going to pull out the parts relevant to this particular topic, but I’d suggest giving everything in this post a quick read through if you can.

Healthcare/Medical Healthcare Institutions:

About aphobia 1 [x]: Most of this Tumblr post deals more with social forms of discrimination and oppression. However, under the first heading of “Coming Out To Family, Friends, And Employers”, bullet points three and four detail how asexual people have been forced or threatened by their families to be brought to doctors or therapists to be “fixed”.

About a-spec rape, corrective rape, therapy, & conversion therapy 4 [x]: While the anonymous message posted in this Tumblr post does not detail any experience being through conversion therapy, they recount that their father planned to make them go to the doctor to be “fixed” when they came out as asexual. This may be more of a social form of oppression, but the fact that there are other accounts of forced medication and therapy to “fix” asexuality, this threat is far from empty and could have led to another victim of some form of conversion therapy.

About a-spec rape, corrective rape, therapy, & conversion therapy 6 [x]: This article details many different problems surrounding the lack of visibility of asexuality. In the opening anecdote, the author speaks on their experiences coming out to their therapist. Their therapist outright denied asexuality, and suggested treatment - specifically for depression - to “fix” the issue.

About the problem with flibanserin (’female viagra’) 1 [x]: This Tumblr post is dedicated specifically to the drug that was approved to treat HSDD. While the diagnostic criteria for HSDD in the DSM 5 is such that someone who self-identifies as asexual will not be diagnosed, as well as requiring distress or difficulties, it is noted that doctors will sometimes force incorrect diagnoses on patients.

About the problem with flibanserin (’female viagra’) 2 [x]: The author of this Tumblr post details their own feelings about the creation and subsequent approval of the medication, how it continues the pathologization of asexuality, and many other things not related to my particular topic, but that are still worth reading about.

Edits: 03/10/17 - Changed “Is Asexuality a Perversion?” section 06/10/17 - Added “Inclusionist Materpost” section

#ace discourse #reference #long post #very long post #as in a 7 and a half page word document long #asexuality

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dictacontrion · 7 years

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On the one hand, perhaps this will prevent any messages to the effect of “but Dicta, you’re overreacting, sympathy towards these two things don’t go together.”

On the other hand, this is the most appalling pile of garbage I’ve read in a good long while and needs to be taken apart with a fucking scalpel.

Milo is not evil any more than Draco in the books - Maybe, maybe not, but Milo is a real person whose actions affect real people, and his actions are therefore in an entirely different ethical category.

not everyone in the world is altruistic... - No, but the existence of bad behavior neither justifies nor excuses bad behavior.

...They are still seen as “good people” because they were on the side that won, the side that thinks itself morally superior. - No. They are seen as good people because they seek to decrease harm, rather than increasing harm.

Other peoples opinions do not hurt you, other peoples actions do. - Expressing an opinion is an action. Expressing an opinion that is intended to incite others to exclusion and violence is an action. Expressing the opinion, as Milo did, that people should “catcall at least five women” in celebration of “World Patriarchy Day,” is both an action and a call to action. Even in the United States, which takes one of the (if not the) world’s most hard-line positions on free speech, speech that is meant to incite people to harmful action (a la yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre, which will cause a stampede) can be restricted, precisely because the expression of ideas can cause harm.

You have nothing to fear from a calm discussion with someone you disagree with. - You do if that “calm discussion” is not, was never intended to be, an exchange. You do when it’s one-sided and broadcast to an audience who the speaker knows will act against you, as was the case in Milo’s criticism of Leslie Jones.

You do from anyone who gets angry when their point of view is challenged, because they are intolerant, they want to shut down discussion of a topic - Not all ideas ought to be tolerated. Free speech principles and laws mean that almost any idea can make its way into the world, but people are not obligated to, and should not, give them all equal consideration. As a society, we should not tolerate the idea that “Women are...screwing up the internet for men by invading every space we have online and ruining it with attention-seeking and a needy, demanding, touchy-feely form of modern feminism that quickly comes into conflict with men’s natural tendency to be boisterous, confrontational, and delightfully autistic” or that “all heads of diversity and indeed every employee of any diversity or equality department should be white men—the more privileged the better. After all only rich, well-educated, well-connected heterosexual white males have the required detachment and lack of emotional connection to the issues at hand to make the right calls.” Milo has the legal right to say these things. We might have something to fear from people who want to remove that legal right, but that is not and has never been part of this equation. He has, and there has been no attempt to abridge, his legal right to say just about whatever he wants. Those who disagree with him have a legal right to respond, as well as an ethical obligation to refute ideas that seek to impugn the worth, intelligence, politics, rationality, and agency of women, people of color, and non-neurotypical people. Of our fellow humans.

that is fascism, restriction of the free movement of ideas. - no. Fascism refers to a set of governing ideals that include legally sanctioned violence, legally sanctioned restrictions to freedom of movement and expression, total or near-total control of economic systems by the government, nationalistic ideals that rely on othering minorities in order to form a sense of national cohesion, and anti-liberal rejection of disagreement. Everything about this circumstance is the very opposite of fascism. Milo is legally allowed to say what he likes, where he likes, and to earn money from it however he likes. Other people are allowed to respond however they like, including by refuting his ideas, not listening to his ideas, working to restrict the available private venues in which he seeks to spread his ideas, and making it harder for him to earn money off of them. That interplay between speaker and audience, and the freedom of both sides to express what they believe constitutes acceptable public discourse, is completely consistent with democratic liberalism.

