anyone else bothered by the slow disapearance of websites for kids and the integration of children into sites meant for adults. as a kid i spent most of my time online on websites like girlsgogames, club penguin, barbie.com, moshi monsters, etc. etc. now 7 year olds just use tiktok.
Yeah. And it’s so annoying that instead of creating sites for children, there’s a new fashion of making existing sites more kids-friendly, like YouTube… There’s a YouTube Kids, so why banning comments from YouTube under content for kids, like animations? So ridiculous.
my friend strawberry-pop, a very well known blogger on this site, mentioned her status to me and recently encouraged me to start writing on tumblr.com. what they didn’t know is that i’ve always been on and off the site. i never posted or interacted with others, but i would get on this site looking for astrology posts and s o n a s t y content ;). I never stayed up to date with the trends on this site, but eventually they got to me once they hit mainstream media.
from the top of my head, i recall in the early 2010s dubstep and raves were at its peak. in the 2000s, pop music was also at its peak. today in the 2020s hyperpop is heavily influenced by both of these genres.
in the 80s - 00s sitcoms were very popular. before sitcoms the world was in shambles. viet cong, assinated presidents, bombs and bunkers, religion and philosophies within conflict of one another; hatred and fear was in the air. on the other hand you had yippies, black activists, people of all color fighting for the better, fighting for change, fighting for freedom from the oppression of the past and the present. i ask myself, “what happened to these people?” i then recall the hippies, the ones who just wanted to be there for the hype of things. they didn’t need to be there at all, they just wanted to be there. many of these hippies went back to what they were accustomed to: status, pleasure, and oppression. they went back home to their wealthy parents and worked 9-5s.
regan era was in place, the fun and the change was shut down, this lead to chaos behind the scenes. the richest and perverted people of this earth, making dark moves underground, war on drugs infiltrating black, hispanic, and other poc communities, yippie parents neglecting their kids, the chaos continues as sitcoms make their way.
sitcoms are wholesome because they depict what a happy, normal, american family should look like. this was pure propaganda and manipulation towards gen x and millennials, and they weren’t buying it. they knew there was no such thing as a “normal” family. these kids knew veterans, they saw the hood first hand in their face, loved ones on drugs with ptsd. how can a old generation “protect” these kids?
skins UK is not a sitcom, but its a show that many people my age and older know of. I believe the popularity of this show was recognized on tumblr. the edge, the drugs, the sex, the pain, the fucks ups, were excessivly dipicted on that show. i’ve only seen about one season of skins and i already know the pain they felt at that time. generations and generations of pretending in the east, teens in the 2010s felt that. they found pleasure in the raves, they felt happiness and freedom there like the discos in the 60s-70s.
i was never there and i felt it. days as a child going on demand watching avicii and zedd, nightcore, paramore, paint it black, i felt it all.
Strawberry-pop was on tumblr and she saw and felt it in the moment. Strawberry-pop does a good job at keeping content up, she sees it all and she does a lot to fight back like the yippies and the misfits. empathy is their strength, they keep their composure through all the emotion. they know the feeling, they see it in me, like i see it in them.
today we continue to fight back. nothing will never be “normal.” people want to conform to normal, to suppress the pain all over again. i will fight until i see the earth bright again, until my fellow animals understand my love, until society feels my love like they know best.
- v1rtualvic
check out my friends blog, and her post on how hippies—as well as other groups—affected pop culture. not only that, but she explains the importance of fighting back against mass media, when they are fueling the injustices going on around us. i am not as good as she is when it comes to articulating my thoughts, so i appreciate this informative, yet personal post. @v1rtualvic’s energy and passion for improving society brings me hope and drives me to speak up for the voices that are silenced.
i will continue to stay on brand and add a gif :,)
all the people who are calling themselves “pro-life” right now were happy to sacrifice disabled people to a deadly virus for “the economy” 12 months ago. I guess zygotes are people but Amanda with 2 kids who has heart disease, is beyond saving and not worth the effort it takes to put a mask on. it’s not about “saving lives” for these people. It never was.
