samiaminam

Edit before people start clowning:

People constantly tell fat folks that they're “promoting obesity.” Whether they're discussing body positivy and/or fat liberation, whether they're filming a grwm, or whether they're (God forbid) posting about food, fat people are constantly met with those kinds of remarks, to the extent that it has lost any original meaning it might've had. It has simply become a cudgel with which to beat fat people out of public life.

Meanwhile, there are upteen billion wellness influencers, fitness coaches, and celebrities pushing the latest fad diets, calorie restriction, and whichever supplements pay them them most, as well as the latest miracle weight loss surgeries, pills and injections. Extreme weight loss is being glorified and disordered eating is being splattered across social media rn, yet the people who are so concerned with fat people and obesity are curiously silent on this. This, in spite of the fact that eating disorders, extreme weight loss and malnutrition also have severe health repercussions, if you survive them at all.

Fat people are told they're “promoting obesity” just for existing, while extreme weight loss is being simultaneously normalised. The double standard is deafening

There's not a lot of content of fat men, but there is some. There are also pictures of queer couples, drag queens, historical photos, etc.

Another art reference for poses with fat bodies is the website FatPhotoRef run by @lawlesslagomorph who carefully vets the people who ask for access to the website in order to ensure that none of the fat people who have volunteered photos of themselves will be abused. Donations help keep the website running too!

Fat hasn't become a bad word because fatness is somehow inherently undesirable or bad--it has fallen out of public favor because of what we attach to it. We take fat to mean unlovable, unwanted, unattractive, unintelligent, unhealthy. But fatness itself is simply one aspect of our bodies--and a very small part of who each of us is. It deserves to be described as a simple and unimportant fact.

The overwhelming response was, while well-meaning, sorely disappointing and along the lines of "of course trans women are women, 'woman' is ultimately a meaningless category, you can be whatever you like".

It was such a profoundly sobering experience because I realized that most people have framed their conception of trans rights around owning bigots and dunking on them in arguments instead of an affirmative understanding of trans marginalization, a comprehension of the struggles we face in a cissexist, patriarchal society, or even a basic familiarity with how we are seen and regarded and treated institutionally.

'Woman' is not a meaningless category in a patriarchy. It is a positionality, one that trans women undoubtedly occupy, and most cis people--even allies, even the ones who believe they want to do right by us--do not fundamentally accept the premise that we actually inhabit this position and navigate society as women.

It's an epistemic chasm I don't quite know how to cross, which is unfortunate as I've inadvertently dedicated my life to doing so. Ascertaining just how wide that gap in understanding is was alarming, if necessary.

A local paper had some great photographs, all taken by Nicole Hester:

The day before, Rep. Justin Pearson tries to attend a Senate Committee meeting and is barred access by the Sergeant at Arms.

Lawmakers and protesters link arms as the descend the capitol steps.

Once inside the chamber, Democratic representatives continued to stand together with arms linked.

They continued standing together with arms linked as votes were cast.

Democratic representatives take a group photo protesting the redistricting.

Rep. Justin Jones burns a photo of the Confederate flag with the words, We will not go back.

And stomps the ashes.

KeShaun Pearson being escorted from the building by the Staties.

KeShaun Pearson (left) being taken into custody. Rep. Justin Pearson (right) showing his support of his brother.

Additional information: State lawmakers have been gunning for Pearson and Jones nearly their entire terms. Most notably, in 2023, the House expelled them for participating in a protest at the Capitol. Their districts had to have special elections to have them reinstated.

Pearson is one of the plaintiffs of a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the redistricting.

"Because the decision rests entirely on the Montana Constitution, it is insulated from the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the principle of adequate and independent state grounds, the federal Supreme Court cannot review a state court's interpretation of its own constitution, so long as that constitution provides more protection than the federal one. [...] What this means in practice is that Montana's transgender residents now have a constitutional shield completely independent of the Supreme Court of the United State’s decisions."

my psych book:

We are good, when we're born. And we don't have to let the world make us give up on ourselves.

People mistake people saying "humans are not inherently selfish, we are caring" for people saying "there are no mean people and nothing needs to change."

And they react by rejecting the entire idea as naive.

NO.

I TRULY believe that people are essentially kind, and also know that things are very bad and that other humans are being very unkind right now.

otoh every time you look with lust upon a woman and don't harass or assault her, you're living proof that attraction to women shouldn't excuse harm. Every time you hit on a woman in an appropriate environment in a way that respects spoken and unspoken nos, you're proving that wanting to fuck a woman doesn't excuse mistreating her.