#decriminalize survival

[short-serketing]

The people I've seen who're upset that Louis was made a pimp in the Interview With The Vampire TV adaption because they feel it is terribly out of character for our dear, brooding, gentleman vampire are sending me into orbit thanks to the propulsive force of my rolling eyes.

BOOK LOUIS OWNED HUMAN BEINGS AND FORCED THEM TO WORK ON HIS INDIGO PLANTATION, GIRLIES, C'MON

Him being a brothel owner/manager is a change, yes, but the writers are clearly exchanging his canonical participation in one disgusting system of human exploitation (slavery) for another (prostitution).

Some people have likely forgotten things as the book originally came out in 1976 and they may have last read it anywhere from a year to forty seven years ago, and his slave owning ends fairly quickly into the first book, but the point still stands.

#to be clear we love and support sex workers in this house (support decriminalization) #and that includes acknowledging survival sex workers who only got into it because they had no other options #I'm just tired of seeing people express the shallowest reasons for dismissing the show #it's valid not to like it but IMO its phenomenal #nearly every change they made big and small were good decisions #interview with the vampire #iwtv #amc iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #louis de pointe du lac #louis iwtv #the vampire chronicles #anne rice

[queen-mabs-revenge]

van helsing, shop steward: dracula may have all manner of infernal powers, but guess what everyone...

#dracula daily #re: dracula #september 30 #man was *organizing* wHEW #Youtube #no but listen to me. #'we have on our side power of combination - a power denied to the vampire kind' #HI THERE. #the combination acts of 1799 1824 and 1825 criminalising worker unions #the employers and workman act of 1875 decriminalizing unionization (ish) #i know stoker v much not a socialist sympathiser #but like hello look at the history of the time in which the book was written #clearly the material conditions of the time are v much buzzing around the way he's writing.... #capita---uhhhhhhh vampirism is an international system of predation and undeath #it can survive as long as it feasts on the life force of the worki---uhhhhhhh humans #but if we strike! .....with a wooden stake ofc lmao it can be defeated! #hahaha sorry whatever about bram stoker's actual politics #the spectre that is haunting europe grabbed him by the throat for van helsing's speech today

[trans-axolotl]

US Harm Reduction Resources

continually updating, not a complete list. feel free to add on any resources you find helpful.

Free Safer Supplies:

Each organization will have different supplies, but generally, harm reduction orgs provide things like syringes, safer snorting + smoking kits, Narcan, condoms, lube, and wound care supplies. Each org has different policies for how to get supplies--some do deliveries, some have drop in centers, some only do one to one needle exchange, some are more flexible.

Next Distro: mail based syringe provider for certain states. Also mails free Narcan.

NASEN: national map of syringe providers

a lot of harm reduction collectives aren't going to have their information listed on big national websites--it's always worth searching "harm reduction in my area" and seeing what's around you. Even if you don't live in a big city, there might be a harm reduction organization in your state that can help you find someone closer to you. there's a lot of rad people doing underground work who want to be there to help you who aren't as easy to find online. If there's street medic collectives, mutual aid groups or groups like Food not Bombs in your area, you can ask people in them who might know where to find harm reduction services in your area!

Drug Users Unions:

Drug users unions are activist groups made for people who use drugs, by people who use drugs! Drug users unions do advocacy work to end criminalization, as well as providing vital community support. Many drug users unions are also inclusive of sex workers and work to decriminalize sex work as well. You can search for "drug users union" in your state.

Urban Survivors Union: National, has resources for creating drug users union

Chosen Few: Drug users union for Black drug users in DC

San Francisco Drug users union

Sex Work Advocacy Groups:

Organizations that do decrim advocacy and provide support for sex workers.

Sex Worker Outreach Project USA- National, has chapters in many states.

Black Sex Worker Collective

Sex Workers Project

How to Use Safely:

Guides, videos, toolkits for safer use!

Harm Reduction Coalition Resource Library

Getting Off Right: A Safety Manual for Injection Drug Users

Safer Crack Smoking

Safer Snorting

Safer Hormone Injection

Levels of Risk: Veins

Wound Care video w/ ASL

How to Use Fentanyl Test Strips

DanceSafe-testing kits, including reagent testing kits!

Erowid-shares experiences people have with different drugs, dosages, what things to expect

Bluelight- another forum for discussing experiences with drugs.

Drug Interactions Checker

Sex Work Resources:

Tricks of the Trade by L. Synn Stern: tips for street based sex work

A Quick and Dirty Sex Worker Safety Toolkit

Girls Do What they Have to Do To Survive by YWEP

Dis/Organizing: How We Build Collectives Beyond Institutions by Rachel Kuo & Lorelei Lee

Tryst Blog

Hotlines:

Never Use Alone: 877-696-1996. Overdose Prevention Hotline--Volunteers stay on the phone with you while you use and call emergency services if you overdose.

