
[My main Tumblr can be found over at myasphyxiatedmind]
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My name is: Michelle, but most people call me Dark online.
My gender-pronouns are: They/them/their.
I am: 26 years old, a feminist, liberal, an atheist, an omnivore, and an ISFJ.
The Feminist: Intersectional, body positive, pro-choice, and sex positive.
My privileged identities include: Female assigned at birth (trans* privilege), white, able-bodied, allistic (?), dyadic, monogamous.
My non-privileged/oppressed identities include: Gender-fluid, fat, gray-a, neuroatypical, and gay.
I have: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder.
I like: Pets & animals, animal welfare, pet care & pet care education, ~*SCIENCE!*~, anatomy & physiology, roleplaying, anime/manga, computer & video games, rock & metal music.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Abortion hasn’t ended in Mississippi.
Legal and safe abortion has ended in Mississippi.
And even though we need to take a moment to mourn for all the people who will suffer as a result of this, we also need to get really, really, really angry.
This is a call to arms.
Are you fed up with being pegged as a whore because you use birth control? Are you sick of the displaced misogynist abuse deterred towards women whom consensually have/ don’t have an avid sex life?Why are we treated as if we’re incapable of managing our own bodies?
As women, we’ve been sexually oppressed for years. Finally, within the last few decades, we’ve had the opportunity to embrace ourselves with access to contraceptives.
Then suddenly, a shit-storm of privileged, caucasian, heterosexual males are propositioning rules that are harmful to our well-being. Suddenly, we’re “whores” because we use contraception. Then we’re “prostitutes” because we want birth control to be covered by health insurance. We’re “frigid spinsters” because we choose to not have sex. Then, we’re the devil Himself because we need/ want access to safe abortions. Last but not least, if we do give birth, then we’re labeled as incompetent.
The main fact that the GOP is ignoring is that a majority of us aren’t using birth control because we want to run rampant on the streets, exposing our “orchids” to any and all pedestrians.
Sure, some of us are merely using contraceptives because we don’t want children (yet or ever). However, brace yourself, this might come off as baffling, but some of us use birth control due to medical conditions.
For example, according to WebMD, birth control (OCs) can lower the risk of cancer, make periods lighter, PMS/PMDD relief, fewer periods, and ease the pain and symptoms caused by endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome.
Krystal, a fellow organizer and the brains behind this project states that: “it shouldn’t matter if women are using contraceptives for preventative measures or due to any of the reasons stated above. The [GOP] cannot and will not condemn us for wanting to prevent an accidental pregnancy and then torture us for getting pregnant without a means of prevention. What they need to do is increase sex education and make access to birth control easier.”
Personally, I use birth control for two reasons:
1. I’m in college and I’m in a monogamous relationship. However, my partner and I are not ready for a child because we are not mature enough to take care of another human-being (puppies don’t count) and we are not financially stable.
2. I have PMDD that quite literally drives myself and everyone around me insane. Because I’ve had access to birth control, I was able to graduate with two AA degrees and transfer to a University.
Not because I didn’t have a child, but because my hormones and mood-swings were finally balanced. I wasn’t falling into depression anymore. I was finally able to focus on my goals after being completely lost and confused for a year. I literally thought that I was becoming clinically insane and it was time to check myself into an asylum.
If you take birth control for any reason, may it be because of PCOS or simply because you don’t plan on starting a family any time soon, and you’re enraged over the recent controversy revolving around women’s rights…. Then I have a proposition for you.
How would you feel about stylin’ a “Scarlett Letter”? If you personally take birth control (for ANY reason at all), just find a piece of fabric and make yourself a patch.
If your significant other would want to support the cause as well, I’m sure that they can pin one on for support!
If you have any splendid ideas for what the patch/ pin could be of- shoot it over in the comments! It would be better if all the materials are practical and handy because this is a DIY grass-roots movement that could potentially take the world by storm!
Boost this shit.
*Kicks everything*
The irony being that Tyrone is an Irish name, and the only reason so many Black men had the name was because, ding ding ding, their slave owners/rapists/etc. gave them the name. Hm. Imagine that.
(Source: syddigital)
On Monday, the GOP will convene an “emergency” meeting in the Rules Committee so they could hold a vote on The “Repeal of Obamacare Act” as early as Wednesday July, 11. The seven page messaging bill compiles the best Republican talking points against the law since it passed in 2010, but offers only the smallest hint of how the party plans to extend coverage to the millions who would lose it. “The path to patient-centered care and lower costs for all Americans must begin with a full repeal of the law,” the bill says on page six.
