A few quick thoughts on community and change.
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The Spirit Was...: Help Support Egyptt! Please Signal Boost
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Dear Friends & Community,
We are writing to let you know of a community member who needs support after going through a major health crisis. Many of you know Egyptt, a long time activist and advocate for low income, trans communities of color.
Egyptt was…via thespiritwas➜ -
Venn diagram
One circle: “Visibly Trans”
Another: “Feeling Attractive”
Goal: realize there is overlap, make a home there
Still working on this. I was reminded today when a friend kept obsessing about ‘passing’, not for safety or for her own feeling of presence, but because she has learned that validation comes through being an object of desire.
via smartassjen➜ -
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I’m not sure how to say this without sounding some variation of stops along the spectrum from whiny to self-martyring, from over-sharing to cagey, except to state the facts of my situation and admit I need help.
On Thursday night I nearly passed out, while at home, and then slept for nearly the next 40 hours. This happens about once a year, and has been happening for many years. I over commit myself, keep up an untenable pace, and then collapse. Along the way, all that I’m involved in gets less attention than deserved, meaning my family, friendships, work, and activism suffer along with me.The only time I feel comfortable slowing down is when the choice to do so is taken away, when I simply don’t have the capacity to do anything productive. Whenever I’m not accomplishing something, I feel what I can only describe as shame. Some part of me even believes that my stating this is just a way of hiding how lazy and self-indulgent I truly am.
This is simply another variation of self-harm, one without the visible scars, an addiction further fueled by the alternating respect or sympathy of peers. It hurts me, and since the quality of my work is never full, it hurts that which I care about.
I recently caught myself say that I’d be okay if I dropped dead in a few years because I’ll have done what I wanted to do. I meant it, but I’m disturbed that I did. And I’m increasingly suspicious that my rational justifications for such an attitude are not rooted in love or joy.
I don’t know what to do to change yet, just that I have to. Now.
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98% of the *4t ads on Craig’s List are in “casual encounters”. Because all we are to people in that space are potential fucks, an experiment, a side trip to earn kink cred.
The few posts in the “miscellaneous romance” section are where people, generally men, at least claim to want a relationship.
But even here, the encounter is casually framed in such a way to reinforce the fundamentally sexual dynamic.
Or does most guys announce their dick size when trying to date cis women too?
via wtftransdating➜ -
➜If owning a gun and knowing how to use it worked, the military would be the safest place for a woman. It’s not.
If women covering up their bodies worked, Afghanistan would have a lower rate of sexual assault than Polynesia. It doesn’t.
If not drinking alcohol worked, children would not be raped. They are.
If your advice to a woman to avoid rape is to be the most modestly dressed, soberest and first to go home, you may as well add “so the rapist will choose someone else”.
If your response to hearing a woman has been raped is “she didn’t have to go to that bar/nightclub/party” you are saying that you want bars, nightclubs and parties to have no women in them. Unless you want the women to show up, but wear kaftans and drink orange juice. Good luck selling either of those options to your friends.
Or you could just be honest and say that you don’t want less rape, you want (even) less prosecution of rapists.A Short Post on Rape Prevention (via brute-reason)
Exactly.
Be honest: You don’t give a shit about rape victims.
You don’t fucking care.
You make excuses for the rapists all the damn time.
This is about policing women’s bodies and telling them to just ‘shut up and stop complaining about your rape because you deserved it’
(via sourcedumal)
(via cleverbutmental)
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ASSIGNED SEX: A DOCUMENTARY FILM by Shaun Dawson — Kickstarter
Hey.
So this is a movie about transgender people, that has (from the images) at least 4/5 of the main people as TPoC (and 3/5 are Black).
Let’s boost the fuck out of this and see if we can’t get them the money for this doc.
I am eager to support this project in any way I can. Check it out and give and boost and listen.
(via meyllendjneres)
via biyuti➜ -
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I don’t really care if you think of gender as a performative, as long as you acknowledge that any given actor is going to be better suited to some roles rather than others.