HIPS Hotline-​​​1 [phone]. Emotional support for drug users and sex workers. Does not work with cops.

feel free to add on more resources. love + lube <3

#personal #harm reduction #sw #sex work is work #safer use

[soberscientistlife]

Decriminalize survival

[nerdygaymormon]

Berlin had become the “gay capital of the world,” a city with a booming queer nightlife scene and the center of new academic ideas calling for greater acceptance of homosexuality and gender non-conformity.

To the Nazis, homosexuality represented a “threat” to the “Aryan” race’s survival that needed to be stamped out. Although male homosexual activity had been technically illegal in Germany since the 19th century, it was generally tolerated and even celebrated prior to Adolf Hitler’s ascension to power in 1933.

The Nazis began their anti-queer purges by targeting clubs, societies and Magnus Hirschfield’s renowned sexology research institute, burning the books in its library. Decades of pioneering work and community life had been erased.

By 1935, Paragraph 175 of the German penal code was revised to include a harsher sentence and criminalize virtually any kind of male same-sex intimacy.

Between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 100,000 men were arrested for violating Nazi Germany’s law against homosexuality, and of these, approximately 50,000 were sentenced to prison. An estimated 5,000 to 15,000 men were sent to concentration camps on similar charges.

In the concentration camps, they were subjected to barbaric tortures, including sexual abuse, castration and medical experiments. The other prisoners also ostracized them. Overall prospects for gay prisoners were poor: an estimated 65% died, and an unknown, albeit likely disproportionate number committed suicide.

As the Allies swept through Europe to victory over the Nazi regime in early 1945, hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners were liberated. The Allied Military Government of Germany repealed countless laws and decrees, but left unchanged the 1935 Nazi revision of Paragraph 175.

For the queer survivors of Nazi oppression, 1945 did not bring about any kind of liberation; rather, it marked the beginning of a systematic process of persecution and willful suppression—one that would result in their erasure from the pages of popular history.

Under the Allied occupation, homosexual concentration camp survivors were forced to serve out their terms of imprisonment regardless of time served in the concentration camps. They were easy to identify because in the concentration camps they had an upside-down pink triangle sewn to their clothes.

After the war, Jews, children, and political prisoners could apply for financial and moral support from the new German governments (a.k.a. reparations), homosexual men could not. Similarly, gay survivors were not allowed to collect a pension for the time they spent working in the concentration camps while other survivors could.

The Nazi version of Paragraph 175 remained on the books of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) until the law was revised in 1969 to decriminalize homosexual relations between men over the age of 21. This resulted in the arrest of around 100,000 gay men between 1945 and 1969. Paragraph 175 itself would only be entirely removed from the penal code in 1994, following Germany’s reunification.

Advocacy groups successfully rallied for the creation of memorials, and the German Bundestag finally voted to pardon and compensate the victims of Paragraph 175 in 2017, a meager and all-too-late offer of justice as most of the victims were long dead.

The Nazi-era oppression of queer women and intersex individuals has been overshadowed due to a combination of homophobia and sexism. Lesbian women, for instance, may not have been systematically persecuted under the Third Reich, as Paragraph 175 only targeted gay men, but that did not deter the Nazis from shutting down their clubs or arresting them for “anti-sociality,” deeming them “morally unsound,” labeling them as “lesbisch” (lesbian) political dissidents and sending them to concentration camps.

For years, LGBTQ organizations were ignored and even shunned from Holocaust commemorations. The gathering of their stories was not considered important. The suppression of the Holocaust’s queer voices remains a stain that lingers on to this day.

#queer history #scary how fast things changed #from gay capital of world to concentration camps #never forget #long post

[0dotexe]

Huge W for Mexico for decriminalizing abortion across the entire country especially since a lot of border towns rely on medical tourism to survive. I'm expecting a lot of US citizens are going to cross the border for their reproductive rights very soon.

Viva Mexico bitches.

#exe talkz #normal mode #Mexico #abortion #abortion rights #reproductive rights #This doesn't mean it's legal everywhere yet but it's getting there - this ruling is basically Mexico's Roe #From what I understand - US residents are already using Mexico as a vector to get aborion medication #Anyways huge W for Mexico - even though abortion has been legal in most of the country for a while now

[w3mb13r]

here is my list of stuff that happened in 2023 so far (some good, most bad)

- zombie drug that rots people’s skin and brains

- trump released a song

- tennessee criminalized crossdressing

- tennessee decriminalized crossdressing

- willow project

- marjorie taylor greene wants a national divorce and says democrats are “genociding” republicans

- fraggle rock made nfts

- wienermobile’s catalytic converter got stolen

- PETA offered to replace catalytic converter only if oscar mayer only sells vegan hotdogs from now on

- teen moms making their babies vape

- woman falsely claiming to be madeleine mccann

- felix cipher claiming to be hitler (HE IS GAY AND HAS A JEWISH MOM), getting kicked out of art school (a second time??), made his ex touch his “bullet wound” 😭😭