This free market mantra may resonate with the GOP base, but it does nothing to improve the economy or solve the health care crisis. Below are 5 consequences of the GOP’s repeal legislation:
1) Millions without coverage. A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the GOP’s repeal measure from 2011 found that “32 million fewer nonelderly people would have health insurance in 2019, leaving a total of about 54 million nonelderly people uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, compared with a projected share of 94 percent under current law (and 83 percent currently).”
2) Health insurance costs increase. The same analysis concluded that “many people would end up paying more for health insurance— because under current law, the majority of enrollees purchasing coverage in that market would receive subsidies via the insurance exchanges, and [repeal] would eliminate those subsidies.” What’s more, “Premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through large employers would be slightly higher.”
3) Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose access to coverage.Republicans have said that they would not replace the Affordable Care Act’s federal rules prohibiting insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. Instead, they would encourage states to form expensive high-risk pools to cover the sick or, alternatively, leave them to find their own coverage in the individual market — where many will likely go uninsured.
4) Medicare in disarray. Approximately 100 million Medicare claims are processed each month using a formula that was altered by the Affordable Care Act. Should the law be repealed, new rates could not be calculated under the old, pre-ACA formula until after a rulemaking process that can take months before is completed. The result would be that Medicare would not be able to pay doctors for what could be many months.
5) Deficits increase by billions. The CBO predicts that “as a result of changes in direct spending and revenues is likely to be an increase in the vicinity of $230 billion.” Repeal would also “increase federal deficits in the decade after 2019 by an amount that is in a broad range around one-half percent of GDP.”
This is just another GOP stunt to appease their base.
Re-blog if you don’t want this guy anywhere near the Oval Office.
And don’t be fooled: He WILL say that he’s “changed his stance” on these things if confronted, if he thinks it will get him more votes—and more money. He is a PUPPET, a blatant mouthpiece for whatever GOP masters are pulling his strings at the moment. He is the epitome of the soulless corporate politician.
This is hormonal birth control.
As you can see on the box, you take exactly one pill per day. To make sure it works, you need to take one pill every day at the same time, or it stops working. You take only one pill, and you keep taking them regardless of what you are doing that day.
Hormonal birth control can be used to treat a lot of different diseases, like anemia caused by excessive menstruation. It is a prescription medication that can cost around $15-50 a month. Because it is a prescription medication, it should be covered by insurance, as it treats legitimate health problems.
This is Viagra.
It, too, can treat legitimate health problems like altitude sickness and pulmonary hypertension, but it is usually prescribed for erectile dysfunction. Unlike the Pill, Viagra is taken every time you want to have sex. A lot of health insurance companies cover Viagra, so it costs about as much as your co-pay.
This is a condom.
It is not a prescription medication, and has no health benefits (besides the prevention of STIs and pregnancy). Like Viagra, you must use one before you have sex: indeed, before each sex act. They cost about a dollar per condom.
This is Sandra Fluke.
She testified before a small, Democrat-led hearing after she was cut out of the actual birth control/insurance discussion. Her testimony was about a friend of hers who, because her insurance did not cover birth control, lost an ovary due to an ovarian cyst.
This somehow translates into “I, myself, personally, am having so much sex I can’t afford birth control, and so I want the government to pay for it.”
This is wrong for multiple reasons.
- It was about a friend, not her. To say her testimony was about her personally is factually incorrect.
- Sex had nothing to do with the testimony - her friend lost an ovary because of medical condition that was left untreated. A medical condition that was completely treatable, but wasn’t, because her insurance wouldn’t cover it. To say that her testimony was about her being “a slut” or “a prostitute” is factually incorrect.
- Even if she was having loads of sex, she would still only have one pill a day, not one pill per sex act, so to say “I’m having so much sex I can’t afford birth control” is completely erroneous. The Pill is not Viagra or condoms. To say that she is such “a slut” that she constantly needs more pills is factually incorrect.
- The current political debate is not “should the government pay for birth control?” The debate is “should insurance companies, that people and their employers pay for, on their own, be required to cover birth control?” To say that Sandra Fluke wants the government to pay for her birth control is factually incorrect.
- Religious organizations do not want to have birth control covered by their insurance, even for employees not of their faith, even if their employees never actually use their insurance to cover birth control. By this logic, they should also not pay their employees, because they could use that money to pay for birth control out of pocket. To say that this issue is about religious freedom and not about women’s health is disingenuous, as Ms. Fluke’s testimony demonstrates.
Hopefully this makes things a little clearer.
hunnichild (via brienne—of—tarth)
inb4 someone changes this all to “uterus-bearers”
(via unknowablewoman)
As if it would be wrong for someone to edit the incredible amount of cissexist language out of this.
(Source: mexicanprincessbrienne)