ppl being like “abortion is okay only if you took all the “correct” measures first or if you were impregnated non-consensually” SHUT UP! abortion for “sexually promiscuous” people and sex addicts and ppl you call sluts and whores and people who have one-night stands and every single person who had sex because they felt like it! you do not have to reach a quota of suffering to “deserve” an abortion. abortion is not something you earn. abortion isn’t a moral thing like you protestants like to think it’s a fucking right and everyone deserves access to it and they don’t have to prove that they deserve it. pregnancy is not a punishment for sex and every single person deserves the right to terminate a pregnancy regardless of how they became pregnant. shut up
Magnificent Errors is a beautifully atmospheric collection of poetry. Sheryl Luna focuses on those living in the margins and she does an amazing job of it, describing people who struggle whether it be through their socioeconomic background, mental health, those who have faced abuse, hard times, and injustice, and she describes the way that these are magnificent, awe-inspiring individuals. The localized nature themes make for beautiful symbolism, and the stories told were hard and heartbreaking. The author’s own struggles and recovery, her return to a place of light and beauty, was beautiful.
Thank you to Norte Dame Press, Kathryn Pitts, and Sheryl Luna, for this DRC.
I think maybe if there’s something that people are saying about their own marginalized bodies that’s clearly giving them gender euphoria and/or just a regular old confidence boost, and it makes you insecure or gives you second hand dysphoria, then that’s a valid emotion to have but also shouldn’t be broadcasted like a #hottake on a public social media website and instead talked through with someone in private.
like some fat people get a lot of joy out of affirmations about being sexy, some transmascs get a lot of joy out of men’s tits memes, some transfems get a lot of joy out of suck her dick sunday memes, and it’s fine if the idea of any of these puts you off but it’s not the fault of the people who enjoy them and they shouldn’t have to self censor because of it.
it’s crazy that people think “women can be bad/evil too” is like a revolutionary new take that now needs to be said because feminism (which in their minds is “women are good”) has successfully run its course and and we need to swing back in the other direction to restore balance or something. as if the idea that women are evil wicked slutty resentful conniving gold-digging liars who take advantage of society’s sympathy towards them to manipulate situations to their advantage and fuck men over hasn’t been like a core tenant of misogyny since the dawn of civilization
I think it’s more than fair to want gay sex on tv and evil gay representation and hot gay serial killers etc etc but I keep seeing a lot of pushback against “sanitized” gay representation that often just encompasses “family friendly” (aka g, pg, pg13 rated media) gay rep and, while I certainly don’t think it should replace hot gay sex, hot gay villains, trashy gay rep, slutty gays, etc etc (in fact, imo we need more gay media of all types and genres and ratings), this family friendly gay media serves the purpose of giving lgbt kids representation that they may not even realize they want or need yet until they see someone onscreen that they finally genuinely connect with, which they otherwise may not have until they’re much older. Also I just don’t like this habit of begrudging younger lgbt generations of things. Who cares if the cartoon shows are cheesy or the high school romcoms are cringy! They’re not necessarily for you.
My main issue with the pg13 media is that its promoted to queer adults as the perfect representation like I am an adult (im 18 so like im not the most adult adult out there) so I have 0 interest in perfect representation where the biggest issue of the characters is a hs popularity contest or passing my GCSE exams.
And then another issue is that people use pg13 media as a way of being like “omg finally gay people i respect. they are not fucking and sucking on screen” and use it to play into respectability politics (this isnt issue with pg13 media i enjoy complaining
I see this argument a lot and while I understand that it’s frustrating that good adult lgbt media is not necessarily as easily accessible as something on netflix, for instance, I do think the problem at least partly lies in the audience not seeking it out. Like, there is plenty of good adult lgbt media with dark themes and complex characters. Seek it out. Seek out international lgbt media. Seek out lgbt media with protagonists and creators of color. Seek out independently made adult lgbt media. It does exist, and it sucks that it isn’t as widely discussed or distributed, but nothing is stopping you from working just a little bit harder to find it. Yes, we need more. Yes, lgbt creators and especially lgbt creators of color deserve more acknowledgement and resources and funding. But in the meantime, support the ones we have because I promise they exist.