- walgreens refusing to sell abortion pills in over 20 states

- arresting women who miscarry

- january 6th offenders let out of prison

- chinese spy balloons flying over north america

- all the kanye stuff idfk

- some guy survived 31 days in the amazon rainforest just by eating worms

- trump arrested

- hasbro had pinkertons raid a youtuber’s home because THEY accidentally sent him a copy of magic the gathering cards too early

- trans healthcare being banned across multiple states

- muppets mayhem :)

- disney sues desantis for “don’t say gay” law — disney may move out of florida

- elon musk has an alt twitter account in which he role plays as his 2 year old son and comments stuff like “do you like japanese girls?” and “i wish i was old enough to go to nightclubs.”

- colleen video

- coke in the white house

- businesses can legally discriminate against gay people

- trump doxxed obama 💀💀

- trump moaning during speech?? 😭😭

- oceangate

- elon musk vs. mark zuckerberg (cage match/twitter fight/literal dick measuring contest??)

- grimace shake

- barbie movie

- across the spiderverse

it is july 10th. what the actual fuck ⁉️⁉️

#2023 #wack shit #elon vs zuck #oceangate #fraggle rock #trump news #grimace shake #atsv #trans rights #gay rights #womens rights #wienermobile #felix cipher #jan 6th #fuck kanye #colleen ballinger #muppets mayhem #muppets #barbie

[tg-headcanons]

Thinking about ghouls as farmers/farmhands

I imagine that some types of kagune would be excellent for harvesting/ploughing with a nice bonus of no carbon emissions. I imagine ghouls, after criminalisation, would possibly even revolutionise farming/carbon footprint from farming?

(Although of course ideally a farm wouldnt till but even then for harvesting ghouls would be quite efficient.)

GHOULS IN FARMING AND FOOD PRODUCTION IS SO INTERESTING

Ghouls have always been a part of society, and regardless of where they are or how accepted they are, they’ve always had some hand in farming since, especially before industrialization, it was a good field for them. Their strength, senses, and kagune make them fantastic at cultivating, protecting, and harvesting food

In old world cultures where ghouls were always ostracized, they couldn’t be open about why their crops grew so well, so they tended to make up myths and stories about some ritual or another that makes their harvests so bountiful. They had senses of smell and pressure detection that could help them sniff out blights and pests, as well as semi-accurately predict rainfall, letting them handle issues before they got too bad. That, and their strength that lets them handle the physical task of planting and harvesting, helped them produce a lot of plants. But telling humans how they did it is off the table, so it was common for them to have a plowing Ox just for show and to say they said some prayer that helped

A lot of why ghouls thrived in farming is due to their regeneration. It may not be talked about much anymore, but it is DANGEROUS. Not just the modern machinery, but the strain of lifting and carrying. The illnesses carried by plants and animals. The workhorses and oxen that can just fucking kick you to death. The PIGS. It’s all risky work, and back before antibiotics, just one cut and you’re done for. A person who can not only survive almost any cut, but take a donkey kick to the face and get right back up to finish plowing the field is one of the most valuable people any farming village can have

Farming animals is more hit or Miss, because a lot of prey animals panic when they smell ghoul. Some ghouls still kept them and after enough time, or enough animals born around the smell of them, they could get used to it. Historically ghouls have run a lot of butcher shops because it was one of the best places to hide human meat before dna testing became widely available, so some animal husbandry skill was a good thing

Ghouls tended to make good shepherds. In especially rural areas, a lot of humans would collectively decide not to talk about the fact that someone is obviously a monster because they’re simply so fast and strong and don’t let sheep and cattle go missing or get hunted. If you were in Cold Ass Nowhere Ireland in 1635 and you had a shepherd who not only never loses a sheep but also eats the English, you’d pretend you didn’t notice either

In areas and cultures where ghouls were more accepted, they were essential to hunting and farming. North and central american ghouls had traits designed for taking down megafauna to supplement their diets, and their human companions could depend on them to bring countless Buffalo and deer home. Jungle subspecies had traits built for climbing, and were central to the harvest of high growing fruits and beans. A now likely extinct species native to Canada had semi aquatic adaptations and a thick layer of fat who were designed to hunt seals and small whales, and shaped the way any community lucky enough to have some survived. In places where ghouls were welcomed, they were so efficient at harvesting and hunting that land rarely needed to be developed for monocultures at all

When ghouls are decriminalized in more parts of the world, their physical abilities are allowed to shine again. Stories of ghoul farmers through history arise. Plenty of American and Polynesian communities (who had been telling people about ghoul’s contributions to their land and cultures for years and were having that brushed off as myth) can legally reintroduce the old practices of ghoul hunting and harvesting techniques. Smaller farms hire more ghouls once it’s clear that they can do machine level work without the expense of maintaining machines, and it’s one of the biggest ghoul hiring fields at the start of their legalization

Naturally, ghoul farming unions are quick to form. They can do machine level work, but are not going to risk being treated like machines for it. As with any Union there’s some backlash, but when it becomes apparent just how much better ghouls are at crop maintenance and harvesting, demands are met. It’s become a well paying profession, and has been good work for ghouls that struggle with the human grade education they were denied when they were younger, or ghouls who simply prefer to work outside doing something that benefits people

#tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul headcanon

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Can I print and slap your Decriminalize Survival design?

