[My main Tumblr can be found over at myasphyxiatedmind]
If you want your ask replied to privately, just put '****' before you start typing.
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
An estimated 10,000 activists flooded the streets of Dublin on Nov. 17, 2012 to protest Ireland’s stringent abortion policies. The predominantly Catholic country has a total ban on all abortion services, with a narrow exception in cases where a pregnancy may threaten a woman’s life. But the recent death of Savita Halappanavar — the 31-year-old Indian woman who died of blood poisoning after an Irish hospital refused to terminate her pregnancy — highlights the fact that women in Ireland struggle to access reproductive health services even when their lives may be at stake. Halappanavar’s tragic story is quickly becoming an international controversy, prompting the Irish government to promise to reexamine its abortion policy.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets today with signs and banners bearing Halappanavar’s image, vowing that the tragic events of her death will “never again” happen in their country (all images via Broadsheet)
If you’re in the US and ever need help paying for an abortion
Check out this list of abortion funds organized by state
(Source: bebinn)
Tiger Beatdown: We cannot have it all because we no longer have dreams
Eh, as it was bound to happen, I wrote a response to the piece that Anne-Marie Slaughter published at The Atlantic.
This has been the week of backlash against feminism. In fairness, it is always backlash week against feminism but Anne-Marie Slaughter’s piece at The Atlantic, Why women still can’t have it all, has revived some of those sentiments. Feminism has failed us, she implies. We were promised a balance between career and private life. We were told that if you worked hard and juggled between your work, your children, your spouse and your social life, you too, could be successful. If your spouse embraces this model of cooperation and takes on their fair share of housework and child rearing then you could also reach the highest echelons of power and, in the words of existential philosopher Mr. Spock, live long and prosper. All it took, we were told, was commitment and creativity.
All of this is, of course, pure unadulterated bullshit.
Flavia explains it all. For all those liberal feminists who love reciting her quote “my feminism will be intersectional or it will be BULLSHIT” for the cookies, this one especially goes out to you.
How about the feminists who recite said quote because they believe in and abide by it? Not everyone is looking for cookies. I promise.
Melissa Harris Perry: Michigan State Rep silenced for saying ‘Vagina’
I meant to post this when it came on last week
It’s enraging when I think of how capriciously Americans shrug their shoulders and turn the other cheek when considering the value of Black life in this country. Institutional and interpersonal racism has left Black America in a very precarious place; just leaving our homes puts us at risk for being assassinated by any self-righteous, gun-yielding neighborhood watchman who deems us suspicious.
This way of thinking is an example of a broader societal philosophy that literally begins at conception of a Black life. Black mothers, often considered hypersexual in nature, are frequently treated with little to no dignity by doctors who dismiss their pregnancies as accidental or inconsequential.
With a maternal and fetal mortality rate higher than any other race (often caused by stress brought on by racial burdens), Black mothers often experience traumatic birthing experiences that include forced cesareans, trivializing attitudes by medical professionals, and contemptuous care that has led to death or serious injury. If they survive this, Black children are given the least resources, have the least access to healthcare, endure some the most toxic and contaminated environments, and deal with structural and interpersonal racism throughout adolescence and into adulthood, where they risk the chance of being shot to death by people like George Zimmerman.
It is disheartening how people have desensitized themselves to the plight of communities just because they don’t look like their own or how the lives of Black children are so undervalued, not because of something they’ve done but simply–just because. I can’t reconcile how some people have positioned themselves to make ethical decisions about who is and who isn’t deserving of safety, security, and justice and how those decisions magnify and shift culture, leaving entire communities on the fringes and moving targets for the Zimmermans of the world.
I’m digging Shanelle Matthews’ post on Trayvon Martin’s death in terms of the existential upset that’s fueling the activism like the Million Hoodies March as well as understanding his death through a reproductive-justice framework. (via racialicious)
Pro choice people who whine about people who have had several abortions or use abortion as birth control piss me off more than lifers.
They seriously do. At least lifers admit they don’t want me to have a choice. Choicers let me have a choice, but as long as it’s within what they’ve defined as acceptable. Outside of that, well, I’m just an irresponsible, childish [ableist slur], ain’t I?
When people say “using abortion as birth control” — however inaccurate because an abortion IS birth control — I assume they mean “someone who gets pregnant and gets abortions all the time instead of getting on the pill”. Do they not realize that these people they’re attempting to judge are kind of urban legends? Do they not realize how EXPENSIVE abortions are? When you’re shelling out potentially $300-$1000 for the procedure — even without the social stigma, the harassment by “well-meaning” protesters, even fear — believe me, it’s not something you would want to do even once.
I actually would use abortions as my primary birth control. I’m the urban legend. I’ve only had one abortion but I generally don’t use birth control at all. I won’t use anything hormonal because I don’t want estrogen and whatnot in my body for trans reasons. And I’m really not a big fan of condoms because I have a latex allergy and they’re pretty overpriced.
I live in England. Abortions are free, there’s no protesters (at least not at the clinic I used for my abortion) and I actually really enjoyed the day I had my abortion. The clinic was friendly, the drugs they gave me were awesome, and I got to have a fun day in London.
So, yes, I’m the urban legend. I enjoyed my abortion, and until I can afford to get sterilized (very unlikely), I’m probably going to use abortion as birth control.
(bolded bits) Aarrgh, thiiiisssss. Once I said that I didn’t want estrogen birth control because I’m trans and I got fucking jumped (on a forum) for it. Yes, trans folk who are okay with estrogen birth control, that’s nice for you, it would make my dysphoria worse. The progesterone only ones tend to increase depression and have a list of other issues- because that is what I need. More depression. It got better as time went on, but not great, and if I didn’t get so fucking depressed on my period it wouldn’t have been worth it, and I think it made it harder to do sexy stuff. I know a few trans folk who were specifically told not to use it because it’d make their depression unmanageable. I don’t have a latex allergy, but my partner does so it’s not like that’s an option. I also can’t help but wonder if condoms could cause dysphoria for trans folk who have a penis, which is not something I want for my partner.
Birth control is really not designed for all trans folk.
All of this^. Honestly, the only birth control I’m comfortable with (for me personally) is sterilization, and that’s just not an option here in the States due to paternalistic gate-keepers and the exorbitant cost even if I managed to find a doctor. And unlike with NHS (in Cydne’s case), abortions are expensive and highly restricted here. So even though I would have zero qualms about getting one (or more) that isn’t something that’s affordable. So what options is someone like me left with? Yeah…I get to never have sex, have sex and be terrified of getting pregnant which would mentally destroy me (not to mention bankrupt me), or wait until I’m like 40 to be sterilized. #nonbinaryreprojusticeproblems :/
(Source: cydandthat)