Someone like Milo, who is throwing opinions out there with jokes is not a bad person. - Neither opining nor joking makes someone a bad person. If your jokes consist, as Milo’s do, of calling someone “a typical example of a sort of thick-as-pig shit media Jew” or attending an anti-rape march with a sign that reads “Rape Culure and Harry Potter: Both Fantasy,” then you’re into bad person territory - the problem is not that someone tried to make a joke, but that that “joke” depends on devaluing, belittling, and hurting people.

To take that freedom away would be Fascism. If he and other people who think like him are prevented from sharing their ideas that is censorship. - No. You misunderstand the difference between public laws and private individuals or companies. If the government takes away freedoms of speech, expression, and movement, then it’s censorship and perhaps, depending on circumstance, one component of authoritarianism. If private companies, like twitter, refuse to give him a platform they are well within their rights to do so, because they are not bound by the same mandates as the government. If private individuals, individually or collectively, refute, protest, or refuse to listen to a set of ideas, that is itself a form of free expression. The ability of audiences to object to what Milo says is evidence of the absence of fascism or censorship.

if they want to hear him speak at a conference/buy his book/read his twitter they should be able to. At the moment they can’t. That to my mind is evil, it’s like living in China where people are censored because of their beliefs. - They can’t because a preponderance of people, including people on the political right, have agreed that his ideas are harmful, stupid, and intolerable, and have made it economically and reputationally non-viable for private venues to offer him a platform. That is the result of free expression and a free market responding to feedback from a bipartisan majority. That is how free market democracies work. Note, too, that people who want to hear his ideas can still seek them out easily and at low or no cost with a simple google search, and that he can continue to speak through whatever venues will have him. This, again, is exactly how free market democracies work.

Those principles [free speech and expression, minimal government interference, and democracy] are what have allowed gay rights, rights for women etc, because it was government restrictions that prevented these from occurring before. Government restrictions to women voting, government restrictions to marriage etc. It was the removal of these laws that allowed these freedoms of individual expression to occur. - This is so profoundly historically wrong that I am cringing on behalf of every teacher you’ve ever had. Unpacking this knot of wrongness would require explaining the difference between positive and negative liberty, the different between principles and the people who work to make them meaningful, different types of social movements, federalist government, international conventions and different country’s relationships to them, the interrelationship between representative and judicial branches of government, and the philosophical and legal history of both political and human rights, and frankly, I can’t fit those several semesters worth of lectures into a tumblr post. I can say, though, that you owe it to yourself, and to your fellow citizens, to do some reading or take some classes and learn how governments work.

#i am appalled #on so many levels #replies #sloanerangerharry #mlynnpls

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singwhenyoucantspeak · 7 years

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“With Wendi at my side, I felt I could be bold, unapologetic, free. To be so young and aiming to discover and assert myself alongside a best friend who mirrored me in her own identity instilled possibility in me. I could be me because I was not alone. The friendship I had with Wendi, though, is not the typical experience for most trans youth. Many are often the only trans person in a school or community, and most likely, when seeking support, they are the only trans person in LGBTQ spaces. To make matters worse, these support spaces often only address sexual orientation rather than a young person's gender identity, despite the all-encompassing acronym. Though trans youth seek community with cis gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer teens, they may have to educate their cis peers about what it means to be trans. When support and education for trans youth are absent, feelings of isolation and hopelessness can worsen. Coupled with families who might be intolerant and ill equipped to support a child, young trans people must deal with identity and body issues alone and in secret. The rise of social media and online resources has lessened the deafening isolation for trans people. If they have online access, trans people can find support and resources on YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, and various other platforms where trans folk of all ages are broadcasting their lives, journeys, and even social and medical transitions. Still, the fact remains that local trans inclusive support and positive media reflections of trans people are rare outside of major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. Recently, the media (from the New Yorker and the New York Times to ABC's 20/20 and Nightline) has focused its lens on trans youth. The typical portrait involves young people grappling with social transition at relatively young ages, as early as four, declaring that they're transgender and aiming to be welcomed in their communities and schools as their affirmed gender. As they reach puberty, these youth - with the support and resources of their welcoming families - undergo medical intervention under the expertise of an endocrinologist who may prescribe hormone-blocking medications that suppress puberty before graduating to cross-sex hormones and planning to undergo other gender affirmation surgeries. To be frank, these stories are best-case scenarios, situations I hope become the norm for every young trans person in our society. But race and class are not usually discussed in these positive media portraits, which go as far as erasing the presence of trans youth from low-income communities and/or communities of color. Not all trans people come of age in a supportive middle- and upper-middle-class homes, where parents have resources and access to knowledgeable and affordable health care that can cover expensive hormone-blocking medications and necessary surgeries. These best-case scenarios are not the reality for most trans people, regardless of age. Certainly, this was not the reality for Wendi and me or the girls and women we would soon cross paths with in Honolulu.”

