girljanitor:

nitroglycerin-trucks:

disabledtalk:

(TW: Ableism, Medical Abuse, Neglect, ED (Weight), Ableist Language)

Three years ago, a 6-year-old Seattle girl called Ashley, who had severe disabilities, was, at her parents’ request, given a medical treatment called “growth attenuation” to prevent her growing. She had her uterus removed, had surgery on her breasts so they would not develop and was given hormone treatment. She is now known by the nickname her parents gave her — Pillow Angel.

The case of Ashley hit the media in January after publication of an article in a medical journal about her treatment. It reappeared in the news recently because of the admission by Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center that the procedures its doctors had performed to stop Ashley from growing and reaching sexual maturity violated state law. In Canada (as in Australia), a child can be sterilized only with the consent of a court.

At the time of the initial publicity about growth attenuation, Ashley’s parents wrote on their blog: “In our opinion only parents of special needs children are in a position to fully relate to this topic. Unless you are living the experience, you are speculating and you have no clue what it is like to be the bedridden child or their caregivers.”

I did live the experience. I lived it not as a parent or caregiver but as a bed-ridden growth-attenuated child. My life story is the reverse of Ashley’s.

Read More

“Ashley’s doctors may have used the term static encephalopathy to avoid the outcry that would have followed if people realized that it was being suggested that girls with cerebral palsy should have surgery to stunt their growth and prevent puberty.”

You should absolutely read this.

Seriously, I’ve posted about this so many fucking times and it’s still one of the worst and most horrible things I have ever read. This is the ‘mental age’ argument used to neuter a six year old girl like a dog, so if she is ever raped, no one will have to deal with a pregnancy.

This is how ‘severe disability is a tragedy that happens to families of the disabled person’ is used to excuse unspeakable human rights abuses against a CHILD, and do you know how people ‘found out’ about it?

The doctors were so fucking proud of what they had done, they published a fucking PAPER on the ways they had medically experimented on this child, in order to keep her six years old FOREVER.

THIS HAPPENED DESPITE THAT FACT THAT IT WAS ILLEGAL TO DO SO.

THIS IS WHAT INFANTILIZATION DOES

THIS IS WHAT “MENTAL AGE” DOES

THIS IS WHAT ‘FOR HER OWN GOOD’ DOES

THIS IS WHAT ABLEISM DOES.

blaquerose:

karnythia:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

thisisblackprivilege:

Black privilege is being able to get money easily if you’re in poverty.

It’s harder for non-black people. Now, we have affirmative action, welfare, etc., all catering to black people.

Surely you should be able to link to some statistics proving the Black people benefit the most from welfare and affirmative action.

Surely you should.

Seeing as you’re interested in FACTS, right?

So put your money where your mouth is.

Now you know those stats showing that white women benefit the most from affirmative action & more white people get welfare are anathema to this fool. Next you’ll bring up who welfare was invented to help & really fuck up their whole world by pointing out that black people were excluded from it.

As a Welfare worker I can tell you this is wrong. The majority of the people who come into my job applying for Welfare are white. I speak to at least 20 people a day as a screener, and I see about 2 black families of those twenty. Probably 7 latin@ families. An asian family every other day. The rest are all white families.

And with what little amount of money a person can get from Welfare (an amount which you can barely survive on, and amount that is far less than the average rent in the area I work in for a two bed room apartment), those 2 black families, 7 latin@ families and asian family every other day take that money and they are thankful for what little help they can get, they go live in shitty apartments or with other families in a cramped house so that they can afford to pay rent on the meager amount they get from us a month. They bust their asses to SURVIVE.

But those white people? They are upset with the money they get. They wonder why if they paid taxes their whole lives, that they can only get such a small amount of money? They say it must be all of the POC coming in and taking all of the welfare money and all of the illegal immigrants who come in and stole welfare aid (nevermind the fact that you CANNOT RECEIVE AID if you are not a US Citizen or a Permanent Resident of more than 10 years). They say if POC would just get jobs and get off welfare we’d have more money to give them (yet somehow turn around and say that POC are taking all of their jobs, so that’s why they can’t find one). They say this to the other white applicants in the lobby or the WOC workers who are trying to help them get back on their feet. Out fucking loud.

Wanna know what white privilege is?

White privilege is being able to have the balls to go to a welfare office, be surrounded by other white people who are also applying, and complaining about how POC are taking all of the governments money, meanwhile POC are working shitty jobs and living in shit neighborhoods refusing to get the aid they NEED to help their families, because they will be shamed the minute they step into the building.

witchsistah:

dionthesocialist:

Motherfuckers are really going to believe that Taylor Swift didn’t know what a swastika was.

