Fallingasleepstanding

Those old social and economic arguments are still being made today, but they carry much less weight with the public. It is hard to sell contemporary adults on the notion that sex for pleasure and intimacy is a bad thing even within marriage, and that having lots of children is a white woman’s patriotic duty. That’s why today the official focus is on “life”: the argument that from “the moment of conception,” long before she even suspects she’s pregnant—in fact, before she actually is pregnant as standard medicine defines it—a woman is carrying a human being who has, like other human beings, a right not to be killed. [...]

The anti-abortion movement, however, is not just about “the unborn.” It is also a protest against women’s growing freedom and power, including their sexual freedom and power. That is why it is based in churches with explicitly limited roles and inferior status for women—not just the famously patriarchal Catholic Church but the Southern Baptists and other fundamentalist/evangelical Protestant denominations where women are barred from leadership and the submission of wives to their husbands is an official tenet. The anti-abortion movement is a crucial chunk of the base of the Republican Party, which in recent years has opposed just about every legislative proposal that would benefit women: the Violence Against Women Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Act (which merely restored long-standing equal pay protections overturned by the Supreme Court), the Paycheck Fairness Act, and the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which almost every country in the world has signed. Despite its extremism, the anti-abortion movement has been able to capitalize on widespread ambivalence about feminism and social change.

Legal abortion presents the issue of women’s emancipation in particularly stark form. It takes a woman’s body out of the public realm and puts her, not men and not children, at the center of her own life. It is thus not just a matter of women’s physical health but a deep challenge to traditional views of women.

Abortion did not always have this meaning: As long as women were firmly ensconced in the family as wives and mothers with few rights and little social power, abortion was legal or tolerated as a way to save unmarried daughters from shame, limit family size, and protect exhausted mothers from the rigors of yet more pregnancies and births. It was part of women’s messy private business, like periods and miscarriages and giving birth, things men were well advised to leave alone. But once middle-class white women began to emancipate themselves and get involved in public and political life, even if only to join a women’s club or take on charity projects, abortion took on its modern meaning of self-determination and independence and active decision-making. Those are bedrock American values for men, but not for women, who are supposed to be self-sacrificing, other-oriented, maternal, and dependent. Even though most women who have abortions go on to have children (if they are not already mothers, as we’ve seen the majority are), legal abortion challenges the social meaning of womanhood, and that makes a lot of people uneasy, even forty-odd years after Roe.”

Let’s start a chain of helpful programs women should know about. Contribute.

Here’s the website to California’s Women, infants, and children program (WIC) that will give you credit for groceries if you are low income. I qualified and I’m pregnant, no other kids present. Very helpful for my broke self.

https://www.myfamily.wic.ca.gov/

Pro bono legal support

I better understand the need for equity, equality, fairness, and accessibility in society.

I am more aware of problematic health care, insurance, and governmental regulations for disadvantaged groups.

I understand the feelings that come with being isolated, discriminated against, excluded, and ridiculed.

I understand the pain, loss, helplessness, courage, and, determination that comes with physical and mental illnesses.

I understand humanity a lot better than before.

With so much being taken away from me, I've gained in compassion for the complexities of people's struggles.

That isn’t fair. It isn’t just. But it is reality. If Otto Frank had let this be included in the published version, there’s a large chance the homophobic backlash would have prevented the book from reaching the audience it did and spreading the message it needed to. It was NINETEEN. FORTY. SEVEN. The Holocaust had ended TWO YEARS AGO. The acceptance of LGBT identities was basically nonexistent. Otto Frank made a decision based on the time and place he was living in, about what the world at that time was and wasn’t ready to accept. 