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

I’ve been reading this book, and this passage really stuck out to me as important so i’m sharing it.

#janet mock #redefining realness #books #social justice #activism

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udaas93 · 7 years

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Please stop with the abuse

Stop this harassment, intolerance, and insults please.

Stop this vile groupthink mentality and bullying/slander over something harmless that goes on in EVERY single fandom. This type of ‘banning’ and bullying over rps in the Shadowhunters fandom would NOT be accepted within other fandoms. RPS is popular and has their free space on tumblr in every single fandom where a person can comment on chemistry, etc with every other pairing. The SH fandom wouldn’t want people to tweet so much about Shumdario or etc but people are abused and attacked so much on tumblr with actual violence/threats with people continuing to make up drama. Shumdario shipping should have had a safe zone on tumblr so people will feel less inclined to express themselves about it on twitter or instagram so the cast won’t see it. Grow up.

Notice the double standard where most Domberto shippers can make their fan blogs, post fan fiction on the Domberto tag, and have their fun on tumblr to an extent where this is not allowed for Shumdario. Obviously, people feel a certain threat to Matthew/Harry and it is so upsetting to witness this hypocrisy from this fandom. Even had somebody tell me that Matt wonders why Domberto is such a thing in this fandom but Shumdario isn’t. Celebs know what comes with the territory and have certain expectations. None of this garbage/harassment against rps would be tolerated in most other fandoms. Most of other fandoms don’t have this kind of hyper-policing when it comes to ships of any kind. Tumblr is supposed to be the safe space for that. The anti’s are making it worse. Nobody can make a single post about Matthew/Harry’s dynamic without adding ugly insults towards Shumdario shipping or bizarre warnings/threats. Matthew and Harry care about one another just like Dom/Alberto and many cast mates do. Dom and Alberto have both had amused reactions to the Domberto shipping. They are not homophobic or insecure about their sexuality/relationships. They would not let something basic like people shipping them ruin their friendship. Stop imposing your closedmindedness onto them and then harassing Shumdarios over it. Why are you so scared? These anti’s are making a lot of exaggerations/projections over persecution of other shippers in other fandoms.

Shumdarios are low key and do not break the 4th wall. Stop projecting your phobia, insecurities, and ugly immaturity on to the cast and other fans please. Shumdario should have been a source of enjoyment for this fandom but instead we have this vile stigma and endless bullying over it. Let people enjoy and perceive their dynamic the way they want to. Having the safe space on tumblr would actually decrease the amount of twitter/instagram posts about it. This is playing out the opposite way that it is supposed to. If the concern is breaking the 4th wall, then let Shumdario make their posts in peace on the Shumdario tag on tumblr so it won’t extend to other social media so it can be low key/less visible to the cast. Shipping is an inherent feeling, you can’t stop people from shipping or loving something.

People generally don’t act like it is ‘wrong’ or ‘crazy’ or ‘disgusting’ to ship two celebrities together for practically everything else. Like I said, rps goes on in every fandom. It is male/male pairings that tend to get this vile reaction only and I see this mainly only applied to Shumdario. This immaturity, intolerance, and misguided hyper-policing in this fandom sickens me.

I can’t tell you how many people secretly tell me in private that they agree with me but are afraid to reblog my posts about it because they are scared of big blogs attacking them or the SH fandom shunning them. I can’t tell you how many people tell me in private, that they low-key ship Shumdario but are hiding it due to bullying/the stigma from this fandom. People are even afraid of simply making gif-sets of moments between Harry and Matthew because inevitably people add their hateful remarks about Shumdario. This is so terrible. Not to mention, you are giving the impression to Matthew/Harry that anything homoerotic ( whether it be fantasy or reality) would not be tolerated for them. We used to get more interaction with them and Harry actually thinks people are against Shumdario or something. The anti’s are making it worse with this policing, abuse, and constant posts from big blogs where they LIE about drama that they ( the antis) actually started.

Shumdario shipping ( even if it is casual to the most minor degree gets the most nastiest reaction whether it be on tumblr or even youtube fan videos). The people in their twenties and thirties who have had experiences in so many fandoms are confounded by this selective sick stupidity from the SH fandom. I wish people would stop their vendetta against Shumdario and Malec as well.

All of this ugliness is triggering and awful. If you only knew…..

Then it is starting to extend to Malec as well where fans are so paranoid/immature that they demand that fans not ask Matthew or Harry questions about Malec in those facebook, twitter chats, and livestreams. They ignore the fact that Harry and especially Matthew love talking about Malec.