Really.

That’s her actual response.

And people will actually believe it.

Because she’s a cute white girl and it’s totally believable that she’s innocent enough to not know what’s going on around, because there’s no way someone as pretty, white, and blonde as her would ever do something so terrible.

But soft! What middle finger through yonder window breaks? It is M.I.A.’s and she is the worst person ever for doing it.

Mmmmm dat whiteness.

And the thing is, Whites are constantly positioning themselves as the utterly unbiased arbiters of what’s racist and what isn’t when they can’t recognize hardly any of it.  That’s like me trying to call myself a wine expert and constantly mistaking apple juice for vino.

Bolded everything because EVERYTHING ABOUT THE POST AND COMMENTARY ARE TRUE. 

[Image: A gathering of people in a parade/march walking down the street. Many carrying signs. In front is a sign behind held by three people, all fairly light skinned and white or white-passing. Their banner reads: “No Body is Illegal. Every Job Everywhere.” Around it are the words: Queer, lesbian, intersect, pan, Trans*, bi, gay, Asexual. The word “Asexual” is the largest word written in black all caps.]

baddominicana:

desliz:

zincfingers:

dogplanet:

tranqualizer:

borninflames82:

One of our May Day Queer Block banners!  <3

THIS MAKES ME REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE

NO

jesus christ 

not every ~slogan of liberation~ is for all queer people 

sometimes you actually need to think 

how in the HELL does one get this far into activist circles/life and not think “gee, rhetoric about no bodies being illegal is already really heavily associated with immigrant movements, maybe we shouldn’t put it on our fucking ENDA banner or something”

HOW

HOW

(and, for a comparatively minor nitpick, for the love of fuck not every sexual proclivity/orientation is discriminated against in employment practices in a homophobic, transphobic society.)

p.s. gj making the one identity that experiences no systemic oppression of any kind bigger than all the others, you are truly revolutionary

this this this

[Image: A picture of Amanda Palmer, a white woman wearing a very light colored corset with black lace work, playing at an electronic keyboard, singing into a microphone.]

themostfeminist:

womenwhokickass:

Amanda Palmer

Why she kicks ass:

• She is very involved in feminist movements, as well as being a pro choice, LGBT rights advocate.
• She protests against the tolerance of rape in todays society
• She also supports a ‘sex positive’ culture
• Her music is fantastic

[Trigger warning: rape]

Actually, Amanda Palmer is extremely problematic. This post explains this in more detail, but basically:

• She created the very ableist band Evelyn Evelyn that appropriated people with disabilities’ experiences (especially the black conjoined twins Millie and Christine McCoy), essentially using their experiences for humour, and she ignored her fans who criticised this behaviour
• She pretended to rape a Katy Perry lookalike with a dildo onstage “in support of gay marriage”
• She’s made jokes about the KKK and used racist slurs/appropriation in her music
• She’s a fan of cultural appropriation and likes posing in appropriated outfits

I strongly disagree that she protests against the tolerance of rape in society, because she makes rape jokes that perpetuate the idea that rape isn’t a big deal. (I realise she’s a survivor herself, but that doesn’t excuse her behaviour).

I’m not telling you to stop liking her, but she’s done some incredibly problematic things and a lot of people have very valid reasons for disliking her.

Bolding is mine. Because it’s FUCKING IMPORTANT. 

madamethursday:

Image removed by request. Image was used without permission by original maker of the graphic. Please remove the photo in any reblogs and future commentary posts about this. 

[Image: A black and white shoulder-up photo of a very beautiful person of color slightly smiling with light colored hair cut short and chandelier earrings. The text says: “Gets free rent, free education, free car, free food, free cable tv, free internet. Whines about “white privilege”.]

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

lacex-foxypowow:

i-am-septima:

jalwhite:

Where was I the day folks were getting free educations…… cars…….cable….. internet……..food……..rent????? Shhiiiiiit. I miss all the good stuff.

I can get all this shit for free?  DAMN, and I JUST got me a job, too!

I think they’re referring to things like shelters, scholarships made specifically for POC, Food Stamps, Medicare/Medicaid/CHIPS, and other such things. I have no idea how you can get free TV and internet, or a free car though.

…uh.

Let me show you why you’re a fucking idiot piece by piece, okay?

1) 76% of scholarships go to white people. Only .01% of all scholarships available exclude white people from applying. 

2) Shelters only allow in PoC? What shelters would those be, hon? Because last I checked the reason that shelters are so saturated with PoC is because MOST WHITE PEOPLE HAVE A FUCKING PLACE TO FUCKING LIVE

3) More white people get ALL kinds of government aid than black people. So…WRONG AGAIN!

but do go on

Bolded the important stuff.

