Because, frankly, I think that everyone should look to Scarleteen for information! (My favorites in each section are bolded and italicized, but I like all of these articles; they’re the most memorable of the ones that I’ve read. That’s why I decided to compile them, after all.)
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Consent
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TRIGGER WARNING: cissexism, transmisogyny, sexual assault.
“Deciding to simply exclude trans women to make some cis women feel more comfortable is, in many ways, worse than patriarchal attacks on women because it’s one group of women deciding to “sacrifice” another group, doing the work of the patriarchy for it. I’ll give an example - at Pride London 2008, stewards took it upon themselves to exclude trans women from the female toilets in Trafalgar Square. THey did this the only way it really can be done - they decided to tell anyone they thought was a trans woman not to use those loos.
The upshot is that lots of trans women, who didn’t look like what the stewards expected trans women to look like used the loos anyway - I was one of them, and some cis women were, as I understood, turned away because they didn’t look sufficiently cis. However, the experiences of each group when challenged were different. I understand one butch dyke, when told to use the men’s, was let through after reacting angrily and even threatening physical violence. One trans woman, however, lacking the cis privilege to simply assert her gender identity and desperate for the toilet, went in the men’s toilet, where she was sexually assaulted.
When you exclude trans women from women’s spaces, be very clear that what you are doing is setting yourself up as the gender police, turning often vulnerable women away out of fear of a stereotype about who we are perpetuated by patriarchal society.
Exclusion of trans women is misogyny, and it hurts all women. Stop it.”
"—
Sarah Brown in this F Word comment.
I love Sarah Brown. Despite being a Lib Dem, she’s also a really good politician.
(via fuckyeahgenderstudies)
That’s not that Sarah Brown.
(via freedominwickedness)
(via sexgenderbody)
Just an interesting article. I think it’s necessary to realize that it’s not just about your sexual life or your actions, but how you treat other people for their sexual life and actions, and how you approach topics in this area that you may not agree with.
K: and people who are actually in the LGBTQ community argue that trans* people don’t completely need and deserve the support of the rest of the LGBTQ community more than any other part of it?
This is horrible…….. : (
Signal boost. Wake up, world. Stop erasing trans* people.
(via fuckyeahsexeducation)
Planned Parenthood Toronto launched a new text messaging service this spring that lets teens connect directly with trained peer volunteers for personalized answers to their sexual health questions.
A first in Canada, the text messaging service is targeted to youth…
(Source: prnewswire.com)
Adults who want sex-change surgery or hormone therapy in Argentina will be able to get it as part of their public or private health care plans under a gender rights law approved Wednesday.
The measure also gives people the right to specify how their gender is listed at the civil registry when their physical characteristics don’t match how they see themselves.
Senators approved the Gender Identity law by a vote of 55-0, with one abstention and more than a dozen senators declaring themselves absent — the same margin that approved a “death with dignity” law earlier in the day.
President Cristina Fernandez threw her support behind the law and is expected to sign it. She has often said how proud she is that Argentina became Latin America’s first nation to legalize gay marriage two years ago, enabling thousands of same-sex couples to wed and enjoy the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples.
For many, gender rights were the next step.
Any adult will now be able to officially change his or her gender, image and birth name without having to get approval from doctors or judges — and without having to undergo physical changes beforehand, as many U.S. jurisdictions require.
“It’s saying you can change your gender legally without having to change your body at all. That’s unheard of,” said Katrina Karkazis, a Stanford University medical anthropologist and bioethicst who wrote a book, “Fixing Sex,” about the medical and legal treatment of people whose physical characteristics don’t fully match their gender identity.
“There’s a whole set of medical criteria that people have to meet to change their gender in the U.S., and meanwhile this gives the individual an extraordinary amount of authority for how they want to live. It’s really incredible,” she said.
When Argentines want to change their bodies, health care companies will have to provide them with surgery or hormone therapy on demand. Such treatments will be included in the “Obligatory Medical Plan,” which means both private and public providers will not be able to charge extra for the services.
“This law is going to enable many of us to have light, to come out of the darkness, to appear,” said Sen. Osvaldo Lopez of Tierra del Fuego, the only openly gay national lawmaker in Argentina.
“There are many people in our country who also deserve the power to exist,” Lopez said.
Children also get a voice under the law: Youths under 18 who want to change their genders gain the right to do so with the approval of their legal guardians. But if parents or guardians want a gender identity change and don’t have the child’s consent, then a judge must intervene to ensure the child’s rights are protected.
Argentina need not worry about vast numbers of people demanding sex changes, Karkazis predicted.
“This isn’t going to create a huge demand on the national health system for these procedures. They’re difficult, painful, irreversible. And this is why many people don’t do it,” she said.
But because the law says people can legally change their identities without having to undergo genital surgery or hormone therapy, these changes can be more benign and even reversible, if some day the person’s self-image changes.
