project unbreakable

 Warning: The following post may be triggering for some.

"The mission of Project Unbreakable is to increase awareness of the issues surrounding sexual assault and encourage the act of healing through art. Since the project's conception in October 2011 by then nineteen year old Grace Brown, it has featured over two thousand images of sexual assault survivors holding posters with quotes from their attackers."

http://projectunbreakable.tumblr.com/

c o m e d y

"Listen. Being a woman is a bitch. Not only does everyone treat you like a fucking idiot all of the time, being a woman can be scary! Not scary in a big, obvious, goofy way—it's less like a horrible slavering dog running toward your face (except for when it is like that) and more like when you can't find that huge spider you saw on your bed earlier (if spiders also had the capacity to transform into slavering face-hungry dogs). We're not walking around actively terrified in the middle of the afternoon, but there's always a small awareness that we are vulnerable simply because we are women. Cavalier jokes about domestic violence and rape (jokes that target victims, not perpetrators) feed that aura of feeling unsafe and unwelcome—not just in the comedy club, but in the world.. 

If you just don't care, that's fine—that's your choice—but understand this: I know you think you're being transgressive and edgy and bad-in-the-cool-way when you are careless with the trauma of strangers, but you're not. You are being conservative. You are a conservative comedian. You are moving your art form backwards, you are a bully (a bully who has likely experienced bullying himself, which is the worst kind), and you are propping up the status quo in the most boring way possible. If that's what you want, at least have the grace to own it.. 

If you're an able-bodied straight white male, you are by definition a member of the least number of systemically oppressed groups. It takes an entire blog post for me to make you feel diminished and misunderstood (my bad)—but you could do that to me or a gay person or a trans person or a person of color or a disabled person with just a word. Because you get to live your life on the firm ground of being a human being first and a man/white person/comedian second. I don't get to do that. I'm not a person, I'm a woman, which is something I'm reminded of incessantly any time I enter a male-dominated space like a comedy club."

source: http://jezebel.com/an-open-letter-to-white-male-comedians-497503334

l a d y

google

rape is rape

"I’m tired of seeing debate on this.  Prostitutes and sex workers of other kinds sell a service.  If you purchase that service, you are a customer.  If you, without consent, abuse their rights as a human, that is not tantamount to theft.  It’s a human rights abuse.  If you punch a boxer, you aren’t stealing their time as a professional to see their reaction.  You are assaulting them, and the law will recognize this and punish you accordingly.  Rape of prostitutes, however, is a much more serious and common abuse, and it is significantly less punished by law enforcement and societally regarded as a non-issue.  I’m a martial artist.  Compared to the average person, I am much more mentally prepared for the possibility of a physical attack.  It is the milieu I immerse myself in.  That doesn’t mean I want to be attacked, or that it would be ok to attack me, and no one would ever make that logical leap.  Prostitutes, while also more mentally prepared for the very real possibility they may be raped, are no more deserving of rape than I am of being assaulted.  A non-consensual assault against a person, regardless of profession or mental preparation for attack, is clearly still a human rights abuse and the equivalent of assault, not theft. Stop debating this shit."

degradation

"Commentary.

In February, I posted two pieces in Bed-Stuy on Tompkins and Halsey. These two pieces got the most attention of any pieces I’ve put up so far. Within a few days, someone had written his response to the work directly onto the posters. From there, a woman wrote a response to him. And it went on and, on with different hand-written comments creating this kind of interesting discussion. The pieces remained up until a week or so ago, when the phallic image was drawn. That’s when I decided to try to take them down. 

The “Stop Telling Women to Smile” piece remained in tact enough for me to include it in the exhibition. I thought it was important to present in the show, so that people could view these written reactions. "

-I love when assertive women scare men to such an extent that they have to resort to infantile shit like this.

-They think it will shut women up, but it really just fuels everything further, I hope they know that. 

--The “devolution” of the poster is more interesting to me than the originals, which I’ve reblogged before.

--The fact that a man decided to comment on the poster physically, and was the first to do so, says a lot. Whenever women defend ourselves we get these counter arguments. We get people in general, and not just men, trying to cut down our personal initiatives.And when women, like on the poster, attempt to hold a real discussion we get the brunt of the “dick solution” where we are told that we hate men, we haven’t had a “dick that was good” or we get a penis drawn on the poster meant to make a social commentary about our “place.”

--I’ve reblogged the individual posters before because I understand them as a victim of the suggestions. But I’m reblogging them now to show the attempt to keep women in their societal place in our culture.

--An excellent example of men not getting the point about street harassment.

--“You find our unwanted projections of our opinions of you to be bothersome? Well … well … well … DICKS, THAT’S WHAT!DICKS!!!”

pro-choice

"There is a concept called body autonomy. Its generally considered a human right. Bodily autonomy means a person has control over who or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. Its why you can’t be forced to donate blood, tissue, or organs. Even if you are dead. Even if you’d save or improve 20 lives. It’s why someone can’t touch you, have sex with you, or use your body in any way without your continuous consent.