Good grief, stop referring to rps as “ fandom grossness” especially since Shumdario shipping barely exists due to this bullying/slanderous movement in the first place. People are respectful and it is very low key yet people are still paranoid, immature to make hate posts. Stop inserting your paranoia/bizarre insecurities regarding Shumdario onto Shumdario shippers or onto Harry or Matt.

Harry and Matt can’t interact without people fabricating drama and imposing their intolerant views. When they interact, people harass others with their anti-Shumdario shipping stance by creating a negative hysteria. If they don’t interact, people harass and blame the Shumdario shippers by making up drama. Real friends would not let shipping of any kind bother them or affect their dynamic. It is beyond insanity at this point. Apparently, Harry and Matt hanging out on New Years Eve is grounds for people to start up the abuse, ignorance, and threats regarding Shumdario shipping again.

I posted various disclaimers about Shumdario shipping. Most people do NOT break the 4th wall and stay in their lane but the anti’s are refusing to respect boundaries. This is literally the only fandom where I have witnessed this ignorant mentality dominate where people keep enabling this bullying. Instead of being happy about Shumdario bonding and hanging out, people are using this as a platform to start up the same ugliness again and again. ENOUGH!!!

Stop persecuting people and stop it with these kind of posts. Tumblr was supposed to be safe space for any kind of shipping especially RPS. Keeping it on tumblr and letting people have that safe space decreases the overlap of it into twitter or other sites so the cast won’t see it. Yet the bullying and restrictive attitude/hostility is so high on tumblr, we get the opposite happening. It is the anti’s who keep inciting negativity and ugliness.

There is a double standard regarding Shumdario and rps in any other fandom. Double standard between Shumdario versus Domberto or Sherdario, the people who ship Kat with Dom, Alberto,and Emeraude, and etc. It is because people are so threatened regarding Harry and Matthew.

I posted many posts on the Shumdario tag regarding this. Many people have been attacked, abused, and slandered unfairly over this. Stop making Shumdario a constant source of negativity for the cast and for other fans. Stop the bullying and vile generalizations. Stop this bizarre panic about Shumdario and shipping.

For the record, Harry and Matthew did their promo separately at NYCC 2016 because they paired off the downworlders separately ( Harry, Isaiah, and Alberto), while the Shadowhunters ( Emeraude, Dom, Matt, and Kat) were off doing separate interviews. Matt and Harry will do separate interviews from time to time especially if they do want to keep intrigue and suspense regarding Malec by not wanting to give too much away. They are not obligated to flaunt their bromance constantly in order to appease the people who have this bizarre paranoia with them. Either way, Shumdario shippers get attacked regardless of how much they interact. Either way, I see the antis’ keep projecting claims of homophobia or discomfort onto Harry regardless of him not showing any. Celebs know that people ship them with other celebrities including their friends and co-workers. Heck, I have seen celebrities be shipped with people they have not met or colleagues they are clearly are not even close to at all. What people ship has no direct bearing on their real life behavior. A person secure in their sexuality and real life relationship would not be flipping out on fans over shipping for pete’s sake. Grow up.

Stop making this is about harassing Shumdario shippers. Fans ship Domberto, Sherdario, and etc with pleasure and I have seen rps scattered across social media for all of the castmembers yet it is only Shumdario that gets this extremist reaction from people projecting their paranoias. It is also an ignorant projection and narrative to claim that rps was responsible for two cast mates not interacting as much as you want outside of work. Harry and Matthew are doing a con in Barcelona this Spring, just the two of them. Harry and Matthew have had nothing but flattered or amused reactions when they hear about Shumdario. They are not immature like some people in this fandom and selectively trying to erase or be abusive towards rps is not acceptable.

Stop projecting this immaturity, intolerance, and insecurities onto the cast and harassing other fans over it. In the majority of other fandoms, people get to have their safe space. Tumblr is supposed to be the secure spot for it in order to prevent people from breaking the 4th wall on social media.

#Shumdario #Hatthew

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task-modelcam-blog · 5 years

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How to Understand And Connect With GenZers Through Design?

Characteristics of Gen ZHow to Design for Gen Z

Other than making your brand look pretty, designs and graphics serve another, more important purpose: they allow your audience to connect with you. Why is this connection important? Because without it, there is no way your audience will give any of their precious attention (or money), especially if they are from the Gen Z cohort.

It is estimated that by 2020 40% of all consumers will be GenZers . This means that you need to start coming up with strategies that will work to woo the Gen Z crowd and you need to do it yesterday to still stay ahead of the game.

Although there’s no definite, universally accepted age range for Gen Z, most studies note that it starts somewhere in the mid-1990’s to early 2000’s. There are many characteristics that make GenZers stand apart from their older siblings; learning about these characteristics will help you figure out how to modify your designs for them.

They Are Not Millennials, But They are Influenced By Them

Many brands think that Gen Z is simply an extension of millennials. While there are some similarities between the two cohorts, GenZers are still in a league of their own; they didn’t have the rose-tinted views of the adult world that the millennials were misled into believing, they have seen the consequences of recession and live the horrors of extreme violence. This generation stands with their peers and against injustice, regardless of whether or not they’re facing it personally.