So 2 things

1) not my design, one of the very very rare times I reposted another photo. I wish I could draw like that!! The actual artist is from the NH mutual aid relief fund

But 2) Unless you are making a profit off of a design crediting the artist typically is enough. I'm just kinda having flashbacks when I was worried someone from WTNV was going to come after me for making my mom a printed shirt. I think having a credit to the fund would totally be enough

#solarpunk #art #ive been sweating over this for a bit tbh #asks

[c4nonball]

i am a former camgirl. when people say sex work is work and should be legal they are not advocating for women to be forced into it or saying its a great job and that people love doing it. what i want is for it to be decriminalized and destigmatized for the people who are stuck here, because this is a realistic and simple short term goal. this would also allow for it to be regulated and come into the light so pimps could not take advantage and people in sex work could have legal recourse that wouldnt necessarily cause them to lose their livelihood if they came forward about abuse in the industry. advocating for it to be illegal just adds to all the shame and guilt and stigma that people already face and makes it easier for pimps and johns to continue abusing and taking advantage and makes it harder for the workers to self advocate and completely impossible to unionize.

I think you misunderstand why some people want sex-work, using your term, to be illegal. We’re all anti capitalists here, we understand that within the system it’s a dog eat dog world and that people often need to do anything to survive and no one who’s against ‘sex work’ who’s worth their salt is shaming or belittling any woman who had to do it to survive.

We blame capitalism for putting a woman in a position where selling her body is the only way to get by. We oppose the fact that we live in a world where a woman’s body has been so commodified that selling it to other men is what she has to do to survive. There’s a reason most people in ‘sex-work’ are women, there’s a reason most sex buyers are men. If it weren’t for the patriarchal world we live in where a women’s worth lies solely in her desirability by men and services she can provide to men, this line of ‘work’ would not exist. Sex work cannot exist without the misogyny that feeds it.

Studies have shown that countries where prostitution is legal have higher percentages of human trafficking. With it being legal, the men running the industry, and it is men running the industry, have more leg room to exploit women who are struggling to feed themselves and their families. It being legal does not mean more women will want to join the industry, but it does mean more men will demand sex and the only way to meet this demand is through human trafficking. Germany, one of the places in the world where prostitution is legal, has the highest percentage of sex trafficked women and children in Europe and it only keeps rising. The men who buy sex are more likely to commit rape and have less empathy for women as a whole. Most women want to LEAVE prostitution, but have no other option so are forced to stay.

Legalising it does not reduce the abuse that happens in the industry, it multiplies it.

There are ways to support women in prostitution outside of legalising the industry that only abuses and impoverishes them further. The energy should be put towards a better housing system, better programs for the poor, shelters for homeless women that have been trafficked or are vulnerable to being coerced into prostitution. That is what will make the lives of these women safe and happy, not prostitution, legal or otherwise.

#anti prostitution

[queer-history-archive]

Polari

What is Polari?

Polari is an argot, a method of communication more complex than slang, but not quite a stand-alone language. It was used from approximately 1910-1950 in England, and until the 1980s in Australia by queer men and drag queens working around the law. There were many, many dialects, even a singular city such as London could have three or four separate styles.

Where did Polari come from?

Cant

Thieves' Cant is an anti-language with roots in the 1500s, used primarily in England by beggars, criminals, Romani people, queer people, and anyone else from the large swaths of people who had reason to avoid the police. (x) It was commonly believed that Cant developed from Romany, but modern research shows Romany and Cant to be distinct. (x)

The name derives from the Latin word "canto", "to sing", referencing the sing-song way beggars spoke. (x)

Because of its nature, we have little to no record of any actual translations. Today, it is used in some DnD games and TV shows for added immersion.

Parlyaree

Later on, to distinguish themselves from the Romani people, other travelling entertainment companies developed their own argot. (x)

Fairground Parlyaree, also known as backslang, became a marker of cultural outliers, although it was quite group-specific and only the core vocabulary stayed the same. (x)

Cockney Rhyming Slang

Polari also took vocabulary from Cockney Rhyming Slang, where words are replaced with a rhyming equivalent (Adam and Eve = believe, as in "would you Adam and Eve it?"). (x)

This slang was used by the poorest classes of London, so it is no surprise that it melted into what would become Polari. (x)

Other Influences

Polari borrowed heavily from Yiddish, Romanian, French, and Italian because of its history and origins.