(Source: )

[Image: A black and white photo of Dr. Jonas Salk, a white man in a lab coat, white shirt, glasses and tie, holding a syringe and filling it with something from a bottle he is also holding. The text reads: “Creates a vaccine for one of the most dangerous disease shares it free of charge with the whole mankind”]

paranoidsuperhero:

best-crisis-ever:

project-argus:

Good Guy Jonas Salk

Develops vaccine using the stolen HeLa cells from a poor African American woman from Virginia named Henrietta Lacks just like billions of other scientists who didn’t give her or her family any recognition or any money for anything she’s done for the entire scientific/medical community. And it took a curious woman in biology class to wonder at all about this whole thing and now we know she died with people barely knowing her real name and now her family in their old age can barely afford health insurance and her grave didn’t even get a head stone until the 90s.

People should read the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. What they did to that woman and her family was an outrage!

Reblogged for historical accuracy and for the fact that, no, Dr. Salk was not actually that great of a guy. 

[Image: A light skinned man sitting cross legged with a green parakeet on his knee. He is looking at it.]

ktempest:

jhameia:

kynodontas:

jhameia:

soliloquize:

animalstalkinginallcaps:

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEVER SEE? NEOCON LEGISLATORS AND HEDGE FUND OPERATORS OPENLY ATTACKING THE TEA PARTY OR FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS OR ANY OF THE OTHER RADICAL CONSERVTIVE GROUPS THAT GRAB ALL THE HEADLINES. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE NOTHING THEY’RE DOING HARMS THE OVERALL AGENDA OF DEREGULATION AND CORPORATE GREED. THEY USE THOSE PEOPLE TO EITHER BOLSTER THEIR NUMBERS OR DISTRACT FROM WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND IN THE END THEY ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY’RE AFTER.

LIBERALS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS SPEND ALMOST ALL OF THEIR TIME INFIGHTING AND BICKERING OVER WHOSE CAUSE IS MORE IMPORTANT OR WHO’S SAYING THINGS THE “RIGHT” WAY AND NOTHING EVER GETS ACCOMPLISHED. THEY ATTACK LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE WHO AREN’T HURTING THEIR CAUSES OR ARE AT LEAST HURTING THEM LESS THAN A MILLION OTHER ACTUAL THREATS BECAUSE ONLY LIKE-MINDED LIBERALS GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THOSE CAUSES AND PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. TELL THE AVERAGE OBAMA-HATING REDNECK TO CHECK HIS PRIVILEGE SOMETIME AND SEE WHERE IT GETS YOU. TELL THE BOARD AT BANK OF AMERICA THEY DON’T PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO PEOPLE OF COLOR WHEN THEY’RE SIPHONING A COUPLE BILLION FROM THE FED. YOU SEE MORE ANTI-O.W.S. LITERATURE FROM SOCIAL JUSTICE MAJORS THAN YOU DO FROM CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPERS.

THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT ISN’T FIGHTING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OR THE PATRIARCHY. THEY’RE FIGHTING RICH ASSHOLES WHO HAVE STOLEN MONEY FROM EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY AND THE LAWMAKERS WHO HAVE HELPED THEM DO SO. OF COURSE FEMINIST AND MINORITY CAUSES ARE IMPORTANT, BUT INSTEAD OF LETTING O.W.S. FOCUS ON WHAT IT’S ABOUT, WHICH IS GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS AND ENDING ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN AMERICA, IT’S EATEN FROM WITHIN BY PEOPLE IT WOULD BENEFIT, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER THING “THE LEFT” TRIES TO ACCOMPLISH, BECAUSE “THE LEFT” CAN’T LEARN TO AGREE TO DISAGREE LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING WHILE “THE RIGHT” JUST ROLLS ALONG MERRILY, GETTING WHAT IT WANTS IN BITS AND PIECES BY USING THE TOOLS (AKA PEOPLE) IT HAS AT HAND. I MEAN, JESUS, THE TEA PARTY PEOPLE WERE SITTING AROUND, UNINSURED, ARGUING AGAINST SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE. THAT’S SOME AMAZING PUPPETEERING ON THE PART OF THOSE IN POWER, BUT ALSO SOMETHING WE MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT. CAN THE BILLIONS OF LEFTIST SPLINTER GROUPS GO AGAINST THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH A SINGLE UNIVERSALLY BENEFICIAL GOAL?