All this, however, comes to them through the influence of their millennial parents and siblings. Millennials have had to struggle their way through their adult life because of their previous generations and they tried their hardest to make sure that the future generations would not have to go through that. They fought for their rights and taught GenZers to use their voice, made sure that Gen Z knew exactly what the real world was like, and preached tolerance and acceptance. GenZers also look up to millennials for their courage, learn from their struggles, and take notes on how to survive adulthood.

They’re the True Digital Natives

Millennials were here for the technological, they’ve seen technology go from landlines and brick-sized phones to tablets and Wi-Fi. But GenZers are born into the digital world, they’ve had all the knowledge, entertainment, and news they want at the tip of their fingers since they’ve been toddlers. To them, social media platforms are not something you spend a few hours on and go on with your life, social media is an integral part of their lives; they use it to connect with the world, find out new things, share their lives, and voice out their opinions.

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They’re Not Tolerant, They’re Accepting

Millennials were a tolerant generation, probably the most tolerant. GenZers, however, are not. They don’t tolerate injustice, inequality, and exclusivity. They are, however, more accepting of other aspects like the LGBT community, women’s rights, different races, and other minorities. Along with this intolerance towards injustice and acceptance towards formerly “taboo” topics, they also know that they have a voice and know exactly how to use that to elicit action. A major example that perfectly illustrates this is the student-led March For Our Lives movement where students, teens, survivors of school shootings came together to ask for answers after consistent inaction from authorities.

They Know What They Want

You may think that, because GenZers are just teenagers or too young, they might lack direction, because that’s what the millennial teens were like; but that’s not true. You see, millennials were raised by baby boomers, the generation that had guaranteed jobs at the bare minimum educational qualification, fully paid for houses before they married, and in general, a good life as long as they were ready to work hard. This is what they taught their millennial kids: stay in school, get good grades, get a good job, and settle down. So millennials had an optimistic, but unrealistic, outlook on adulthood. This lead to millennials getting a major shock once they started looking for jobs because the economy had taken a massive hit during their school years; which they were not aware of.

But GenZers know better, they’ve seen their parents and older siblings struggle to make it in the real world, they’ve seen the effects of the Great Recession, they’ve lived the effects of 9/11, they stay connected to the world they will soon step foot in through social media. So they know what they’re in for, they know what they’ll have to face. They also know the consequences of not having a 5-, 10-, 20-year plan ready. This is why GenZers have a fixed plan for where they want their career to go and start preparing for it even before they’re out of school.

GenZers have a mindset that is unique to their generation. This means that the strategies you’ve been employing for so long, that worked so wonderfully for your millennial audience, will not work anymore. Here’s what will work.

1. Know Your Social Media

GenZers have many faces; they are fangirls and fanboys on Tumblr, they’re models and photographers on Instagram, they connect with their friends and family on Facebook and with celebrities on Twitter. The design styles they like on each of these platforms will vary as well; on Instagram, they’re all about aesthetics while on Tumblr and Twitter they promote artists (and memes, but mostly artists). Know all about each of these faces and figure out which one(s) you want to cater to.

2. Acknowledge Their Diversity

Gen Z is comprised of 47% ethnic minorities making them the most culturally diverse generation so far. To add to that, they are extremely protective of their peers and don’t think twice before standing up for them in times of crisis or injustice and work endlessly, ceaselessly to break all unfair barriers. Basically, they are a just a big, proud melting pot of culture, races, sexualities, and genders. Culture is not the only aspect where GenZers are diverse; even their hobbies and passions have the same level of diversity. The idiom “jack of all trades, master of none” is the best way to describe this generation of innovators, leaders, artists, academics, protectors, and entrepreneurs. It is vital that your designs show and, more importantly, celebrate this diversity.

3. Give Them the Control

GenZers are living in a world where a lot of things are happening that are simply out of their control; nothing is guaranteed, the economy is unstable, and mental stress is at an all time high. In such a scenario, these young, stressed out folks are looking for any sliver of control, and vehemently favor anybody that gives it to them, even if it’s in the form of a simple graphic or the design of a website. They prefer ad campaigns that let them co-create or control the narration or story, These people also like brands that let them vote for something to happen or choose an option on their own. That is why YouTube videos where YouTubers “let their fans run their life (mostly through Instagram Stories)” do so well. So, make sure you create designs that allow them to customize their experiences.

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4. Build a Cohesive But Dynamic Identity

Just as this generation diverse, their identity is dynamic; you will try and fail at finding one single picture that completely encompasses Gen Z. To match this, brands need to be consistent but flexible with their identity and voice. Try to have a fixed palette, logo design, typography, and feel to your designs, occasionally changing up the theme according to seasons, festivals, and trends. Like, for Christmas, you can have a snowy, Christmassy theme with Christmas-related decorations adorning your designs and graphics. This way, you can refresh your brand from time to time without your designs going stale or completely rebranding yourself.