When did Polari become Queer?

The argot was used by many different groups, from fishermen, to travelling entertainers, to actors, and navy vets from the 1800s on, but when it was repopularized by drag queens in the 1910s and 20s, it was used primarily by the queer community.

Why did Polari fall out of use?

There are three main reasons this happened.

Firstly, in 1967, homosexuality was decriminalized in England, and so Polari was no longer necessary.

Secondly, a radio show called "Round the Horn" (1965-1968), which featured two gay men speaking to each other in Parlyarlee, was discovered by non-queer audiences, and the "code" was largely cracked. Although it was true that because of the variation there was no way listeners would understand every dialect, the base vocabulary was so similar that a passer-by would be able to clock Polari and out the person.

Thirdly, Polari comprised of a lot of bigoted slang and language. This discouraged many involved in the civil rights movement (and of course many people of those marginalized groups) from keeping up with the argot.

However, a few words, such as camp, butch, and fish, have survived and are still used in queer and drag communities.

Additional viewing:

(x, x, x, x, x, x, x)

#polari #gay #queer #drag queen #queer history #gay history #language history #etymology

[trans-axolotl]

What is harm reduction outreach? I saw you mention it in a post.

Sure!

So I do outreach through an org in my city that provides harm reduction services to people who use drugs and sex workers. We have specific areas of the city that we go to on specific days, and also do deliveries. We also do at least one overnight shift a week to be able to better provide services to sex workers. For outreach, we hand out safer use supplies including needles, sharps bins, tourniquets, cookers, sterile water, stems, Narcan, fentanyl test strips, condoms, lube, bad date sheets, wound care supplies, food, water, etc. We also try to help provide people referrals to services like HIV and Hep C care, share what resources in the city are trans friendly and how to navigate social services with the least bullshit, and also provide peer support and harm reduction education to help people have all the information they need to make choices, and help reduce risk.

It's really important to us that we are not acting like exploitative nonprofits that come in, hoard resources, and expect people to be grateful. outreach is pretty much done entirely by people who are also drug users and sex workers. We are also really involved in local advocacy--we participate in a decriminalization campaign, a drug users union, and a sex work advocacy coalition. and i think nonprofits and government attempts to coopt harm reduction are so fucked up and actively harmful--you can't do harm reduction without also fighting to abolish the oppressive systems that are targeting drug users and sex workers. we have a lot of ties to the community that we're doing harm reduction in--for most of us it just is our community + neighborhoods lmao, and we make sure that we're always getting feedback, respecting autonomy and consent, and building mutual relationships. we've been around for a while and do have a lot of community trust, but we always want to be making sure we're respecting what people want and need instead of coming in with ideas about what services + supplies they want.

anyway. harm reduction is so fucking important to me and it's not just like, something i do to like, build my resume or to try to "save people." i'm a former sex worker and when i first started doing sex work, i didn't have any information, community, or access to anything that would have helped me to be able to work safer. it fucked me up pretty bad and i survived a lot of violence. i wish so fucking badly i had all those things, and it's super important to me to try to build community, care for each other, resist fucked up systems and protect each other.

#asks #harm reduction #can you tell how annoyed i am rn at like. people calling things 'harm reduction that isn't fucking harm reduction #gov and nonprofits are so into trying to like. coopt harm reduction and use harm reduction language #but are so fuckign coercive. so cruel. only into providing services on their terms #and not into actually meeting people where they're at. #i'm soooo fucking done with it! i'm done!!!! #sw #there's been a lot of people who want to get involved bc they come in with a mindset that they're saving people #and like that they're doing it for their career. or whatever. #and it has been happening more lately and i'm so annoyed #like i've met some ppl who are involved in harm reductiona nd don't have any lived experience who r great. who really listen and #we trust them! but so many ppl don't give enough of a fuck to learn first. and come in and expect to be treated like an expert

[genderkoolaid]

TBH it's just. very interesting reading the SWERF response to that post because they all seem to be coming from the idea that I think sex work is empowering and awesome. So they clearly did not read my post and just saw that I am against SWERFs and assumed I must think prostitution is the world's greatest career.

Like... yes. Sex work is often done by poor, desperate women with no other choice. The same can be said for dangerous physical labor and poor, desperate men. I agree that sex work is highly entangled with misogyny.

But regardless of the nature of work, if that is their only choice, taking away that choice as an option... isn't going to magically improve their life. If someone literally cannot get any other job but sex work, banning them from sex work isn't going to suddenly open up other options. It's just going to make their life that much harder.

And like I said in the tags, it seems like their ultimate trump card for why sex work bad is "paying for sex makes it coercive and therefore rape!!"

Which, again, how is that any different from physical labor? We literally have the concept of "wage slavery", so this isn't untrodden ground. If I have no other option but to take whatever manual labor job I can, which results in severe damage to my body and drains me emotionally, all because I literally have no other choice to prevent myself from homelessness and starvation... am I really choosing to work? Can I really consent?