A foetus is using someone’s body parts. Therefore under bodily autonomy, it is there by permission, not by right. It needs a persons continuous consent. If they deny and withdraw their consent, the pregnant person has the right to remove them from that moment. A foetus is equal in this regard because if I need someone else’s body parts to live, they can also legally deny me their use.

By saying a foetus has a right to someone’s body parts until it’s born, despite the pregnant person’s wishes, you are doing two things.

1. Granting a foetus more rights to other people’s bodies than any born person. 

2. Awarding a pregnant person less rights to their body than a corpse."

fake clinics

"One of two fake abortion clinics on the same street as the REAL center, the EMW’s Women Center here in downtown Louisville. This one is right next door to the actual clinic and this place is seriously a nightmarish hell-hole for any unsuspecting women tricked by the anti’s. They assure you this this the abortion clinic, they get you inside, and then offer you food and drink—which of course, means that once you realize your mistake, you can’t run next door and catch your actual appointment, since you need to fast.

Women have come out of this building crying, and on a few rare occasions, without their pants. They take you to a back room for an ultrasound, have you remove your pants, and then begin lecturing you on the sins of aborting. They do not give you back your pants until you have listened, and a few women tricked this far refused to listen and stormed out furious, ashamed, and in their underwear.

This is the anti-choice agenda—lying, tricking, shaming, and embarrassing women to the brink of hysterics in hopes that she carry the pregnancy to term. Forcing her, through lies and manipulation, to do with her body what THEY want, not what is best for her.

There is no “choice” at the Louisville “Women’s Choice” clinics. Just abuse, shame, and bigots who would rather undress a woman to make her feel vulnerable and then explain how awful of a person she is than let her make HER. CHOICE.

I reblogged this at first without checking if it was legit but it turns out it is legit and people need to be warned. A simple google search is all the evidence you need.

Resources for women in Louisville, KY! PLEASE be aware of this. 

http://www.emwwomens.com/index.html
http://everysaturdaymorning.net/
http://abortionresource.wordpress.com/

And as a general rule: if the place says “crisis pregnancy center” or anything similar, IT IS A TRICK. Real women’s health clinics are typically called “women’s health clinics”. They do not specialize in ONLY pregnancy, because a uterus owner has more health concerns than just that uterus. Even if you get past the name, Planned Parenthood’s full description is as a health clinic, because they screen or refer to physicians who screen for cancers and diseases, as well as educate about pregnancy (yes, they can and do explain what to expect throughout pregnancy to new mothers who want their pregnancies. My mother found her Lamaze class through a PP.)

Crisis pregnancy centers cannot call themselves “clinics” because they do not actually offer licensed medical care. If they try to use “clinic”, remember that ethical doctors would never use “crisis” in their practice’s name; a crisis is a difficult choice or situation, often with moral implications (i.e.: “crisis of faith”, “financial crisis”, “mid-life crisis”, etc.) It has nothing to do with receiving medical treatment. No one with a broken leg is having a crisis; they’re having a medical emergency. Words matter.

HOLY FUCK! I have one of those Crisis Pregnancy Centers nearby!! Signal Boost. Thanks for the info!

It disgusts me that these places are actually legal to operate.

They actually receive federal funding. Please sign the petition to end that."

media

paper dolls

Sierra Demulder

anon

"call your grandmother.
mother.
a bitch. 
hoe.
slut. 
dumb cunt.

in that order.

to her face.
watch her spirit leave her body.
watch her fall into herself.
take pride in your aim. your precision.
stay.
grab a plate.
eat what remains of her.
that is what you do to women who are not yours everyday."

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space

The following article is taken from http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/10/asking_for_spac

"Guest blogger Rebecca recounts an episode where she felt sensitive to her triggers. 

Last night a taxi company refused to provide me with a female taxi driver. I was told a female driver was available, but it would be inconvenient to send her because she was too far away from where I was.

The first woman who took the call seemed taken aback by the request and asked me to hold. Another woman, who was possibly a supervisor, then asked me why I wanted a female driver. When I explained it was for reasons of safety she acted annoyed and said that all their drivers were safe. I hadn't been expecting hostility so I attempted to justify my request.

I told her that I would feel safer with a female driver, as I was a young woman heading home alone late on a Friday night. I said I had been drinking and felt vulnerable. She dismissed my concerns in a way where I felt she was trivializing them. After she repeated that it wouldn't be possible to send the female taxi driver to me I hung up humiliated.

I wanted a female taxi driver because I was raped a couple years ago and had been badly triggered that evening. I'd had a rough day, but had arranged to visit a male friend of mine so wanted to honour the arrangement. When I arrived I explained about my day and how sensitive I felt, but about half an hour later my friend said, "Oh, here's a video I think you'll like," and showed me a video about rape in video-games. The content of the video would usually not have been a problem for me, but my friend gave me no warning and just pressed play without telling me a thing about it. I sat frozen on the side of his bed, thinking, "But I just told him about my day. Why would he show me this?" When it ended he launched into his own personal summary, which revealed a staggering amount of ignorance to the trauma rape victims feel and the way rape is dealt with in the mainstream media. I cut him off and excused myself, escaping to the bathroom, but not before telling him to Google the term 'trigger warning'.