ONE STEP AT A TIME. USE THE ANGRY STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE TO GET THE MUCH SHITTIER STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE OUT OF POWER, THEN GO FROM THERE. IF THE MOVEMENT IS SUCCESSFUL THERE WILL BE LESS MONEY IN POLITICS FROM THE SUPER-RICH, ALLOWING ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE LEGISLATION TO PASS BECAUSE IT WON’T BE BEING INFLUENCED OR COCKBLOCKED BY THE ELITE. SURE, IT’S NOT INSTANT UTOPIA BUT IT’S BETTER THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM, AND IT WOULD REPLACE PEOPLE WHO WILL NEVER GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE ISSUES THAT AFFECT MINORITY GROUPS WITH PEOPLE WHO AT LEAST MIGHT. 

MAYBE THE ANSWER ISN’T “SMASH THE STATE” BUT “CHIP AWAY AT THE STATE, STEADILY, PIECE BY PIECE, USING THE STATE AGAINST ITSELF, UNTIL WE HAVE A NEW STATE.” THAT’S HOW THEY BUILT IT, AFTER ALL. ONE BRICK AT A TIME.

… OR WE COULD JUST KEEP ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER. THAT SEEMS TO BE WORKING. 

Who’s a pretty birdie? You are! Listen to your little chirpies! 

I HOPE YOU AND THAT NAPKIN YOU CALL A SHIRT ARE TRAPPED IN A FIRE.

I normally love you, atiac, but no. just no. people of color are not required to support a movement that has explicitly shown that it does not understand or care about our issues just because it someday might. if a movement does not specifically work toward ending racial discrimination, it will inevitably reproduce the same racist hierarchies of dominant society. OWS isn’t about equality or egalitarinism; it’s about preserving white middle-class privilege.

Also, there have ALWAYS been revolutions that let privileged people get to the top only to have them forget about everybody else. 

There must be a multiplicity and diversity of priorities in order to really fix the system. 

So, basically, the OP was only good for being an example of What Not To Do, filed under the subcategory of Please Shut The Fuck Up And Sit The Fuck Down. A copy of it has been added to the section of Embarrassment in Intersectionality. When the digital databank of White People Are So Much Work (h/t @crossedwires) is fully functional, you may be assured this exemplary piece will be cataloged accordingly.

Thank you for your efficient filing system!

wow ATIAC, this is some serious bullshit. I mean, I agree that the left is always busy in-fighting and never getting shit done and that is a problem. But when the scenario goes:

White People: ARRRR! Angry! Let’s get some shit done, yarrr!!!

POC: Awesome, we are with you! Let’s get shit done and let’s do it in a not-racist way!

White People: ARG look, we can’t be worried about not being racist because the shit we got to do is very important and all consuming! Just wait a little bit and we’ll work on being not racist later. Let’s be a little racist right now. But we’ll definitely, maybe get to not being later when we’ve accomplished the bigger, more important goal!

POC: … nevermind, we’re not down with this racism. Not even a little.

White People: GOD, YOU’RE ALL SUCH HATERS.

The above? Is a problem. Why is it so hard for white people to commit to being not racist while also taking down the evil rich corporations and 1% people? POC are routinely asked to walk and chew gum and spin plates and recite the Declaration of Independence, but white people can’t even seem to chew gum right.

Here’s the bottom line: gender equality and racial equality are not separate from the goals of OWS. They are parallel goals, all intertwined with each other. If your movement cannot manage to not be racist or pursue their goals in a not racist way, then there is something wrong with your movement. It should not be hard to fight against corporate greed and not be a douchebag to people who are your allies, yet many at OWS can’t do it. Think about why that might be.

All the things the commenters have said is true. Particularly soliliquize, jhameia, and ktempest. I’d bold what’s relevant but IT IS ALL RELEVANT. 

Also? Fuck anyone who doesn’t get that the roots of economic equality in this nation ARE sexism, racism, ableism, etc. There’s a fucking reason why PoC in the U.S. and women (especially WOC) and disabled folks and so forth end up on the bottom of the economic pile so often. 

I can’t even think of a metaphor for how absurd the idea that one should set aside or put away or shelf their fight against racism/sexism/etc to fight economic equality is. 

Ugh. I am also mad and not happy with this. And disappointed. Usually ATIAC is better than this. 

fromonesurvivortoanother:

batnap:

esmeweatherwax:

“wahhhh no films about white people’s lives”

“wahhhhh I can’t say n****r! You’re racist! I’m a feminist!”

this is basically the story of tumblr lately and its grossing me out and making me want to sign out and never sign in again

It was an extra hot year and all of them white farmers had a bumper crop of white grapes and those white grapes finally aged and now there’s an overabundance of white whine.

Commentary says it all. 

(Source: mssswitch)