And ultimately, I think that's a different question from legality. Whether or not any worker under capitalism can truly consent to their work when the alternative is poverty and death is a more philosophical question. If you go up to an undocumented immigrant who takes whatever job they can and say "you know, you can't actually consent, so this job is really slavery and that's awful! I'm gonna try and make this illegal, to save you!" Their response would probably be that they don't particularly care if they ~can't truly consent~ since making their job illegal would fucking kill them. The vast majority of poor workers don't give a shit about philosophical debates over if consent is possible under capitalism, they care about whether or not they get paid enough money to not die.

Banning sex work isn't going to get rid of it. It's just going to make it harder for sex workers to be protected. Sex worker unions and sex work activists generally push for decriminalization, to allow sex workers full control over their work without the state controlling them. Whether or not you think they can truly consent doesn't matter, what matters is making sure they have full autonomy, that they have the money they need to survive, and that they are able to get help when they need it. Your solution may feel morally better but practically, does it actually help people? Or do you have deeply rooted beliefs about sex and sex work that you refuse to critically analyze?

#m. #whorephobia #99% of their rhetoric hinges on the idea that sex is uniquely damaging #which is a take which is born out of sexphobia #and the denial other workers trauma and pain from their forms of labor

[onecornerface]

Should we avoid talking about race? Some ideas

I recently saw a comment which basically said drug reformists shouldn’t talk about race and racism too much, since this topic is so divisive. I’ve long had mixed feelings toward this sort of view. There is a real problem in a lot of race discourse. However, I think the solution is to develop knowledge and skills of why and when to talk about race (and why and when not to), and to become good at how we talk about race.

(I’ll be using “race” and “racism” roughly interchangeably in this post. I assume race will typically be significant (when it is) because racism is significant. And I assume that racism is, in some important sense, conceptually prior to race.)

(My concern here is mainly the idea of avoiding race in drug policy discourse. However, some aspects of my post will apply more generally as well. Also, by "taboo" I mean basically avoiding a topic, and encouraging other people to avoid a topic. This can come in different kinds and degrees, which I haven't much delved into here.)

There are a few ways to interpret the “race is divisive” claim. On one construal, the problem is that there are a lot of racists who will be alienated by any talk of race (for racist reasons), and that we should try not to alienate them. I actually think effective coalitions do need some degree of tolerance toward some amount of bad ideas or prejudice among its members, or prospective members—but there is the question of how much is too much. How much tolerance should we express toward bad ideas and attitudes, and how bad do they need to be? If we’re supposed to simply maximize recruitment of explicit racists into the drug reform movement, and never challenge their racism, then that’s a recipe for a serious rise in racism within the movement—a disaster that would probably sabotage the movement, as well as render it unworthy of victory.

A healthy movement needs to appeal to and recruit people who are imperfect—but also aim to make them better. If we’re being divisive by excluding unrepentant white supremacists from the movement, then that’s a point in favor of being divisive.

Some responses to the “race discourse is too divisive” line seem to stop there. However, I think there are more reasonable and nuanced versions of the “race discourse is too divisive” position which need more careful attention.

I think race is a topic that often is divisive in bad ways, and it is often discussed poorly—even when all participants are more-or-less progressive and opposed to anything they’d recognize as white supremacism. When race is brought up, many people are quick to weigh in on it—often with views and arguments that are poorly thought out, and even more poorly expressed. Race is a magnet for poor-quality discourse. This is likely especially the case for white people, but is also often the case for people of all races. (For analysis of some of the poor ways white people often talk about race, see Liam Bright’s “White Psychodrama.”) People can easily misunderstand one another, get angry at one another, and weaken coalitions which can’t survive the ensuing disagreements. One way to avert this problem may be to avoid talking much about race.

Sometimes this avoidance may not be very costly, compared to the poor-quality race-discourse that would otherwise happen. Race-discourse can be poor-quality in many ways. For one, race-discourse is often hostage to empirically questionable theories, such as popular oversimplistic interpretations of implicit bias. Sometimes high-quality race-discourse may require sophisticated theories and frameworks and arguments, which very few people have access to.

Applying the concern to drug policy, another problem is when people are oversimplistic in their normative analysis of what’s wrong with the drug war. Some progressives appear to talk as if racism is the only or main problem with drug prohibition. For instance, some arguments for decriminalization emphasize the racial disparities in arrest above all else. But this can’t be correct. Drug prohibition would still be terrible even if it were able to target drug users of all races equally. If the police drastically escalated how many white people they arrested for drug crimes, then some of the popular concerns about the drug war’s racial disparities would go out the window—but this would be worse, not better.

Progressives also sometimes criticize the history of the drug war in oversimplistic ways—such as by mistakenly believing the 1980s anti-crack laws were only motivated by racist white politicians, and failing to recognize the complex role of black anti-drug advocates among political leaders and the black general public.