5. Consider Functionality Along With Aesthetics

GenZers live a fast-paced life and need brands that will make this life of theirs easier, which means that they’re looking for convenience and efficiency. If they don’t see these two things in your brand, they will drop you and be very reluctant to pick you back up. This community of youngsters needs websites that work just as seamlessly on their smartphone as they do on desktops (it’s a bonus if you have a well-made app) and graphics that they can view regardless of what device they’re using, all packaged up in an aesthetically pleasing designs.

6. Use Designs to Showcase Your Values

Gen Z is big on values; if your values resonate with their beliefs, they’ll lend you their support without any hesitation. But don’t flaunt values that you don’t believe in just to get them to like you. If they find out — which they will, because they always do — that’s a quick one-way ticket to Banland in the GenZers Handbook for Brands.

7. Empower Them With Your Designs

Another thing GenZers are ‘big on’ is empowerment; from LGBT to Feminism to Gun Control, this entrepreneurial cohort passionately empower anything they deem worthy and deserving. If your designs promote personal growth and Gen Z’s capacity to shape their present and future, it will resonate with them, which will result in them sharing your creations and, eventually, follow you. They are also big fans of pushing boundaries and destroying barriers. This rings good news for you because you can experiment as much as possible; use bold colors, switch to pastel palettes, try different fonts, explore new facets of graphics. With Gen Z, you have a scope to exploit areas that were too risky for millennials and Gen X.

8. Serve Them Bite-sized Information

GenZers need designs that they can share with their social circle, graphics that they’ll want to share. These digital natives are used to flitting between multiple screens and have an incredibly small attention span thanks to that. They have the amazing ‘talent’ to read a book while catching up on their favorite TV shows and listening to the music by their cherished artists all at the same time and are quick to drop brands that can’t keep up with their pace. c

But an upside to this short attention span is that they are quick to decide if they like a brand (or post) or not. The trick here is to capture their attention within these few seconds. The easiest way to do that is to engage with them in their language; use short videos, simple graphics, and minimal text.

#Digital innovation #NGOs #Social Media #Business #technology #audience #donors #donation #Volunteers

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multigrainwheatthins-blog · 7 years

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Comm3P18 blog post 1:Oct. 5/’17

Hello, and welcome to my blog! I have had tumblr before, but I would only reblog other people’s content, and would very rarely make my own, so I am still trying to get the hang of this. I don’t know how to insert fun graphics or gifs into a text post, let alone a video, so for this first blog post, I will focus on just getting my ideas across textually. So far in this course, I have learned a lot, which might sound cliché, but it’s only been a month, and I found that the theories and concepts brought up in class are strikingly relatable, especially for me, a film major. Unless you are utterly alone wherever the movie is being played, you are experiencing the film with an audience. Even if you are alone, you can have meaningful experiences being an audience of one. Trust me, the ratio of me watching movies alone to watching movies with other people would be incredibly imbalanced. In lecture, Jennifer said that being an audience member is a temporary role, seeing as how we are not always in view of someone else, or around people all the time. We can’t follow all of the definitions and criteria of audiences every minute of every day. But I do think that we are in audiences a majority of the time. I find I am either always around my friends, my family, or my classmates. This can be at home, at the gym, on the bus, in a movie theatre; almost everywhere.

I liked when Jennifer defined an audience as having the chance to speak your mind and let your voice be heard. That got me thinking of what my friend told me about her experience on the bus the other day. She said she saw a guy on the bus who was wearing a red “make America great again” hat. She said she was confused because he didn’t look like a typical Trump supporter. That is to say that he is not a white male wearing slip-on Adidas or Nike flip flops with track pants, a hoodie, and hair slicked back in a flow. This made me think of a video I saw on Twitter recently of a girl who saw a boy wearing a “make America great again” hat at her school. I couldn’t tell if this was high school or college/university, but she walked straight up to him, grabbed the hat from his head, and tossed in the nearest garbage can. This made me happy to see, given how vehemently I hate Trump and all that she represents. So when my friend told me her story of seeing this guy with the same hat on, it made me think. I was wondering if I were on the same bus at the same time whether I would have done or said anything. Idealistically, yes, I would love to do something very similar. Probably snatch the hat from his head, open a window, and chuck it to the curb. The other people on the bus would be my audience, and this act would be my way of making my voice heard (even though I wouldn’t want to say anything). But realistically, I have no idea what I would do. I have social anxiety, so getting on the bus with a bunch of other people is already pretty nerve wracking for me, let alone seeing a proud Trump supporter on said bus. The audience of people on the bus would have affected my actions. Just because this guy is the only person openly wearing his support for Trump, doesn’t mean that there aren’t more Trump supporters on that very bus. If I had done something about that hat, who knows what the person in question would have done, and who knows what other people on the bus would have done. I feel as though a symbol of intolerance and injustice such as that shouldn’t be worn, let alone in such a casual, nonchalant way. Perhaps speaking to the individual first would make thing go more smoothly in this imaginary scenario I’ve created for myself, but if they’re already wearing that hat in public, it appears their mind is already made up, and they cannot really be reasoned with. The idea of this audience makes me want to speak my mind and show my resistance for such a repugnant individual and all the things they stand for, but not knowing what the repercussions would be would worry me.

