If you judge people by their style of dress, their choice of music, their personal sex life or lack of, who they love/marry, what they happen to have for genitals, how much they weigh, or if they don’t look or think like you…
You really should stop.
Respect a person as a person for that very reason alone: THEY ARE A LIVE PERSON.
There’s nothing “morally controversial” about sex work or any variation of the phrase.
What’s morally controversial is the way women are treated in comparison to men. And the way race and class only heighten these differences leaving poor women with few options. (And on that note, talk about how white feminists are morally controversial because we’re quick to ignore race issues and present this image that woc receive the same pay as white women. And then look at those sex positive feminists who are pro sex work but assume that sex work is a way to get out of poverty when really it’s only a way to survive but still remain in poverty) What’s morally wrong is leaving people with no other choice. Sex work shouldn’t be a topic of moral debate when you have to choose between staying alive and fucking some guy for money.
What’s morally wrong is how trans* people are forced into sex work because there’s not a place for them to have the resources they need. When LGBTQ people are kicked out of their families and homes because they’re not accepted (let’s talk morals with the cis white gay men who think marriage equality will solve this problem) It’s wrong to make a queer person choose between living in a household that’s dangerous and doing sex work or making someone decide whether it’s worth it to be a sex worker in order to pay for a place to stay, hormones, or surgery. Because for a lot of people, you transitioning is necessary for survival.
How about people struggling with addiction but can’t get the help they need and are trapped in a destructive cycle because anyone with a problem is treated as if they brought it on themselves. When they’re struggling with addiction and use sex work to pay with it but can’t get treatment? That is what’s morally controversial.
If you want to talk morals, you need to talk about how capitalism breeds the perfect environment for sex work because it keeps people poor and transient. No one notices if a sex worker goes missing. But luckily, there will always be someone to take their place. Our education system feeds into this by forcing (incorrect) facts down our throats without preparing us with information that we really need to know so that we are doomed to fail (and then turn around and blame it on us). Or pushes people into college and then makes it so they can’t afford college. And then sex work becomes a way to take care of the debt that was piled up.
Talk about the way a person’s body is so policed that it’s not even their body anymore.
These are the things that are morally controversial and this is what needs to be discussed when you’re talking about sex work because sex work is not the problem. It has never been the problem and it will never be the problem.
(via alexandraerin)
So today I had someone look at me knitting on the bus and ask ‘could you BE any more gay?’
I just calmly said ‘I could have a dick in my mouth’.
what was that homophobes i can’t hear you over my aaaAAAAARRLMGNGGNGMHNNMN
(via shorm)
Know Your Privilege
There are many kinds of privileges in this world. They are granted at birth and are rarely usurped. They are based on the benefits of the majority or dominant class and I think it’s best you understand them now.
The first is privy based on sexuality. Because most people fall into the heterosexual clause, being Straight is considered a privilege. No one will persecute you based on your majority status. You are “normal”. It is not offensive to be normal.
The second privy is based on sex and to a similar extent, gender. Whether you were born into it or identify based on gender being Male is also a privilege. Since the dawn of man we have been tricked into thinking that MALE/MAN is the most important and superior sex/gender. In contemporary society they earn the most, enjoy the most, and receive the most.
The third privy is based on race. In all aspects, being White has been the most envied. It IS a position of dominance. Throughout history “Whiteness” has been shown as superior— even more human— when compared to other races. Although not the majority, White privilege allows you to deem others as “minorities”.
And lastly there is cissexism (Cis-gender privilege), ableism (Able-Bodied privilege), and classism (Class Privilege) which I will go into below.
Now, almost everyone has at least one these privileges and a variable amount of passing privilege depending on ethnicity, gender identity, and sexuality. And after that, people have tenuous privileges based on the morals and ideologies set in place by those in the dominant or majority aspects. But obviously some don’t. It goes without saying, but due to this structure the Able-Bodied White Straight Male is considered the tippy top in this world/most visible group whereas A Disabled Non-White Queer-Identified, Genderqueer or Trans*woman are at the very bottom/basically non-existent to society.
An Open Letter to David Karp
To David Karp and all of those who work under the Support Staff:
You are all misogynist, racist, homophobic trash—every single one of you. And David? Yeah, you, David Karp. You need to make some changes.
1.) You and your support team allow people to racially harass people of color. You do the same to queer people. And you especially do this to Queer People of Color. People send us racial slurs, rape threats, death threats because we are not white, because we are not straight, or both; they stalk us, they stalk our families, they continually harass us. Even when said harassers are reported, your response is that you need proof. And after you get proof, your response is: “Freedom of speech. If you don’t like it, don’t look.” Nevermind the fact that these racists come to us and harass us in ways which we have to see until we have blocked them.