And as for being recommended only “kid friendly” lgbt media, try recommending your favorite adult lgbt media in turn! You might help someone discover their new favorite lesbian thriller.
i know we’re not an united ideological movement in any way, but i do wish trans people and trans allies had well-known guides for deradicalizing terfs.
terfs, like most cults, are pragmatic - they’ll take whoever they can get. but many of us on the left, be we lgbt+ or allies, are steeped in irredeemability politics. we don’t reform bigots, we exclude them.
and understandably so! but that also means the closest we get to actually bringing someone back from the brink is to just be hostile and tell them to fuck off. i getit, because we’re all dealing with our own trauma and these people are obviously partially responsible. but i do think there’s a way to deradicalize people.
terfs know people can change, that’s how they recruit. we have to believe people can change the other way too… otherwise, we’re dealing with an exponential number of terfs and terf-adjacent people who can seemingly only be radicalized in one direction. and that’s nota good numbers game.
so uh. yeah. if there was like an organized effort to create a “general guide” to deradicalize terfs, that’d be cool. and it can take many forms - literature and other texts which debunk their talking points, creating welcoming communities for previously isolated and lovebombed individuals, feminist circles which emphasize the harmony and interdependence of trans and feminist movements to destroy patriarchy and gendered expectations, or whatever else.
its a cliche to say at this point, but i think its still true - if we want to “win”, i think we need to work harder than to just say “its not my job to educate you.” if someone is in a gray area, or have yikes or outright offensive questions, we need to do something other than just tell them to fuck off. it doesn’t have to be you, but it has to be someone.
i say all of this because i’m trans and i’m scared. terfs are “rising” in politics. they are cited in transphobic legislation. they are able to stop goodlegislation. i want to deradicalize terfs notbecause i want you to personally forgive the people who hurt you, but because i want us to work together to protect trans people in society.
uwu trans boys who are feminine and attracted to men and wear dresses and paint their nails are actually the most powerful warriors against terfs we have, because exactly zero (0) of their talking points apply to us.
no we’re not “lost butch lesbians.” neither of those words make sense with our experiences, and no amount of conversion therapy will change that. no we don’t think “woman = feminine, man = masculine.” i’m currently wearing sparkly seafoam green nails. no we don’t need “feminism education,” half of us grew up feminist or later became so, and that’s a huge reason we’re more comfortable in having a non-traditional expression of our identity and breaking down patriarchal expectations by subverting gender roles. and no, we dont just need to realize that “strong women exist” or that “girls can be CEOs too”. most of us are socialists or communists so we don’t wanna be CEOs or contribute to exploitation thru climbing the hierarchical structures of our society anyway lmao.
So, there’s apparently research coming out now about microplastics being found in people’s bloodstreams and the possible negative effects of that and I feel the need to get out ahead of the wave of corporate sponsored “be sure to recycle your bottles!” or “ban glitter!” campaigns and remind everyone:
It’s fishing nets. It’s fishing nets. It is overwhelming fishing nets It always has been fishing nets.Unless regulations are changed, it will continue to be fishing nets.
The plastic in the ocean in largely discarded nets from industrial fishing. The microplastics are the result of these nets breaking down. The “trash islands” are also, you guessed it. Mostly fishing nets and other discarded fishing industry equipment.
Do not allow them to continue to twist the story. Do not come after disabled people who require single use plastics. Do not come after people using glitter in art projects and makeup. These things make up a negligible amount of the issue compared to corporate waste, specifically in the fishing industry. Do not let them shift the blame to the individual so they can continue to destroy the planet and our bodies without regulation.
