Give My Life Away

its just so nice that the film sits there and says ‘ryland graces job as a teacher is important’, because its very common in these kinda films that the protagonist starts off as a teacher purely to give a bit of exposition before the government person shows up and goes ‘youre the best (insert science here)ist in the world, and we need your help to save the world’ or whatever, and i assumed at first that thats what this film was doing as well

but its not

grace starts the film as a teacher, he goes through the film as a teacher, and he ends the film as a teacher. he is a teacher to his students. he is a teacher to the astronauts. he is a teacher to rocky. and at the end of it all, he is a teacher to his students.

I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.

The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.

Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.

A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:

Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.

Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240, please ask your MP to sign this.

Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns

Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.

I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.

It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:

Son Hak. This man is not a green flag or a tree, he is a literal green forest

From the start of the manga, he's been a fabulous person. He's in love with Yona but understands that she is in love with Su-won and respects that. He loves them both and wants them to be happy.

When everything goes to hell, he doesn't want to bring problems with his tribe so he officially leaves it. Stands by Yona but teaches her to stand for herself as well. He believes in her. He wants to protect her but puts his trust in her abilities as well. He's proud of her skills and he's not afraid to brag about her capabilities.

He isn't afraid to show emotions either. While he has a banter with the dragons, he genuinely shows that he considers all of them his friends. He hugs them. He cries and doesn't try to hide it. Doesn't act like a tsundere when feelings are involved. Yes he's a little baffled when Yona returns his feelings but that's normal. I know he does have a temper. But he tries to put his rage at the bottom of his priority list.

if a girl i just met jumped in front of a giant monster-looking ghost to save me and my family

gave me her power so that i could protect, even if it made her lose most of her own

trained me and let me fight the monster who killed my mom while giving me the space i need (all while making sure i lived and healing my battle wounds)

then made sure i didn't get killed while her brother and childhood "friend" took her away

making me feel like the only thing i have to do is save her

then i find out she's been talking nothing but highly of me the entire time she waits on her execution

makes me want to be stronger, to the point where i got ultimate power (bankai) to save her

and when i caught up to her right as her execution was about to happen, she was brought to tears

and her smile reminded me why i wanted to save her so bad

marukoXD on X: “冬の思い出… https://t.co/7ac9pNyAap" 

You really don't remember me?

Intersectionality, at it's core, asserts that identities can not be broken into what we see as their individual parts, in particular when discussing the oppression and prejudice a person faces. Identities are more than just the sum of their parts.

The theory was originally laid out by a black woman to explain her own oppression. In short, she claimed that her oppression as a black woman could not be simply explained as black oppression + woman oppression. She also experienced black woman oppression.

Now, the nuances of the situation are much more complex, but this is the very basic idea. You always have to account for a person's identity as a whole, and not just the individual parts.

Black women are not just "black" + "women"

Black men are not just "black" + "men"

Trans women are not just "trans" + "women"

Trans men are not just "trans" + "men"

You always have to consider the identity as a whole, which may mean there are non obvious aspects of the whole identity that are not readily explained by the sum of the individual parts.

That is the basic explanation. Now let's get into one particular application I think is very important, at least on Tumblr, because on tumblr it has become extremely controversial.

A consequence of intersectionality is that specific kinds of oppression cannot be divorced from maleness. A black man's oppression cannot be explained as "black" + "male" oppression. There are aspects of the oppression black men face that cannot be separated from their identity as a whole. Even if you believe "men" suffer no unique oppression, intersectionality means you can't deny the possibility that "black men" suffer oppression that cannot be divorced from them being men.

This application of intersectionality is fundamental and the application of intersectionality to black men has been accepted for basically as long as intersectionality has been around.

A similar application can be made to trans men.

Now if you don't agree with this model, sure. Im not going to say it is fine because I think you are wrong, but no social model is above criticism. What you can't do is claim that intersectionality is anything else. You either accept that aspects of oppression can be tied to maleness, or you do not accept intersectionality. There is no secret third thing. This is a fundamental consequence of intersectionality as a model.

I think it is important to note that intersectionality did not start as queer theory. The roots of the model are in the study of sexism and racism. This is black feminist theory. And to put a point on it, trans feminist theory has no business trying to warp intersectionality to fit preconceived ideas about how queer identities and queer oppression works.

I believe that twisting well established black feminist theory into an unrecognizable form and then stealing the credibility of that well established black feminist theory by labeling your new theory "intersectional" is racist. We do not get to borrow their credibility while spitting on their work.