You know the drill. In order to provide a much-needed dose of warm fuzzies to the blog and combat Gender Warrior On The Internet Does Nothing In Real Life Syndrome, here’s the weekly thread about what people have done for gender egalitarianism or social justice this week.
This can be anything, no matter how big or small. “Came out to my parents” counts; so does “gave twenty bucks to RAINN,” “wrote a letter to my congressperson,” “smiled at some guy with his kids,” “marched in a Slutwalk/Pride parade,” or “asked my friend not to tell rape jokes.” Or something else I haven’t thought of!
Positive comments on other people’s comments are encouraged. However, anything that criticizes what another person did will be deleted. This is the warmfuzzies thread, remember?
Wrote an email to the NCADV and their manipulative use of statistics….no answer yet
http://feck-blog.blogspot.com/2011/07/dan-griffin-certainly-isnt-gentleman.html
Lots of laughter…kind of depressing, but people used to laugh at pickaninnies in movies of yore, so maybe things will change for the better.
Worse. The “maneater” was the worst kind of sexual predator and had the genders been reversed, people would be screaming bloody murder. The prison rape jokes were in terrible taste and suggested that getting raped meant you were desirable. It’s too bad, because otherwise, the movie was pretty entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny.
I saw “Horrible Bosses” with my sweetie and was appalled, even though I was warned here. I wrote a letter of complaint to Time Warner and enclosed my ticket stub.
(Slightly late because I haven’t been able to check The Internets since the weekend.) On Saturday I was at a birthday party for my 2-year-old nephew and my 4-year-old niece. They each had piles of presents, and when it came time for them to open them I noticed that all of my nephew’s gifts were very much “boy toys”: cars, trucks (to be fair Tonka trucks are his favorite things, so these gifts weren’t so much gendered as catered to the kid himself), things with camoflage, and the like. Everything my niece got was pink and either Barbie or DIsney… Read more »
Started volunteering at a low-income health clinic known for being friendly to trans folk. This is a thread that makes me happy 🙂
I expect my contributions to these threads to be somewhat repetitive, however… On Wednesday I helped deliver drumming workshops to two groups of primary-school children. That evening we had our regular band practice – kids, “teens”, then “adult”. (“Teens” means eleven-ish to eighteen-years old. “Adult” includes the “teens” and sometimes even younger if they want to take part.) On Thursday evening the “adult” band opened the village festival of a small coastal community not far from my home town in the North East of Scotland. We went down a storm – one of the best receptions we’ve ever had. On… Read more »
@GudEnough possibly, and there’s something problematic about summing up persistent sexual advances with “he was gay”. But I’m not sure me going into full-on lecture mode would have done anything, and gentle teasing at least conveyed my distaste for the idea that “gay” was a reason to drop someone as a friend.
And then he further clarified that the problem was that the friend hadn’t taken “sorry, not interested” as an answer. At which point, my sympathies flipped, because “no” means back off with the hitting-on.
Sounds like he was trying to think of an excuse that would satisfy you.
I had an interesting conversation today. Someone on the internet mentioned how they were friends with someone ’till they found out he was gay, and I called him on that (“dude, what the fuck, who cares”). Said person then clarified that the problem was his friend had hit on him, and so I called him on *that* too (“I get hit on by a bunch of guys I don’t wanna bang all the time, never bothered me”). And then he further clarified that the problem was that the friend hadn’t taken “sorry, not interested” as an answer. At which point,… Read more »
Was a hermit much of this week, so no major things. But I had a kickass dream about being a (male) student at a VERY progressive school that let people use the locker rooms of their self-identified genders, and gave a very satisfying verbal smackdown to a dude in the locker room who dared to suggest that the trans boys a few lockers down weren’t boys. (I am often a man in my dreams, I don’t know why).
I signed up for a volunteer project through my employer (I usually take part when I’m able). We’ll be laying mulch, painting and revitalizing a homeless shelter.
Signed my publication (The Multiracial Activist) onto some more coalition efforts.
I continued to moderate at Pandora’s Aquarium (rape survivor forum) and began to work on my presentation on 7/15 in DC regarding sexual violence.
Walked in the Houston Slutwalk yesterday.
Small…but…pointed out to a group of male co-workers who were
making fun of the wrinkles in each other’s shirts and joking that ironing is so much easier for women, that there isn’t any inherently female-only trait you need in order to be able to iron clothes. You just need a working arm, an ironing board, and an iron.
also can I just say thank you to ozy for giving us all the chance to have the warm fuzzies over other people doing such awesome and wonderful things for others?
I got today off afterall! yah! anyway, as I talked about in another thread I started volunteering at one of the local no kill animal shelter’s this week. The problem of animals in shelters is, in my mind, intrinsically linked to the kyriarchy and therefore something which needs to get some attention from a source that does not do so for economic gain, or in a manner which is exploitative of other people (such as PITA’s activism usually is)
@concerned contributors: Aw, no worries. Someone else’s awesome doesn’t diminish mine. 😉
Organized a tai chi push hands group that turned out to include men and women, Asian, Latino, and white, across a wide range of ages. Everyone had a great time, planning to come back next week. One lady will be bringing a falun gong DVD her relatives in China turned her on to, which will be a nice look at a different style.
@Tobias and @TitForTat: You guys are awesome too, DMB didn’t mean to leave you out. 😛
Even though I never pay attention to sports, I have been doing my best go keep up with the Women’s World Cup. I’ve been trying to work into conversations, so that women’s sports can get a some more respect. Heard a Chris Brown song on the radio. Changed the channel. I really wish the RIAA had taken him off the radio. You know they could have pressured Jive to drop him. What a message that would have sent. Introduced someone to NSWATM. She was a gender egalitarian who thought MRA’s had some good points, but didn’t understand why they were… Read more »
I suggested my stepson write a top 10 list in regards to familial expectations he has. He wrote one in less than a day, pretty impressive. I also helped my daughter write an email to her estranged mother(tough stuff).
I finished up the outline for a presentation (plus accompanying PowerPoints) on LGBTQI kids’ rights. Feelin’ pretty good about that, especially since mine is the only one I’ve ever seen that includes trans kids in a meaningful way.