2.) When people of color get pushed far enough and dare to stand up to those who are harassing them, you and your support team contact the victim and threaten to delete their blog because “Hate speech isn’t in our policy.” WITHOUT PROOF. You look through our blogs, decide you don’t like what we have to say about our own oppression, and then try to shut us down for defending ourselves.
3.) After all of this, you, a white man have the nerve to ask, “It’s okay if I say the n word, right?” (Spoiler alert: NO IT ISN’T, because it’s a fucking racial slur, you racist fuckface.)
Let’s take a minute to think about that one. David Karp thinks people using racial slurs at people of color is acceptable, thinks people of color responding with justified anger is hate speech, and then has the nerve to ask if he can use one of said slurs himself.
4. You have slut shamed.
5. You have mocked your users.
You’ve done nothing but show how much you care about the base that keeps your business afloat: NOT AT ALL. You don’t care one fucking bit.
How dare you, David Karp. How. Fucking. Dare. You. How dare you think it is perfectly acceptable to take advantage of people the way that you do. How dare you ignore our cries for help, perpetuate problems that affect us in very real ways, and then expect us to be here, to trust you, to be your patrons.
David, you seem to forget who we are. So let me remind you.
We—the users of this website, the people who you see fit to trample over every day—feed your pay check.
WE are the ones who got this Tumblr business off of the ground. Not you. Without us, the users, Tumblr would be an empty, failed site. It is because of US that you have thrived.
WE are your supporters.
WE are your investors.
WE are the gears that keep your machine running.
WE are the beams that hold your fucking website up.
And we are here and lift this site (and by proxy, you) by choice, not because we have to be.
And WE can let it fall just as quickly.
You have shown time and time again that you don’t give a damn about us. You don’t care about victimizing people who make up the fucking majority of the global population. You don’t care about hurting the users who make up over fifty percent of your userbase. But we’ve seen what you do care about. You don’t care that your users get harassed for not being white. You don’t care that your users get harassed for being female. You don’t care that your users get harassed because they’re queer. You don’t care about doing anything to protect us.
And you apparently don’t care about keeping us, either, given your refusal to revise your security issues.
All you care about is your site running your way, everyone else be damned, included the people who keep it afloat and keep you sitting comfy and rich in the first place. You care about nothing but yourself and the money you make off of this website.
But you need to listen to us, David Karp. You need to start caring about us.. You may have made the concept for Tumblr, but we’re the ones running this machine. And we can bring it all to a screeching halt just as quickly. Things need to change. You need to take action against the real hate speech. You need to listen to your users who get hurt on this site every day. You need to reform your safety policy. You need to start making changes to this website to accommodate what the users want. You need to start worrying about our safety because when our lives are put in danger because of your lack of security options on this site, your website is a cause of whatever happens to us.
You need to listen to us.
If you’re not going to do that, then fine. You can have your site. You can have it your way. And you can have it all by your fucking self, because I am not going to keep my gear in this machine turning if you’re going to continually shit on me every day.
Keep making an ass of yourself and acting like this website, this castle that you’ve built, is built on the most solid of rocks, but don’t you dare forget that you built it on us, people who will let you go and let you fall if you shit on us enough.
You may be The Creator, but we are The People.
And we are not happy.
Signed with the utmost sincerity,
Thinkspeakstress
[Please feel free to sign your name if you want]
Signed and passed along.
cosigned
Signed.
Signed.
Signed and boosted
Signed.
Signed.
Child sings, ‘Ain’t no homo gonna make it to heaven’!
This small innocent child is being abused. Of course there are those who will say my use of the word abuse is going too far, but how else do you describe this. What makes this even more chilling is the loud applause. What a good little boy he’s made to think he is.
Hate is a learned behavior. This child is being taught and encouraged to hate people based on their sexual orientation. If unchecked, he’ll grow up to judge and condemn his classmates as he enters adolescence. These are the children, who fully supported by their family and church, torment others to the point of suicide.
Watching this made me sick. I feel as if I should be contacting some child protection agency to get him, and all children away from these people. ~ Kim
[video found at Jesus Needs New PR]
Here’s the statement from the church:
5/30/12 - The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason. We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives. We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible. We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture.
I’m gonna have to call bullshit on this statement. They don’t teach hate but they have a 5 year old child singing “ain’t no homos gonna make it to heaven” and the whole congregation gives a standing fucking ovation? No. They obviously teach hate. No 5 year old makes that shit up by themselves. Fuck that church and fuck each and every one of the grown ass people who stood, applauded, and saw nothing wrong with this.
(via brashblacknonbeliever)
We were discussing homosexuality because of an allusion to it in the book we were reading, and several boys made comments such as, “That’s disgusting.” We got into the debate and eventually a boy admitted that he was terrified/disgusted when he was once sharing a…
(via maarnayeri)
