A Smorgasbord of My Favorite Things

And they promote Reylo, specifically.

I’m queer. My sexual/romantic orientation is not an easily explained situation.

When I say ‘queer’ as an umbrella term, I’m not using it as an equivalent to LGBT, because it isn’t. I am referring to the people who are like me, who are queer, who are attracted to a particular spectrum of people in a way not easily defined by labels. LGBT people can be included in the queer umbrella, if they want to be. Or not, if they don’t. That’s their call, not mine.

My identity is not a slur. Our community, the Queer community, is also not a slur. I will not be erased by the “LGBT” crowd in the interest of keeping things neat and tidy in front of The Cishets.

I have to laugh this is what happens when you let white people THINK about the MENA

Slavic Cossack dancing known as Hopak 

I Can Dream At Least

It’s like this, dudes. Women in Western society are socialised to cooperate and compromise. Some men are socialised to get all their own way, all the time.  These dudes are incredibly dangerous to women their partners,* and the only way to tell them apart from the OK guys is to pay close attention to how they react.  If you’re one of the OK ones, this isn’t about you. Learn to take “no” for an answer, and you’ll be fine.

Actually, this post is doing the opposite. This post is telling women to be straightforward, and forthright, and upfront about their values and opinions.

This post is telling women, “I know you’ve been socialized and conditioned to nod and smile at everything a man says your whole life, since you were 4 years old and your grandma told you that little girls should be seen and not heard. I know that by now it’s second nature to you, and you probably don’t even realize you’re doing it half the time. You don’t even realize that the laugh that just came out of your mouth is a laugh of appeasement, rather than a laugh of genuine humor. ”

It’s telling women, “Force yourself to resist your conditioning. Consciously make an effort to be open and honest in that initial conversation, when you’re making small talk, about small things. If he says something you don’t quite agree with (and he inevitably will, because nobody agrees on everything), don’t smile and concede the point like you’ve been trained to do. Consciously make a point of vocalizing your real opinion.”

Wool was a huge industry in Europe in the middle ages. It was hugely in demand, particularly broadcloth, and was a valuable trade good. A great deal of wool was owned by monasteries and landed gentry who owned the land. 

And, well, the only way to spin wool into yarn to make broadcloth was by hand. 

This was viewed as a feminine occupation, and below the dignity of the monks and male gentry that largely ran the trade. 

So what did they do?

They hired women to spin it. And, turns out, this was a stable job that paid very well. Well enough that it was one of the few viable economic options considered ‘respectable’ outside of marriage for a woman. A spinster could earn quite a tidy salary for her art, and maintain full control over her own money, no husband required. 

So, naturally, women who had little interest in marriage or men? Grabbed this opportunity with both hands and ran with it. Of course, most people didn’t get this, because All Women Want Is Husbands, Right?

So when people say ‘spinster’ as in ‘spinster aunt’, they are TRYING to conjure up an image of a little old lady who is lonely and bitter. 

I would be very interested to see your sources. 

But first, mine

http://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/35n1a1.pdf

http://knightsofthepaintable.com/blog/2011/05/30/medieval-life-106-spinsters-and-spinners/

http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270606.001.0001/acprof-9780199270606  (You’d have to read the book itself (I own a copy) but here’s a link to it.)

“Women in medieval English society”, Mavis E. Mate (https://books.google.com/books?id=YUVXsG5CaywC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=medieval+spinster+independent&source=bl&ots=Vmxe4vjXJ4&sig=Ej-Z3q9KwBnWi0VMeBb4l5NTqSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3_PGXutjaAhVS3WMKHb2uA5M4ChDoAQhBMAg#v=onepage&q=medieval%20spinster%20independent&f=false

http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-people/medieval-tradesmen-and-merchants/

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/wages-of-women-in-england-12601850/80FBE8313B63D174E2F71DCEAE6D7EBE/core-reader

https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/nufesohwp/_5f145.htm

https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/L08MedTextiles.pdf

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25012124?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

I always thought George Lucas was just being an ass when he decided to change Timothy Zahn’s pronunciation of Coruscant. That’s literally how I always heard it: “hurr blurr sure this guy help establish an ongoing series of novels that almost singlehandedly maintained interest in my franchise enough that I finally feel it’s the right time to continue it in film so I’ll use his name for the capital planet buuuuuut I don’t care about his linguistic choices.” Nowhere have I ever seen that Lucas changed it to help a child actor feel comfortable and not embarrassed about tripping on his lines.

I am not an ambassador. I did not agree to, nor do I want, that position. I am not anyone’s token trans. I am not the spokesperson for all trans people everywhere. I am an individual, and I am just trying to live my life.