Let me say this as bluntly as I can - I am a bisexual Jewish girl and I would have made the same decision Otto Frank did. Making sure Anne Frank was unambiguously seen as sympathic and heroic was more important. Making sure people weren’t sidetracked from the main issue of the Holocaust was more important. He shouldn’t have had to make that decision, without doubt. Anne Frank’s sexuality (however she would have identified in modern terms) shouldn’t be considered relevant to her status as a hero or a sympathetic victim. But in 1947, it undoubtedly would have been.

the second episode is even all about addressing this ‘consent’, and that potential audience superiority: “so why don’t they just leave???? if they can??? why did they even do all this to start with?? it’s so extreme, to do all that just for money, i would never”

i have yet to meet a woman who would by her 100% own will become a prostitute or suffer for 9 months just to have her baby ripped away from her. it's always about money. it always happens when a woman either finds herself in a place so dark she can't think of a better option or just straight up gets groomed and forced into doing those things.

and there is always encouragement and positive exposition, so that women keep living with the illusion of free choice and the ability to opt out of dangerous situations if they wish to do so.

i don't know how people manage to get the show's message and recognize the destruction capitalism brings to the poor, but fight for women's "choice" to destroy their life and health the same way. how can they recognize the power rich people have over the poor, but fail to understand that men hold the same power over women?

They posted something along the lines of “Human rights should be accessible to everyone, however we can’t pretend the trans movement is highly supported by the most powerful rich white males as it benefits their interests”. They deleted it after a while. No one was ready to hear that this movement was a miracle to capitalists everywhere, convincing doctors to ignore our jobs to over-medicalize healthy people with experimental treatments? Genius. The cliche billion dollar pharmaceutical industry that loves to sell people over priced treatments they need, like insulin that costs cents to produce, will now sell you surgeries, prosthetics, synthetic hormones for life…and you don’t even need to be sick! The last time this happened was with the creation of non-reconstructive nose/boob-jobs.

the misogyny of the trans right crowd, the inability to empathize with women, shows when they claim that “female” is prescriptive, that it necessarily entails certain actions and behaviors.

She supports late term abortions for females and for babies with even mild disabilities, it’s so sad to see radfems fall for this type of oppression and think it’s liberating them

Honestly I couldn't even tell whether I ever reblogged from her lol

When I directly reblog radfem post that's bc I agree with the post's content - not necessarily the blogger as a whole. I NEVER reblog to argue radfem because they're (for the most part) INSANE and will lash out at you like a flock of harpies and I reaaally don't want this energy in my life lol Last time one of my post made its rounds in radfem circles and some tried to act smartass with me I shut them down real quick and blocked them. I'm too old for that stuff... smh

I've started screenshotting awful stuff radfem says for "receipts" in before I get accused of making stuff up. I literally saw radfem say female rape wasn't a thing, glamorize abortion, call stay at home moms "slave", "handmaiden" or "sperm receiver" unprovoked, call a pro-life gay teen a "AIDS ridden" "faggot" (while whining that conservatives are the homophobic ones...🙄), support female (serial) killers, say that male BABIES were misogynists/rapist in becoming and thus should be wiped off at birth, call babies "satan"..... These women are utter sociopaths.

How ironic is to see them mock TRA for being genital fetishists/weirdos but radfem really are no better in the lane of psychopathic behaviors.... They can be utterly unhinged, aggressive, hypocrite and toxic and it's about time they stop acting like victims for being unanimously disliked - some of them actually they deserve it.

In the end of the day, my goal isn't to pick fights with radfem, but actually expose how awful they can be and WHY some people -who aren't necessarily misogynist or TRA- are turned off by them. I know some radfem/gendercrit women follow me and I'm appreciative they have enough open mindedness and self awareness to try to acknowledge this reality.

I’ve attended and worked at a couple of super liberal universities. I avoid the gender studies departments for obvious reasons and I still had a lecture in which the female prof gave a brief overview of TERFs and proclaimed her hatred of JKR. Being openly critical of gender ideology, the porn industry, kinks, and ‘sex work’ are the kind of things that can ruin your future in academia. Not to mention the fact that any speech or actions that could be labelled transphobic (ie. defining woman as adult human female) can get you a suspension according to many universities anti-hate-speech policies. 