Industries are incredibly resistant to taking responsibility for their own waste, to the point where “consumers are responsible for industrial waste” is somehow considered a sensible, ethical, worthy sentence.
It is actually perfectly reasonable to say that “industries are responsible for industrial waste” and “the effects of industry can, should and must be fixed by industry” and “Industry can, should and must be held responsible for its impacts on the commons, such as air, water, oceans and land.”
I think it’s interesting to see the reactions to today’s Dracula Daily that are like, “He did a racism! He used the g-slur!” and don’t go deeper than that. I was born in the early 80s and didn’t know the g-slur was a slur until like between 5 and 10 years ago. I mean, there was a whole Disney movie that used the word like it was no big deal when I was in middle school. I’m not saying Disney wouldn’t do a racism, I’m saying Disney wouldn’t have put language in a 90s kids’ movie that wasn’t considered “politically correct” in mainstream America at the time. Anyway, my point is that until sometime in the mid 2010s, I honestly thought G****** was just what that group of people were called, or was a term for nomadic people in general. I guarantee there are well-meaning Americans in the year 2022 who aren’t tuned into online antiracist discourse who still think that. Stoker could’ve easily used the word thinking it was no different than calling someone an Englishman or a cowboy.
The blatant racism here is how the Romani are portrayed. They are “without religion, save superstition,” i.e. Godless heathens, i.e. their religion isn’t a version of Christianity so it isn’t a legitimate religion. They’re ignorant for only speaking their own language, even though Jonathan doesn’t speak or understand it and doesn’t understand most of the foreign language he’s encountered on this trip. They act overtly deferential and subservient to Jonathan. They take his money and then sell him out to the Count.
If this narrative had only used the word Romani or the name that this particular group of Romani used for themselves (I’m seeing meta that Szgany is a slur, too, but I haven’t looked into it), this depiction would still be racist. While it is important to update our language as we gain better information, I think terminology is ultimately less important than whether a marginalized character or group is being portrayed as an offensive racial stereotype. I see all kinds of writing by modern writers, professional and amateur, that uses all the correct 2020s terminology but still portrays characters as the invulnerable black woman, the submissive Asian woman, the predatory brown man, the Jewish moneylender, etc. Again, I’m not saying terminology doesn’t matter and shouldn’t be critiqued in older writing, I’m just saying we shouldn’t let terminology distract from content.
calling use of the g slur “online discourse” is not your place as a gadjo. romani people telling you that the z slur is a slur shouldn’t be something you need to “look into”. this is not a bad post overall, and in fact i agree with you on almost every level, but the incredibly blasé approach you are taking to the use of antiromanist slurs here is super not cool.
you’re right that stoker’s depiction is antiromanist with or without the use of slurs, but both the g slur and z slur cause absolutely visceral reactions for myself and many romani people, especially when used by gadje. talking about the use of slurs doesn’t automatically mean that people are discounting the portrayal of rom as money obsessed superstitious scammers. i personally tend to expect that from any media with romani characters in it, but i don’t always anticipate the use of the g slur, so i was glad to see a post warning of the g slur prior to reading.
overall, you’re not wrong, but you’re making your points while also grossly overstepping.
the thing that strikes me about this latest wave of anti-trans hate and legislation in the U.S. is that it feels like it’s *kind of* about trans people but really about a fear fundamental to all conservatives that a day will one day come when they will no longer be able to completely control their children
american conservatism is a death cult. trump made this incredibly obvious but it’s been trending that way for a while. it is spiteful, bigoted, cruel, morally bankrupt, and all evidence in support of it has either been fabricated, forged, deceptively edited, or disproven. being conservative goes against a fundamental human desire to be kind to those around you and I think on some level conservatives know this, and thus, they know that the only reason children would subscribe to these values is if they are indoctrinated into them with cult-like single-mindedness
Conservatives have been pushing for homeschooling for decades, they’ve been raising concerns about teaching evolution in schools since the early 20th century, they’ve made wedge issues out of sex ed, history textbooks, and now gay and trans teachers. They want a world in which children are taught to be conservative from birth and any attempt to teach them anything else is a literal crime. They want this because they know, deep down inside, that most children would not agree with them unless they were literally brainwashed into it.
