If There's a Will...

7 Ways To Be Gender-inclusive In Your Language 

Hi friends! Come out and support community organization Down to Help and NY-based musician Will Shishmanian with their concert + clothes swap event at West End Theater on Friday, Feb 10 @ 4-11PM.  Here’s the Facebook link to RSVP and get details!  + link to get tickets (free if you are Trans-identified*) Will Shish will be hosting and performing at the event, along with other artists TBA. This is your chance to come swap some clothes, enjoy the music, and meet new folks. Hope to see you there!

If you live in/around NYC and are a trans person who’s looking to get clothes that match your gender presentation for free, come check out our event on Friday!

The event is open to everyone, and the admission is $10 if you don’t identify as trans, but with $1 off the admission price for every article you bring to swap/donate to the event. Any clothing items leftover after the event will be donated to various different trans clothing swaps and individuals (so shoot me a message if there’s anything you’re in need of!)

There will also be a concert featuring LGBTQ performers starting at 8pm, which you can get tickets for at http://lgbtqconcert.brownpapertickets.com/

We had one of our performers get sick and another dropped out, so rather than “showcase” me and one other performer, we’re moving the event to a later date. 

Hi friends! Come out and support community organization Down to Help and NY-based musician Will Shishmanian with their concert + clothes swap event at West End Theater on Friday, Feb 10 @ 4-11PM.  Here’s the Facebook link to RSVP and get details!  + link to get tickets (free if you are Trans-identified*) Will Shish will be hosting and performing at the event, along with other artists TBA. This is your chance to come swap some clothes, enjoy the music, and meet new folks. Hope to see you there!

If you live in/around NYC and are a trans person who’s looking to get clothes that match your gender presentation for free, come check out our event on Friday!

The event is open to everyone, and the admission is $10 if you don’t identify as trans, but with $1 off the admission price for every article you bring to swap/donate to the event. Any clothing items leftover after the event will be donated to various different trans clothing swaps and individuals (so shoot me a message if there’s anything you’re in need of!)

There will also be a concert featuring LGBTQ performers starting at 8pm, which you can get tickets for at http://lgbtqconcert.brownpapertickets.com/

We at QT think there are some pretty important core concepts about sex and sexuality that we just never get to talk about or learn about in most traditional educational settings. So, we’re taking to tumblr to dissect and explore and talk about some things that we think are central to being intentional and thoughtful sexually literate humans.

This totally connects back to sexual literacy, promise: People spend a lot of time figuring out their taste in music, and not just in a ~follow for more soft grunge~ way. Broadly speaking, most people like music, but very few define themselves as simply “music listeners.” Friends will tell you they listen to hip-hop or jazz, or exclusively musical soundtracks, or that they’re into speed metal and Italian operas. This makes total sense. You understand when someone expresses their music tastes that they have cultivated their tastes over time, they have their own personal reasons to be respected, and that, sure, exceptions might sneak in, and things can absolutely depend on their mood anyway. It’s incredibly easy to get into a deeply nuanced discussion with almost anyone about their music tastes.

So why isn’t it the same when we talk about people as sexual beings, as people with sexual ethics, and a sense of agency?  Developing a sense of sexual agency is central and needs to be talked about a lot more and cultivated intentionally. How does this tie into musical affinities? Agency is having the self-knowledge to know what you want to hear, what you don’t want to hear, and having the skills and confidence to communicate that to others — like saying “yeah, Coltrane would be spectacular, I’m not feeling this Ke$ha vibe right now.”

(How is agency different than consent? Consent is someone saying “Mind if I put on some music?” and everyone in the room saying, “yes, go ahead, that’d be awesome, yes.”  And agency is having a deep sense of yourself and the music you like and being able to clearly state your own wishes and a sense of what specifically you’d like to hear.)

The distinction between consenting (enthusiastically!) to sex and sexual agency is important. Consent from all parties involved is the bare minimum requirement for engaging in sexual activities — everyone has expressed the desire to move forward in a sexual situation. Consent means checking in a ton. A simple “this still good for you?” helps establish ongoing consent.  

The US Dept. of State states that your physician determines “what appropriate clinical treatment is according to acceptable medical practices, standards and guidelines.” Surgery is absolutely not required.

carrie fisher is a woman who struggled with addiction and mental illness and never sugar coated it - she spoke honestly, openly, about every ugly truth, and made me so much less ashamed of the things i struggle with in my daily life.

carrie fisher is a woman who fought back against body shaming and misogyny, against agesim, who looked at critics and said “yes, i am a woman who has aged, and had children, and struggled with depression and addiction and my body has changed, so you can just shut the fuck up and deal with it”, and it was absolutely beautiful.

carrie fisher is a woman who was placed in the role of “princess” but didn’t conform to the typical hollywood idea of what a princess should be. she’s loud, brash, crass, and unapologetic for being so.

she’s an idol and an inspiration and she’s a woman who saved my life many times just by being who she was and never shying away from it or feeling the need to say sorry. carrie fisher is so much and more and i cannot begin to stomach the thought of 2016 taking her away from me, from her family, from the rest of the world and those of us who love her so dearly.

when he asks for hijabless pics