So, here’s a list of small and smallish (small in terms of overt TERFery, some may require more effort than others) radical feminist actions you can take as a university student:

(this is a liberal arts perspective so if you’re a stem gal this may not apply. but also if you’re in stem maybe you can actually acknowledge that women are oppressed as a sex class without getting kicked out of school. idk)

(Note for TRAs hate reading this: One of the core actions of radical feminism is creating female networks. This is not so that we can brainwash people into being anti-trans. This is because female solidarity is necessary for creating class consciousness and overturning patriarchy. It is harder to subjugate the female sex when we stand together.)

Take classes with female profs. Multiple sections of a class? Pick the one taught by a woman. Have to chose an elective? Only look at electives offered by women. When classes have low numbers they get cancelled. When classes are super popular, universities are forced to consider promoting the faculty that teach them

Make relationships with these female profs. Go to office hours. Chat after class. Ask them about their research. Building female networks is sooooo important!

Actually fill in your end of year course feedback forms. Profs often need these when applying for tenure or applying for a job at another university so it is very important (especially with young and/or new profs) that you fill out these forms and give specific examples of how great these women are. Go off about what you love about them! Give her a brilliant review because you know the idiot boy in that class who won’t shut up even though he knows nothing is going to give her only negative feedback because he thinks any woman who leaves the house is a feminazi b*tch. 

(note: obviously don’t go praising any prof - female or male - who is blatantly racist, homophobic, etc.)

(Also if you have shitty male profs write down all the horrible things they have done and said and put it in these forms because once a shitty man gets tenure they are virtually untouchable)

(also also, leave a good review on rate my profs or whatever other thing students use to figure out if they want to take classes. idc if you copy paste your feedback from the formal review. rave about the class to your friends. do what you can to get good enrolment for that prof for reasons above.)

Participate in class. Talk over the male students. Say what you mean and mean it. Call out the boys when they say dumb shit

Write about women. If you have the option to make a text written by a woman your primary text in an essay, do it. Pick the female-centred option if you’re writing an exam-essay with multiple prompts. (Profs often look at what works on their syllabus are being written about/engaged with as a marker of whether to keep those texts the next time they teach the class. If there are badass women on your syllabus, write about them to keep them on the syllabus) Use female-written secondary sources whenever possible. 

(pro tip: many women in academia are more than happy to talk to you about their papers. expand your female networks by reaching out to article authors through email and asking them about their cool shit)

Get your essays published! Many departments have undergrad journals you can publish in. This will ensure more people read about the women you write about and will demonstrate to the department that people like learning about women

Consider trying to publish your undergrad essay with a legit peer-reviewed journal. If you can do it, your use of female-written secondary sources boosts the reputations of the women who wrote those secondary sources. Also this helps generally to increase scholarship about women’s writing!

Present your papers at conferences! Many schools have their own undergraduate/departmental conferences that you can present at. Push yourself by submitting to outside conferences. Bring attention to women’s works by presenting your papers. Take a space at a conference that would otherwise be reserved for mediocre men

Talk to your profs and/or your department and/or your university about mandating the inclusion of female works in classes if this isn’t something they do already

Sit next to other women in your classes. Talk to them. Make friends. Form study groups. Proofread each other’s essays. Give each other knowing looks when the boys are being dumb. Just interact with other women! Build those female networks!

Be generous with your compliments. A female classmate and I were talking to a prof after class and the classmate told me (out of the blue) that I always have such interesting things to say. I think about that whenever I’m lacking confidence about my academic skills. Compliment the women in your classes for speaking up, for sharing their opinions, for challenging your classmates/profs, for doing cool presentations, etc.

Talk to other women about sexist things going on on campus. Make everyone aware of the sexist profs. Complain about how there are many more tenured men than tenured women. Go on rate my professor and be explicit about how the sexist profs are sexist

Be active on campus and in societies. If a society has an all male executive or is male-dominated, any women who join that society make it less intimidating for more women to join. Run for executive positions! Bring in more women! 