also worth pointing out that most child abuse (sexual or otherwise) takes place within a “traditional” family structure or a “traditional” religious institution and I have to wonder if people who want to abuse kids have a fundamental investment in preserving strict hierarchies in which adult men have unquestioned authority over children
Like I’m not saying *every* conservative is like this but perhpas their emphasis on “groomers” is a wee bit of projection
Anyway abolish the family trans rights are human rights institute fully automated luxury gay space communism now
This tweet sums it up pretty well:
This is another big reason why most conservatives bitch about higher education; a lot of younger people (myself included) undo their conservative upbringing brainwashing after being exposed to new ideas, meeting new and diverse people, and getting a higher-quality education when they attend college.
This is also, of course, why conservative lawmakers constantly seek to undermine public education and make it shittier so the kids who go through it are more ignorant. An educated and well-informed populace is the GOP’s worst nightmare.
like, agreed in general but also the roots of this movement are white supremacy. that’s the beginning and end of this shit.
when and why did the homeschooling and private school push begin? after brown versus board and public schools were desegregated.
why did the conservative backlash (which we’ve been riding for forty plus years) begin? because of the civil rights act, which threatened to end the white supremacy status quo and “unfairly take from whites” to give to poc.
why are conservatives trying to cripple the federal government? because the federal government is committed (however poorly implemented and imperfectly) to protect minorities and is seen as blocking white men from taking/stealing what they want when they want to.
you cannot fight them without naming what they actually are committed to at the end of the day, which is, again WHITE SUPREMACY.
Today we remember disabled people who were murdered by their families for being a burden. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s an act of kindness. It’s murder without justice. And in these past few years, where the refrain has been “…yeah, but only people with underlying health conditions, right?”, as disabled people have been the victims of this virus & the neglect of those unwilling to take the barest precautions to protect us, we have far heavier hearts to carry. Not to mention the abuse & neglect that far too many disabled, chronically ill & neurodiverse people suffer at the hands of their caregivers - & yes, that includes family & loved ones. I’m asking you to take the time to look through the #DisabilityDayOfMourning tag, to search it on the internet and read what people have to say. And to think about what you would do if someone you know was murdered by a loved one simply for being disabled. Today we mourn, tomorrow we fight on.
#DisabilityDayOfMourning Have you ever read a news story where a mother has killed her disabled or autistic child? Was it phrased as the mother being overwhelmed, at the end of her rope, out of options, didn’t know what else to do? Did you find yourself empathizing with her, feeling bad for her, hoping her life could find some peace? … You do know she’s a murderer, right? That the person you should feel bad for is the person she murdered? Yes, Murdered.
These news stories too often lean towards “that poor, poor mother” (or father, other family member or caregiver). They never seem to lean towards empathizing with the disabled person who was murdered. Why is that? Because disabled people are too often seen as “less than”, while the put-upon caregiver is not. Do I feel for the overwhelmed parent? Hell yes. Is the solution murder? Hell no. Does the disabled person ever get justice? Very, very rarely. Do we as a society learn from these events & start offering more services, money & help to both caregivers *and* disabled people? Very, very rarely. Should we do better? Yes. Can we do better? Yes.