Another thing about this situation that I was thinking about is the fact that this girl’s friend filmed her, and then posted to Twitter. I was thinking if I was on the same bus as my friend when she saw this hat, if I would’ve told her to film the interaction so I could post it on different social media platforms, thus sharing the experience with a completely different audience all together. What I would hope to happen is that people see it and maybe get a laugh out of it, but also see that in today’s society, especially with today’s youth being so incredibly politically conscious, that injustice simply won’t be tolerated. Someone shouldn’t think that they can just get on a form of public transportation, wearing such an infamous symbol of hate and prejudice, and not get at least a few head turns from it. I always try to help people and do what I feel is right, and nothing ignites that fire in me more than anything Trump related. I would hope that if this video and situation were real, and a video did of it did end up on social media, it would reach the audience that I myself am a part of: millennials and teenagers. I would hope they would take action against injustice in their own lives, however big or small the act. This is how audiences can be extremely important when it comes to social media and politics. News stories and videos can go viral and reach millions of people. Not only that, but it can inspire people to do good themselves, and then maybe intolerance can, you know, NOT be a thing anymore. All of this though came from one thing my friend saw, and me making an imaginary scenario in my head. You’re welcome.

Another recent experience was in the seminar for this class, in which I was facilitating. This was an interesting experience because I was both within and without the audience. I felt a lot like Nick from The Great Gatsby. I was without the audience because this week I was the one facilitating the seminar. I was more so responsible for getting other people in the class to talk than talking myself. Yes, my partner and I explained theories and topics brought up in lecture and in the readings, but for the most part, it was everyone contributing really great points about public opinion. My partner and I would give the class a prompt for discussion, and there would be at least 5-10 minutes of discussion for each topic. But if someone said something that sparked an idea in one of us, either agreeing or disagreeing, we would also share our thoughts, which would then create more class discussion. It was quite the paradox. It was very enjoyable however, to see everyone have such strong opinions on the topics that my partner and I raised. We made sure to bring up American politics as much as possible, not just because those topics are so prevalent in the news right now, but because no matter the person, chances are they have something to say. We talked about all of the natural disasters happening, and all the coverage that has been devoted to them in the media, but how little is being done by the American government. This was mentioned when we were talking about agenda setting and how the media wants to bring awareness to these victims and families, so they are making these stories their top priority. I found that when I am not facilitating a seminar, I am way less likely to talk or put my hand up. If I think I have a good point or an articulate answer, I will undoubtedly speak out, also because a lot of what people say in seminar is just other people’s ideas reworded. When we touched upon the spiral of silence, I knew everyone would have a story to tell. People were saying that they tend to stay silent when they know their friends have a different view on a topic than them. They said they do this for multiple reasons, some of which being that they don’t want to feel attacked or ganged up on when expressing their opinion. They also said that they can tell when a situation would end up turning into a losing fight, so they would rather just not start any unnecessary conflict in the first place. I was glad that the concepts and theories brought up in lecture made sense to everyone, and made enough sense that they were not only apply it to their own lives, but apply it to the world around them, and think critically about current world issues. This kind of audience experience I greatly enjoyed, because everyone was engaged in the material, and didn’t care if their opinion didn’t match someone else’s, therefore not being affected by the spiral of silence. I sometimes forget that not everyone thinks the same way I do, so when I think of a situation where I want to hold my tongue and stay quiet, some people see that as the perfect opportunity to speak up. To each their own, I guess.

These aforementioned examples are the only really recent audience experiences that I can think of that have made me think so deeply about what we have learned in lecture. Of course, we all have audience experiences every day, and as I’m typing this I’ve probably had so many that I can’t even count just from today. But the ones I talked about made me think about how I would react in certain situations, with a specific type of audience being present, how different acts reach and effect certain audiences, specifically through social media, and got me thinking about the way people handle themselves in seminar. The latter of which is something I’ll now think about all the time, given that I will be having seminars for the next couple of years.

This blog post is definitely not the best, but I also have no idea how to work it. I promise I will try to get better and write about experiences that are more engaging, and fun to read about. But for my first entry, I hope this wasn’t too bad. If it is, I will just crawl comfortably into my little spiral of silence and never make my voice heard.

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untioko · 7 years

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I Am Proud

For a long time now, about seven years ago I decided to place myself into the Republican party because I realized that were the party of the American people, and as an American, my already innate ideals, morals and thoughts are heavily reflected in the Republican party.

As soon as I began to mention that I stand with America, and for America, the so-called friends I had, and ex-boyfriend became loud, and hostile. They, as have many other, (I realized they were all democrats) people on social media had differing opinions that they wanted to shove down my throat by any means necessary.

The very news media Americans are supposed to be able to trust to not be biased were chanting the same things that average and radical democrats would. If I had a different opinion, if I still do, I am ostracized for it.