(Pro tip: Many societies’ elections are super gameable. You can be eligible to vote in a society election sometimes just by being a student at that university — even without having done anything with the society before. Other societies might just require that you’ve taken a class in a particular department or attended a society event. (Check the society’s governing documents.) Use those female networks you’ve been building. If you can bring three or four random people to vote for you, that might be enough for you to win. Societies have trouble meeting quorum (the minimum number of people in attendance to do votes) so it is really super achievable to rig an election with a few friends. And don’t feel bad about this. The system is rigged against women so you have every right to exploit loopholes!)

(Also feel free to go vote “non-confidence”/“re-open election” if only shitty men are running. Too often people see that only candidates they don’t like are running and so they give up. But you can actually stop them getting elected)

Your campus may have a LGBTQIA+alphabetsoup society. That society definitely needs more L and B women representation. It may be tedious to argue with the nb straight dudes who insist that it’s fine to use “q***r” in the society’s posters and that attraction has nothing to do with genitals, but just imagine what could happen if we could make these sorts of societies actually safe spaces for same-sex attracted women and advocated for our concerns

Attend random societies’ election meetings. Get women elected and peace out. (or actually get involved but I’m trying to emphasize the lowest commitment option with this one)

Write for the campus newspaper. Write about what women are doing - women’s sports, cool society activities, whatever. Review female movies, books, tv shows, local theatre productions. Write about sexism on campus. We need more female by-lines and more stories about women

Get involved with your campus’s sexual assault & r*pe hotline/sexual assault survivor’s centre/whatever similar organization your campus has if you can. This is hard work and definitely not for everyone (pls take care of yourself first, especially if you are a survivor)

(If your campus doesn’t have an organization for supporting survivor’s of sexualized violence, start one! This is probably going to be a lot of hard work though, so don’t do it alone)

Talk to your student council about providing free menstrual hygiene products on campus if your campus doesn’t already do this. If your campus provides free condoms (which they probs do), use that as leverage (ie. ‘sex is optional, menstruation is not. so why do we have free condoms and no free pads?’)

If you’re an older student, get involved with younger students (orientation week and such activities are good for this). Show the freshman that you can be a successful and well-liked woman without shaving your legs, wearing heels, wearing make-up, etc. Mentor these young women. Offer to go for coffee or proofread essays. 

Come to class looking like a human being. Be visibly make-up less, unshaven, unfeminine, etc. to show off the many different ways of being a woman

Talk to the custodial staff and learn their names. (I know there are men who work in this profession, but it is dominated by low-income women) Say hi in the hallways, ask them about their lives, show them they’re appreciated

Be explicit with your language. When you are talking about sex-based oppression, say it. Don’t say ‘sex worker’ when you mean survivor of human trafficking. This tip is obviously a bit tricky in terms of overt TERFyness, so use your best judgement

I would like to add (for us STEMinists 😝):

Read Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez. This will open your mind to influence your seemingly “objective” field as to how it favors men, and provides facts to back you up.

You will do team things. Pick women.

Create a female heavy or only study group because: a) you WILL need a study group, and b) doing it with women will reduce the imposter syndrome/feeling dumb/feeling like you have to be smarter than everyone to be valuable.

Force professors to notice and choose female students when they want to answer. Back up female students when they speak up.

If you can, be a Teacher’s or Lab Assistant. I once talked a woman out of quitting her mechanical engineering under grad because I was able to support her when she was doubting herself (thanks advisors). Plus, as we know, women are likely to be graded more harshly, and we can account for that.

Escort women. Dead serious. I shared a class with a woman from another country (VERY common in my school) who had basically no one except her roommate, and road the city bus for 2 hours to get home or to school. Class would not get out until 9:15 at night. I drove her home. Even when I moved the opposite direction - I took her home and she was so nice and smart and I enjoyed talking with her and her experiences. Not just home, but go to parties when you know other women are going, school events, etc. Walk with them to their car. Be there to keep men from being shitty.

APPLY FOR EVERY SCHOLARSHIP, CO-OP, AND INTERNSHIP AND ATTEND EVERY JOB FAIR AND BOGART THOSE INTERVIEW SLOTS.

Go to TA sessions - they know all the tricks and a surprising amount of that information will NOT be in the class and WILL be on tests and quizzes.