In the name of all the disabled people who have been murdered by the very people who were meant to care for them…we can do better. And we should. #JusticeForTheDisabled
Watching this documentary short (taken from a longer documentary) about poor kids in Ohio during lockdown. This woman, with three kids, has been told by her doctors that she can’t work due to kidney disease. The state agrees enough to give her *some* benefits, but…she has to volunteer 80 hours a month to receive said benefits. If she’s too sick to work, then she’s too sick to volunteer 20 hours a week. I remember at the end of my “working life”, I finally realized it was time to turn in my papers when I couldn’t manage 18 hours a week. Ohio, wtf is this nonsense?! And in this documentary, it’s during the pandemic. The 13 year old subject of the film says how worried he is about his mom having to be out there volunteering because she’s so likely to catch Covid. I have to imagine a strong case of Covid could do damage to her already vulnerable kidneys. What utter bullshit our whole system is!
Here is the full documentary, an hour long, which I guess I’m gonna watch now so I can get even angrier at our system!
Look, I know a good number of you are from the US and things aren’t amazing there either, but my country is literally on the brink of collapse. So I’d love it if we could talk about that for a minute.
If you can’t do anything else, please just read and reblog.
Even a small amount of 5 or 7 or 10 of foreign currency will help a lot. Our government has essentially abandoned us. People have turned to social media for help. WhatsApp groups and DMs on twitter/insta is where we find help. Our helpline is a Google doc. Situation is so dire that hospitals are discharging patients due to lack of oxygen. Every night the same story, oxygen running out in hospitals, citizens running around to somehow arrange for oxygen with minutes to spare. Last night, we had manged to get oxygen to a hospital with 14min to spare.
^ that post has links to petitions and donations PLEASE boost the versions of this post with links!!
Reblogging with more links. Listen to @groundzero-and-deku ☝️ they know what they’re talking about.
Some of you in the US have asked what else you can do. I’m not the best person to answer this since I’m not from there, but I do know that Biden is being urged to ship supplies to India. Maybe a more informed person can chime in with how best you can help but calling your representative and registering your concern sounds like a good starting point.
From one democracy to another, thank you. Please keep this going, you’re all amazing.
Reblogging one more time
EDIT: Reblogging with donation and resource links all in one place:
Not every listed charity has the infrastructure to accept international donations, so please be sure to check this list which has specific information about charities that can and are accepting international donations.
Also re-adding the link to the give2asia charitable foundation for those who don’t want to go through the whole post.
Y'all, this is a good time to mention that I am not affiliated with any charity or donation centerandam not receiving donations on behalf of anyone.
This is a list of resources compiled partly by me and more importantly, by other people who have a better grasp on the situation than myself.
They are to the best of our knowledge great resources but I still encourage you to do your research and put your money where you believe it will be used best.
If you find more ways to help or donate, add them in a reblog - let’s get as much information out there as possible.
Much love and please stay safe
PLEASE BOOST THIS VERSION OF THE POST WITH THE EXTENDED LIST OF LINKS TO DONATIONS AND RESOURCES
UPDATE:
The number of new cases has almost hit the 350,000 mark. The total number of covid cases in the country is just shy of 17 million. This is the situation as of 25 April 2021.
Things are dire. People are largely on their own now and help, if any, is yet to come.
President Biden is being urged to ease restrictions or remove to embargo on raw materials that could be critical in India’s fight against the virus.
Just a while ago, the US government committed to helping with “a small supply of inputs and components from US companies for production of COVID-19 vaccines in India”.
As little 7 dollars can get someone a bed or an oxygen tank.
Here’s a list of independent NGOs and charities that are largely accepting international donations. REMEMBER: OXYGEN is the need of the hour.
I’ve heard from multiple sources that the government-run PM CARES fund is not directing funds to where they’re needed and while I don’t have exact information, I would advise you to avoid this platform out of caution.
Some of you are rightly concerned about where your money is going.
Again,I do not represent any charity or NGO, am not affiliated with anyone andam not involved in any stage in the collection or distribution of your donations. I’m just a person doing whatever she can so please do a little bit of research to help you identify the best place to put your donation.
At the very least, please don’t let this post die. Don’t let more people die. Keep reblogging and yelling about it on social media.
As someone else pointed out in the notes, there is no central helpline. All we have is each other and the little we can do in the face of this chaos.