None of them would listen to my side of the story. They were all confident that they were right, that they knew everything, and that I was definitely wrong. This made me more reserved, I suppose, continually getting shut down by people who, as Americans, are supposed to listen to me, and then if they still do not agree, debate with me on even grounds.

It did not take me long at all to realize that all the democrats I encountered were intolerant, and hostile. The news media, democrats, and every television and movie tell me the opposite-that republicans are intolerant and hostile. But I have almost never seen that claim to be true. Even on social media, I still see republicans gutted and skinned alive for daring to have a different opinion then the "rest of civilized society."

The democrats would complain that they were just "so oppressed" at the top of their lungs, and yet, they were the only ones allowed to speak at all! For if a republican tried to speak, they were crucified on the spot. Verbally, and sometimes physically maimed.

At rally's, the republicans were a rather peaceful sort. Democrats would storm in, start throwing punches, and then the media would blame the republicans for the violence. I could not understand why I was hearing what I was hearing, how distorted the truth was becoming.

The only oppressed people in America seem to be republicans, and conservatives of all races, and nationalities. We come in all colors and are of most known races, contrary to popular belief. Gay republicans exist too, yet even they are harshly persecuted for not being "truly gay" or for being "stupid". The black republicans are targeted heavily as well for being "a traitor". And I just have to wonder why are only white people "allowed" or "supposed" to be republican?

When being republican is the same as being an American, and supporting America and what She stands for, I see no reason why republicans are labeled "the party of old white men" because I see republicans as Americans and we are all diverse, as mentioned.

And as Americans we damn well deserved to be heard just as much as a democrat deserves to be heard. What the hell is wrong with colleges, talk show hosts and other public-speaking platforms who do not allow republicans to have a voice!?

That is exactly why the republican party is the party of Americans. In America, we have freedom of speech. Tomi Lahren, for example, a beautiful, calm, reserved conservative invited democrats on to here stage to tell their side of the story. I have yet to personally see democrats extend that offer to republicans and mean it. Tomi did the right thing. The American thing.

If republicans were so intolerant, why did Tomi allow Jazz to speak on her stage?

In either case, I have long felt a certain amount of shame in being a republican, because of how we are treated. I have even been scared to admit this for varying reasons, most of which democrats are violent! I also know a lot of public schools blatantly discriminate against republicans. Schools will go out of their way to hire a democrat over a republican and if a teacher reveals herself or himself to be a republican, the school often fires him or her! That's absolutely insane and horrifying.

In America, we are supposed to thrive on opposing ideas, different, unique voices, not shut down nor discriminated against. In a school setting, it is absolutely vital that children be exposed to different view points. Why is the view point of the republican so banned? We do not and never have condoned violence. Some republicans may own guns, but all of the mass shootings have been performed by either Muslims or democrats.

Most violence is committed by democrats anyways as a rule. So why should they solely be allowed to teach America's future children? I know not all democrats are violent. My ex-boyfriend, as stupid and ignorant as he is, and how democratic he is, I still do not think he would hurt anyone. But he's the exception, not the rule.

And look, I do not hate anyone, no matter what their party affiliation is...I just think it's high time that republicans be allowed to speak, and teach children if they have the proper credentials and pass necessary background checks.

At my college, a wonderful, nice woman who was a secretary in the front was fired because she is religious-she wore a cross around her neck, I think. She never spoke about religion at school, by the way, but, yet, she was "let go." And that happened at a small town college. Imagine a big city!

Well, to get to the point, I was snooping about Tumblr yesterday and I found three people who are republicans...and who are PROUD to be republicans...and they are inspiring people, even if one of them is ignorantly pro-choice. I was, well, thrilled to find other people outside of the family who are proud to be a republican.

And while I may still keep my republican opinions to myself at college (I don't want to be shanked) I have decided to shake the shame off. I am who I am, and I know I believe in America and what it stands for. I know I am not wrong. I will at least from now on have pride that I made the right choice all of those years ago, despite how every outside force screamed at me that I was wrong.

After all, I rose above the sheep who all think the same. I am one of the enlightened few, and am glad about that.

So at least on Facebook I am, for better or worse, officially coming out of the closet and saying I am a proud republican.

I'd like to thank my family for pointing me in the right direction. I needed that push. Otherwise I would have blindly listened to the sheeple. I'd also like to thank Mariska a true friend who listens to all of my inane ranting. I'd like to point out that she is not even an American and yet she listens to what I have to say so what is a democrats excuse for not hearing a republican out, I wonder. If someone not of American origin can hear me out, democrats should definitely be able to listen too. Now, maybe she does not agree with me on all of my American ideals. That's okay. I've never faulted her for disagreeing with me. We talk about controversial topics like the adults we are. I state my opinion. She states hers. We talk about it. We don't shut the other out. Republicans and democrats need to be more like us. Listen. Talk. Hear. Sympathize. We don't always have to agree. We can always agree to disagree. That said, I'll say it again, thank you Mariska. I hope our friendship lasts. I really appreciate you as a friend. You're intelligent. Thoughtful. Creative. I do, I like talking to you.

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