If we talk about race in drug policy discourse, it needs to be done in a better way, and in light of more normatively and empirically adequate analysis. But this can only be done by talking about race—not by avoiding talk of race.

I’m also not necessarily averse to the idea that there are some topics which we should avoid talking about much in some political advocacy contexts, in order to maintain coalitions and good discursive environments and efficient activism, even when these topics are somewhat important in themselves. Not every topic, and not even every important topic, can be discussed at all times. There is reason to self-consciously maintain and promote some priorities of topics, and sometimes the “divisiveness” of a given topic can be a legitimate reason to discourage bringing it up or emphasizing it.

However, any such principle needs to be calibrated to the importance of the topic, and the costs of tabooing the topic. Race is objectively very important, including to drug policy analysis and reform, and there needs to be high-quality integration of race-discourse and drug policy discourse to recognize this importance. Racism is a major component of drug prohibition, in at least three ways—its causes (e.g. why drugs were criminalized), its structure (e.g. which drugs are illegal and in what ways), and its outcomes (e.g. how people of color are far more criminalized than white people, even for the same actions). If we taboo talking about race, we put many aspects of drug policy off-limits to discussion. This is very costly to the quality of the resulting analysis.

There are other costs as well. A taboo on race-discourse, in effect, creates racial discrimination within the movement—concerning whose testimony and experience will be considered legitimate to discuss, respect, support, and learn from. Many nonwhite drug users have long been targeted by the drug war in overtly or subtly racist ways, and have a lot to say about what they’ve been through. Surely they should be permitted to discuss their experiences every bit as much as a white drug user. Making race off-limits would prohibit many nonwhite testimonies while allowing white testimonies—thus making nonwhite drug users a second-class group, even in what is supposed to be a movement of liberation for them. This is perverse and unjust.

The notion that “We shouldn’t talk about race, because it’s too divisive” also seems self-defeating. Yes, talking about race is often divisive. But then, the view that we shouldn’t talk about race is also divisive! Many people, rightly or wrongly, think we should talk about race. Why should the people who will be alienated by race-discourse get a veto over the interests of people who will be alienated by tabooing race-discourse?

Relatedly, once people have started talking about race (for better or for worse), then you can no longer get people to stop talking about race by saying “Talking about race is too divisive.” Such a statement, if you make one, will then just be one more divisive statement about race. And it will likely incite people to start a hostile debate—the very thing which the race-discourse taboo was supposed to prevent. A taboo on race-discourse may only be effective in conditions where not much race-discourse has started already.

Also, there may be some antiracism advocates who want to taboo talking about drugs, on the grounds that drugs-discourse is too divisive. I haven’t seen this, but it seems plausible that there are some people who hold this view. (I speculate, even if this used to be common, it may be rare today. Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” and a few other popular antiracism-oriented critiques of the drug war probably helped normalize drugs-discourse among antiracism advocates.) Yet surely, at least by the lights of drug reformists, such a view should be rejected.

There may also be a collective action problem of discourse ethics and strategy, in this vicinity. Liam Bright argues that there are problems with trying to enforce “message discipline.” See his post “There Will Be No Message Discipline.” A taboo on race discourse may be a problematic form of message discipline, and thus suffer from the problems Bright raises.

There is another weird irony in the notion that we shouldn’t talk about race because it’s too “divisive.” This seems quite close to the stereotypical woke leftwinger who insists we shouldn’t talk about XYZ (even though XYZ is important) on the grounds that XYZ is too “offensive.”

I thought left-wing political correctness was bad, on the grounds that it bars people from making true and epistemically-justified assertions about important topics, for the sake of merely not-offending some potential audience of oversensitive people? I actually agree that some left-wing political correctness is bad in this way. But then, this also means that tabooing an important topic such as race, in order to avoid offending oversensitive people, may be bad for similar reasons.

I note that there are at least two possible views which can lead someone to oppose talking about race. One view is the notion that race/racism is objectively not very important. The other view is the notion that race/racism IS objectively very important, but that we shouldn’t discuss it anyway, since discussing it is too divisive.

In addition to the anti-nonwhite discriminatory element I noted earlier, the race-discourse taboo has another potentially pernicious element. It can easily be used by someone who really holds the “racism is not important” view, so as to pretend to hold the “racism is important but too divisive” view. This seems costly as well.

So, what should we do? Maybe we should be cautious not to talk about race unless we have good reasons to talk about it, and have something worthwhile to say about it. This seems a reasonable presumption. However, this presumption would also apply to many sensitive topics, not only race. Moreover, it is defeasible, when someone has valuable things to say on the topic, or has a good enough chance of saying something valuable. Placing too much weight on a presumption against race-discourse may also prevent many important contributions from making their way into the conversation—which in turn will impoverish our common knowledge about race, at potentially severe cost. On the epistemic benefits of norms favoring speech on potentially upsetting topics, see Hrishikesh Joshi’s book Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind.