We’re resorting to social media to get help and spread awareness. We have literally the same tools you do. Please don’t let this die yet. Please get the word out if you can’t do anything else.
Thank you so much and please, keep us in your thoughts.
For ppl asking why she’s an anti black, anti Semite. She has used the n word and compared her depression to the holocaust
Even not counting her poetry her private journals are full of disgusting, overblown antisemitism. She didn’t just use Jewish people for her metaphors, she outright hated them irl and yet decided to use their suffering for her own gain
okay, I’m Jewish and I appreciate this sentiment. and if someone wants to cut out Sylvia Plath, go for it, I get it.
But. by this logic we’d also need to stop reblogging TS Eliot, Oscar Wilde, and Shakespeare quotes. Virginia Woolf wrote anti-semetic things in her private journals, too. If you only want to read classic poets who liked Jews and black people, that’s fine, but like. good luck? Sylvia Plath isn’t an exception.
idk. Tumblr’s attitude of “consume nothing problematic” just doesn’t work if you’re part of a group that most culture-creators over the last few centuries have hated by default. For people actually in those groups, it’s not like the only two choices are 1) worship authors who hate you or 2) completely cut the majority of literature out of your life. You learn to read critically and acknowledge flaws where you find them.
anyway, as a Jewish woman, I would much rather see a version of this post that said “please read Sylvia Plath poetry critically because she’s anti black and antisemetic” than just “stop reblogging Sylvia Plath poetry.”
IMO, reblog Sylvia Plath all you want, just not unthinkingly.
I’m reblogging this now because I’m seeing anti-Virginia Woolf discourse lately due to the antisemitism in her journals and like… as a Jewish person who loves Virginia Woolf’s writing and an English teacher who knows that pretty much every writer of the classics is Problematic just…chill pls
The point isn’t to never consume media that isn’t ideologically pure. That’s never the point. Were that the goal, we would NEVER be able to consume any media. Nothing is ever ideologically pure, especially as time goes on and our social consciousness expands.
We should be telling people instead, “Be critical as you read this person’s work. They held bigoted views. Understand how that is reflected in their work, and be mindful of it. Be critical, be thoughtful”
Compelling others to not engage with something at ALL on ideological grounds is in the same vein as burning books. We should be compelling others to be critical and mindful, not narrow and willfully ignorant.
I don’t think employers should be legally allowed to ask anyone to dress up for interviews. I should be able to walk in off the street in jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt and interview for jobs because employers are supposed to be interviewing me and my skills, training, education, and experience, not the nicest clothes in my closet.
It’s discriminatory towards poor people to ask otherwise.
It’s also just fucking audacious to demand that the people you need to provide the labor to keep your workplace going put on a suit and dance around like a trained monkey before you’ve even hired them.
I also think starting work clothes need to be added to the list of necessary things that employers should be paying their employees for, along with their commutes.
If you need me to work your job and you need me to wear scrubs and nonslip shoes to work your job then you should be buying me scrubs and nonslip shoes so I have something to wear to work your job.
In summary clothing should not be a barrier to employment and jobs should not have the right to make demands of your wardrobe and wallet.
I think it’s interesting to see the reactions to today’s Dracula Daily that are like, “He did a racism! He used the g-slur!” and don’t go deeper than that. I was born in the early 80s and didn’t know the g-slur was a slur until like between 5 and 10 years ago. I mean, there was a whole Disney movie that used the word like it was no big deal when I was in middle school. I’m not saying Disney wouldn’t do a racism, I’m saying Disney wouldn’t have put language in a 90s kids’ movie that wasn’t considered “politically correct” in mainstream America at the time. Anyway, my point is that until sometime in the mid 2010s, I honestly thought G****** was just what that group of people were called, or was a term for nomadic people in general. I guarantee there are well-meaning Americans in the year 2022 who aren’t tuned into online antiracist discourse who still think that. Stoker could’ve easily used the word thinking it was no different than calling someone an Englishman or a cowboy.