Once I'd recovered myself a little I went back to his room and apologised for my behaviour. I referenced the rape a couple years ago and how lately I'd been getting more sensitive about it. I've been doing a lot of feminist activism, writing about the sex industry, and nude modeling and I was seeing rape culture more clearly and feeling a lot less safe because of it. I had, at the time, considered my assault an isolated incident by an individual man. But I was starting to view it as a consequence of a culture of permissiveness: from casual jokes to street harassment. My friend was clearly uncomfortable so I tried to laugh it off and change the subject, requesting that we watch an episode or two of a show I knew had few, if any, triggering moments in it.

By the end of the second episode I'd calmed down. Unfortunately I'd also missed the last bus home. Usually I would have stayed at my friend's house, but I wanted to be in my own bed in my own flat. That's when I called the taxi company.

My friend was uncomfortable that I wanted to ask for a female taxi driver. He didn't consider it justified and I was still a bit too upset to explain it to him. It is unfair to label all men as potential rapists and intellectually I know that is not true.

However, whenever a strange man knocks on my door, I feel my palms sweat, even though I know it is probably the postman. When I walk home alone a man engaging me in conversation may be a possible introduction to an assault. I will brush him off and walk away rudely, aware that he might merely be being friendly and that my behaviour is probably upsetting for him. It is not nice to be the source of fear in other people. I know that, but it doesn't stop me feeling afraid.

Trying to explain this to my male friends is difficult. Trying to explain it to taxi-companies at one in the morning is just too much. After stressing a little and a bit of a cry I let my friend phone a different company and order a taxi without trying again to specify a female driver.

The man who drove me home was perfectly nice and didn't leer, or make inappropriate jokes, or do anything to make me feel uncomfortable. I have had some lovely male taxi drivers and many more that I could take a little teasing and flirting from. But that night I couldn't have dealt with it. I felt let down and vulnerable and silly, like my assault was an inconvenience that I was being rude for bringing up.

Surely this is a reasonable justification for wanting a female driver? Or maybe I have no right to force others to accommodate my trauma. When I got home my friend text me to see if I was okay and I told him I was. But I'm not. I'm not okay at all."

s e x y

"Saying “consent is sexy” is yet another way to wrap up women’s rights and needs to appease men. It’s the same as saying “what about if it was your mum/daughter?” Stop assigning value to women by measuring how much the are valued by men. Just stop it."

"I’ll state the obvious: you shouldn't get consent because it’s sexy. You should get consent because it’s the only way to be certain that you’re not assaulting someone, and not assaulting someone is the only way to be a minimally decent human being. If getting consent is also a huge turn-on, that’s great, but it’s just the icing on the wonderful cake that is not assaulting people."

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hair today, gone tomorrow

Although I'm not usually a Jezebel fan, I found this here, I recommend reading the full article including the reader's comments: http://jezebel.com/ok-point-taken-i-admire-this-ladys-courgage-but-if-459871558 

"A Reddit user going by the handle "european_douchebag" posted a surreptitious photo of a Sikh woman with the caption "i'm not sure what to conclude from this." The user's apparent confusion stems from the fact that the woman—bound by her religion not to cut her hair or alter her body—has an abundance of dark, untrimmed facial hair. The mind of european_douchebag was SO INCREDIBLY BLOWN by the fact that women have hair on their bodies—and, yes, faces—and that some women are bold, self-assured, and pious enough not to cave to western beauty standards (and gender expectations), there was nothing for him to do but post her photo online and wait for the abuse to flood in.

But then something totally lovely and unexpected happened. The woman in the photo responded:

Hey, guys. This is Balpreet Kaur, the girl from the picture. I actually didn't know about this until one of my friends told on facebook. If the OP wanted a picture, they could have just asked and I could have smiled :) However, I'm not embarrased or even humiliated by the attention [negative and positve] that this picture is getting because, it's who I am. Yes, I'm a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair. Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I look different than most women. However, baptized Sikhs believe in the sacredness of this body - it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being [which is genderless, actually] and, must keep it intact as a submission to the divine will. Just as a child doesn't reject the gift of his/her parents, Sikhs do not reject the body that has been given to us. By crying 'mine, mine' and changing this body-tool, we are essentially living in ego and creating a seperateness between ourselves and the divinity within us. By transcending societal views of beauty, I believe that I can focus more on my actions. My attitude and thoughts and actions have more value in them than my body because I recognize that this body is just going to become ash in the end, so why fuss about it? When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can. So, to me, my face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are. :-) So, if anyone sees me at OSU, please come up and say hello. I appreciate all of the comments here, both positive and less positive because I've gotten a better understanding of myself and others from this. Also, the yoga pants are quite comfortable and the Better Together tshirt is actually from Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that focuses on storytelling and engagement between different faiths. :) I hope this explains everything a bit more, and I apologize for causing such confusion and uttering anything that hurt anyone."