Other countries, including neighboring Uruguay, have passed gender rights laws, but Argentina’s “is in the forefront of the world” because of these benefits it guarantees, said Cesar Cigliutti, president of the Homosexual Community of Argentina.
“This is truly a human right: the right to happiness,” Sen. Miguel Pichetto said during the debate.
(Source: transfeminism)
"Being touched by a stranger and told that I was beautiful didn’t make me feel more beautiful; it made me feel unimportant. It made me feel like what I wanted – to go from home to work with a quick stop at Starbucks on the way, without being harassed – didn’t matter. What mattered most was that this man had an opinion about me, so I had to hear it whether I wanted to or not. He wanted to touch me, so I was going to be touched, by a stranger, whether I wanted it or not."
— Why do strange men think they’re allowed to touch me? (via arbagalapa)
(via girl-farts)
"I have a healthy range of fetishes, one of which is so unusual that I’ve never met anyone in ‘real life’ who shares it. Growing up with that sort of ‘dirty secret’ can be a lonely experience; but finding a whole sub-community of dedicated porn-makers who not only shared my kink, but actively celebrated it and acted out the same fantasies, helped me to realize I wasn’t some twisted freak. At least not for that reason. If porn can help kids realize that their urges are natural and healthy, that’s not a bad thing in my book.
The diversity of adult entertainment is so great that just talking about ‘porn’ as if it’s one big pink throbbing homogeneous mass is profoundly ignorant, whether its the subject of a campaign or a research question. For example, a paper by Michael Flood suggests “exposure to pornography helps to sustain young people’s adherence to sexist and unhealthy notions of sex and relationships,” but would we see the same impact from Maggie Mayhem’s feminist porn that we would from Playboy?
Lumping the two together is like trying to ask, “do video games make people violent,” without bothering to differentiate between the Grand Theft Auto series and Pacman. It undermines research, but more seriously it can lead people to tackle the wrong problem. It could well be true, for example, that the majority of porn reinforces misogynistic attitudes, and that this could damage young children as a result; but if that’s the case then the problem is misogyny, not pornography, and it needs to be tackled wherever it appears, not just in the adult entertainment industry."
The diversity of adult entertainment is so great that just talking about ‘porn’ as if it’s one big pink throbbing homogeneous mass is profoundly ignorant, whether its the subject of a campaign or a research question. For example, a paper by Michael Flood suggests “exposure to pornography helps to sustain young people’s adherence to sexist and unhealthy notions of sex and relationships,” but would we see the same impact from Maggie Mayhem’s feminist porn that we would from Playboy?
Lumping the two together is like trying to ask, “do video games make people violent,” without bothering to differentiate between the Grand Theft Auto series and Pacman. It undermines research, but more seriously it can lead people to tackle the wrong problem. It could well be true, for example, that the majority of porn reinforces misogynistic attitudes, and that this could damage young children as a result; but if that’s the case then the problem is misogyny, not pornography, and it needs to be tackled wherever it appears, not just in the adult entertainment industry."
— Porn panic! | Martin Robbins | The Lay Scientist | Science | guardian.co.uk (via sexisnottheenemy)
(via sexisnottheenemy)
This is an amazing [brand new] website about consent and ending sexual violence, created by a group of young people in Edmonton, Alberta.
thanks for the submission! what a fantastic resource!
"
State lawmakers should approve a bill that would bar the practice of confiscating condoms as evidence against those suspected of prostitution. The current policy is a double-edged sword that undermines both the state’s and New York City’s public health agendas.
Sex worker advocacy organizations have long called for police officers to stop confiscating condoms from women and men who work as prostitutes. Studies show that police confiscate prostitutes’ condoms even when no arrests are made. And in cases where there are arrests, officers often tell suspects that carrying condoms is the reason for the action.
Such practice creates confusion among prostitutes, who, in turn, stop carrying condoms out of fear of police action. Contrary to misperception, the legislative proposal –sponsored by Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Assemblywoman Barbara Clark-would not affect the ability of cops to use condoms as evidence in sex trade and sexual assault crimes.
New York City, which is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, has put in place aggressive measures to stop the spread of STDs. These include the mass distribution of free NYC-branded condoms (3 million per month); a smartphone app to locate venues that distribute these free condoms; and a sex education curriculum in public schools that teaches young people how important it is to practice safe sex.
These initiatives are a sensible and responsible way to tackle a serious public health issue. But shooting a hole into this by sending a message that carrying a condom is a crime is backwards and unsafe.
Prostitution is illegal in New York. But that hasn’t stopped the world’s oldest profession. It’s time to be real and safe. Albany lawmakers must pass the bill and put an end to a practice that is more risky than rewarding.
"—
Nos quieren engatusar con faldas y apellidos - eldiariony.com
El Diario editorial in favor of passing the New York State no condoms as evidence bill (A1008/S323). It’s a HUGE deal to get a daily paper to write an editorial on a bill. Hell to the yeah!
(via audaciaray)
(via transfeminism)