The blatant racism here is how the Romani are portrayed. They are “without religion, save superstition,” i.e. Godless heathens, i.e. their religion isn’t a version of Christianity so it isn’t a legitimate religion. They’re ignorant for only speaking their own language, even though Jonathan doesn’t speak or understand it and doesn’t understand most of the foreign language he’s encountered on this trip. They act overtly deferential and subservient to Jonathan. They take his money and then sell him out to the Count.
If this narrative had only used the word Romani or the name that this particular group of Romani used for themselves (I’m seeing meta that Szgany is a slur, too, but I haven’t looked into it), this depiction would still be racist. While it is important to update our language as we gain better information, I think terminology is ultimately less important than whether a marginalized character or group is being portrayed as an offensive racial stereotype. I see all kinds of writing by modern writers, professional and amateur, that uses all the correct 2020s terminology but still portrays characters as the invulnerable black woman, the submissive Asian woman, the predatory brown man, the Jewish moneylender, etc. Again, I’m not saying terminology doesn’t matter and shouldn’t be critiqued in older writing, I’m just saying we shouldn’t let terminology distract from content.
Okay kids! It’s time for your friendly neighborhood autistic to tell you why functioning labels are bullshit!
It’s time for a Tale of Two Autistics.
Autistic 1
can “pass” as neurotypical
not all of their friends believe they’re autistic
ran a psychology study
has won writing awards at the college level
got a 2380 on the SAT
is starting a small business
can care for pets without help
Autistic 2
can’t live independently
often forgets to shower
periodically goes nonverbal
can’t drive
can’t do bus transfers
incontinent
hates most clothing textures and rarely even wears matching clothes
can’t go shopping without help
So! You’d say that Autistic 1 is high-functioning and Austic 2 is low-functioning, right?
Trick question! Both of them are me.
All autistics have different strengths and weaknesses. The problem arises when people try to group us into broad categories instead of assessing each of us individually. Nobody is saying that different autistics don’t need different accommodations; we’re saying it’s ridiculous to assign us accommodations and groups without talking to us first! `The functioning labels as allistics perceive them just don’t exist! We all have different needs, and we all want to be heard.
Imagine being a kid in school. Your teacher comes up with an idea for class picture. Every student will draw pictures of their friends.
Everyone starts drawing enthusiasticly, and can’t wait to see what they look like in the drawings. When pictures are ready you notice that popular students have more pictures than rest, but nobody has done a drawing of you. The teacher notices that too, and asks if someone would do your picture. To your horror the class clown takes the job, and comes up with a caricature of you. Others are laughing, but you’re not. You feel awful. The teacher notices that. and asks again someone to do a drawing of you. One of the ‘good students’ starts drawing, but the result is forced. It’s just a drawing of a generic child wearing a shirt of same color as you a wearing. There’s no spirit, no soul in it. You start sensing that the class is geting frustrated with you. They want to be done with this. You ask quietly the teacher if you could do a drawing yourself.
After school your classmates confront you. Why did you have to make such a big deal out of it? The first picture was funny. The second picture was just fine! The drawing you did yourself wasn’t right, do you think you are that good-looking? There were other kids who got only one or two pictures of themselves. Who are you to demand special treatment? Maybe there would have been a picture of you if you weren’t such annoying baby, nobody likes you anyway, and nobody’s going to if you keep on being like that, you don’t deserve a drawing!
This could be story of bullying, but it’s also about how I see portraying LGBTQ+-people and PoC in mainstream entertainment.
i miss when you could make political art without placing personal identity (and the self) at the center of everything
this piece (“artist bio” by anna daliza) sort of perfectly sums it up. the emphasis on identity politics and tokenization in art/music/performance spaces feels reductive and exploitative- like it offers a sort of racial tourism for the wealthy white patrons. none of what im saying are original thoughts btw go see White by james ijames