There may be room for good-faith disagreements on the role of racism in drug policy injustice. Some libertarians think government overreach and authoritarianism are more the core problems of drug prohibition, and that the racism element is more secondary. Some leftists may make reasonable “class-first” arguments that a lot of what we construe as racism, or even a lot of the badness of drug prohibition more broadly, is more an aspect of class oppression. Arguably, we should discuss class more and discuss racism less (or even drug policy less), simply because class has more explanatory value and/or class-based interventions may have more promise in activism. I’m not convinced this is true, but it is at least a more defensible notion than saying either that racism isn't important, or that racism is important but that we shouldn’t talk about it.

[lemccr]

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Homelessness in Gotham, Gone?

An article by Julia Remarque

Earlier today Jason Todd-Wayne gave a speech about the future of the Martha Wayne Foundation and the proactive stance they plan to take on the rise in homelessness in Gotham and how their plan to address it in a city-wide campaign about the 8 key issues facing the houseless community in Gotham. They project that they can drastically decrease the number from Over 5,000 people in the next three years with this plan. 

“The issues facing the low-income and homeless community are complex and multifaceted. Some of the most significant issues include:

Lack of affordable housing: One of the main causes of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. This can be due to high housing costs, low wages, and a shortage of available rental units.

Poverty: Homelessness is often a symptom of poverty. People living in poverty may not be able to afford housing, food, and other basic necessities.

Mental health and substance abuse: Many homeless individuals struggle with mental health issues and substance abuse. These issues can make it difficult for them to maintain stable housing and employment. We are equipping all employees at Wayne Enterprises with Harm Reduction and Suicide prevention training, additionally, we will expand this training through the community centers currently under construction. 

Physical health problems: Homelessness can lead to poor physical health due to lack of access to healthcare, poor living conditions, fear and Joker toxin inhalation, and exposure to the elements. By opening three more clinics that offer a “pay what you can” model those who are in need of healthcare are not limited by the lack of insurance and are instead supported in this critical need. 

Lack of support systems: Many homeless individuals may not have access to family or community support systems, making it harder for them to find and maintain stable housing. We plan to address this with the opening of community centers that offer job training, free counseling, and places to gather without the threat of the elements. 

Lack of access to education, job opportunities, and social services: Homelessness can make it difficult to access education, job opportunities, and social services, which can make it harder for homeless individuals to improve their situations. Each of the community centers that we are funding will have food banks as a part of the services that they offer, this can help families eliminate the decision between paying the rent or starving, in addition to providing food security to those without homes. 

Criminalization of homelessness:  Gotham criminalizes activities such as sleeping or camping in public spaces, panhandling, and loitering, which can make it harder for homeless people to survive. We want to address the legislature around this issue to decriminalize the struggle to survive and provide criminal record erasure as part of this new legislature for non-violent offenders. This is not only penalizing someone in their struggle but also prevents them from access to safe housing and many jobs because of the criminal record this creates.

Villain attacks: Villains such as Scarecrow, Joker, and the Penguin cause homelessness with the destruction of property and further plague them with chemical attacks that they are now more vulnerable to due to exposure to the elements. We will have mobile response units equipped with first aid, the latest anti-toxin, and water available within every five-block radius of an attack. Additionally, we will be providing self-defense training in our community centers to prevent more people from becoming the next victim statistic. 

It's important to remember that homelessness is a complex issue and requires a multi-faceted approach to address it effectively. But above all, each person suffering from homelessness is worthy of dignity and respect. It is the promise of the Martha Wayne Foundation to treat every individual who walks through their doors with human decency, a hot meal if they need it, and a listening ear. Alone we are unable to meet the needs of the community, but together, hand in hand we can see a better future for a better Gotham.”

Readers, if like myself, after reading this article you are asking yourself “How can I help with the community outreach program” Here are five easy ways you can become involved.  

Donate money or goods to local shelters or organizations that provide services to the homeless. 

Volunteering at a homeless shelter or one of the Community Centers. This can be done with your friends, family, or even just yourself. 

Supporting policy changes that address the root causes of homelessness, such as lack of affordable housing and access to healthcare and mental health services.

Educating oneself about the issues facing the homeless community’s issues and sharing that knowledge with others to raise awareness and inspire action.

Getting trained in Harm Reduction, First Aid, and Suicide Prevention through the Martha Wayne Foundation. 

If we all take one small step in the right direction in helping the basic needs of our community to be met, maybe one day there will be no more need for vigilantes, but instead, a force of everyday Gothamites equipped to address the needs of their Neighbors, Friends, Family, and Coworkers in ways that prevent more lives lost. 

I am left wondering if this boy from Gotham’s Streets will rise to the challenge or go like those who have tried and failed before, burnt out in the days, weeks, and years to come.

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[thepro-lifemovement]

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