That is, this “performance” is far richer, deeper, nuanced, and comfortable than my previous one, and therefore ultimately more satisfying to both me and my “audience”.
Enjoy the show.
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![janetmock:
I recently picked up some in-flight reading material, which included Jet magazine’s latest issue (April 29, 2013) - a special report on the invisibility of missing black children.
While reading, I was stunned to see that the news section of the magazine not only covered trans folks and restroom use, but also a story from a 29-year-old trans woman of color named Brandy Ahzionae.
In the one-page profile (on page 15), Brandy opens up about her journey towards womanhood, about having to leave home due to a lack of acceptance of her gender, about “turn[ing] to the streets,” about using drugs and partying as a means to cope and about daring to survive this hostile world by engaging in the sex trade.
“My life shifted when I met a group of fellow tarns sisters who provided love I’d never felt before,” Brandi says. “They made me feel comfortable about fully transitioning.”
Never underestimate the transformative power of sisterhood. We need more spaces dedicated to collective growth, learning and pro-sisterhood intent.
To have this story featured in a legendary black publication, one read by many black households, is a feat. When our stories are told not only in “mainstream press” (which is way far behind) and by the “LGbt mainstream” (which is also failing us and trans and queer folk of color miserably), but in the publications read by communities of color, true acceptance and growth occurs.
We hear often about the violent exiling of trans women of color, we hear about our vulnerability when it comes to HIV/AIDS, homelessness, sex work and sex trade, lack of employment, housing, shelter and education. But what we do not hear often is the stories and the voices of black trans women like Brandi, like Kiara St. James and Tanya Walker and numerous other sisters of color. My voice, Laverne Cox’s voice, Isis King’s voice is not enough.
I applaud you, my dear sister Brandi, for daring to be seen, for sharing your story with all of us, for carrying the torch and legacy of active resistance and survival that trans women of color have long uplifted. I also applaud the editors of Jet for recognizing Brandi’s resilience and brilliance - and embracing trans women as your sisters and daughters too.
Now we must call on the rest of our communities to do this embracing work and ignite change for all of our sisters.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/df676b6e0d9de260d404f66a9f2cb8e0/tumblr_mlx629OIY51qdr8lwo1_400.jpg)
I recently picked up some in-flight reading material, which included Jet magazine’s latest issue (April 29, 2013) - a special report on the invisibility of missing black children.
While reading, I was stunned to see that the news section of the magazine not only covered trans folks and restroom use, but also a story from a 29-year-old trans woman of color named Brandy Ahzionae.
In the one-page profile (on page 15), Brandy opens up about her journey towards womanhood, about having to leave home due to a lack of acceptance of her gender, about “turn[ing] to the streets,” about using drugs and partying as a means to cope and about daring to survive this hostile world by engaging in the sex trade.
“My life shifted when I met a group of fellow tarns sisters who provided love I’d never felt before,” Brandi says. “They made me feel comfortable about fully transitioning.”
Never underestimate the transformative power of sisterhood. We need more spaces dedicated to collective growth, learning and pro-sisterhood intent.
To have this story featured in a legendary black publication, one read by many black households, is a feat. When our stories are told not only in “mainstream press” (which is way far behind) and by the “LGbt mainstream” (which is also failing us and trans and queer folk of color miserably), but in the publications read by communities of color, true acceptance and growth occurs.
We hear often about the violent exiling of trans women of color, we hear about our vulnerability when it comes to HIV/AIDS, homelessness, sex work and sex trade, lack of employment, housing, shelter and education. But what we do not hear often is the stories and the voices of black trans women like Brandi, like Kiara St. James and Tanya Walker and numerous other sisters of color. My voice, Laverne Cox’s voice, Isis King’s voice is not enough.
I applaud you, my dear sister Brandi, for daring to be seen, for sharing your story with all of us, for carrying the torch and legacy of active resistance and survival that trans women of color have long uplifted. I also applaud the editors of Jet for recognizing Brandi’s resilience and brilliance - and embracing trans women as your sisters and daughters too.
Now we must call on the rest of our communities to do this embracing work and ignite change for all of our sisters.
via janetmock➜
