box o' crocs

If you don’t like it, don’t watch it (via yoursocialconstructsareshowing)

sisters, if you have been following me you know that i am deeply invested in supporting my young sisters in any way i can. 

recently i came across a reblog that expressed anger at me “resenting” other women for conduct that harms women. it seems that as i was writing my response the user deleted the post. which is her right. 

so this felt like an opportunity to reaffirm that i highly value the insight and wisdom of my young sisters. they see things i cannot, and i am grateful to be held accountable for any conduct that devalues or demeans them. when i make mistakes and am asked to apologize, i will, and do. i am their sister, and my additional life experience means that i hold myself to a higher standard of accountability, humility and kindness. this does not make me “better than”, because sisters are sisters. at the same time, i will not lie to a sister by pretending that we are the same and that what i have learned in my 36 short years means nothing. 

in the now-deleted post, the sister also expressed anger around the concept of accountability. and i am grateful to explain now why personal accountability is so important to me as a radical feminist. i sense that the sister might feel that accountability is the same as culpability, or being to blame for her own oppression. and whoa boy am i super happy to offer clarity on the huge difference between the two: accountability and culpability. 

first, a definition of terms, or “what is radical feminism?” and how does it relate to accountability/culpability? 

radical feminism is about the collective liberation of all women from male supremacy. therefore each woman’s individual conduct is examined against the goal of collective liberation of all women from men. and if a sister’s conduct is harmful to any women, then the sister is held accountable as an act of collective liberation. this is profound compassion, because collective liberation means that no sister is left behind. not a single one. it also means that no sister is blamed for her own oppression. 

about culpability:

radical feminists acknowledge that women are forced into conduct that is harmful, because they have no choice under the patriarchy. so we (radfems) do not blame women for their oppression. we realize the responsible party is men. men are agents of oppression against women. at the same time, radical feminism is a collective liberation movement with a defined ideology. and those sisters who do not agree with or support those ideas are within their rights to disagree, but are not recognized as radical feminists. also: no woman is to blame for her own oppression! 

about accountability: 

the reason holding sisters accountable for their actions is compassionate is because accountability and power are the same thing. it is dehumanizing to not be accountable for actions, because it means that my actions do not have consequences. and if my actions have no consequences, that i am without any power. if i am without power i am unable to change the conditions that create society as part of a collective effort. if i am not accountable, i have no power.

radical feminists uphold accountability because we believe that women are powerful and can be trusted. we believe that a woman’s individual actions have consequences for all women. because we see women as a class of people united by our shared experience of male oppression. we do not consider the individual to be a unit of making change. 

if young sisters want to be treated as a full sister, yet use their age to avoid being held accountable, then this will affect a young sister’s power to change this world for the better. because you cannot have it both ways. you are either a full sister and therefore fully accountable, or you are a child. it is your decision to choose which one you want. 

so thanks for listening. and thanks to my young sisters for the love, support and accountability (which are all the same thing).

source

Mark Ciavarella Jr, a 61-year old former judge in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for literally selling young juveniles for cash. He was convicted of accepting money in exchange for incarcerating thousands of adults and children into a prison facility owned by a developer who was paying him under the table. The kickbacks amounted to more than $1 million. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned some 4,000 convictions issued by him between 2003 and 2008, claiming he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles – including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Some of the juveniles he sentenced were as young as 10-years old. Ciavarella was convicted of 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also ordered to repay $1.2 million in restitution. His “kids for cash” program has revealed that corruption is indeed within the prison system, mostly driven by the growth in private prisons seeking profits by any means necessary.

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Mark Ciavarella Jr, a 61-year old former judge in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for literally selling young juveniles for cash. He was convicted of accepting money in exchange for incarcerating thousands of adults and children into a prison facility owned by a developer who was paying him under the table. The kickbacks amounted to more than $1 million. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned some 4,000 convictions issued by him between 2003 and 2008, claiming he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles – including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Some of the juveniles he sentenced were as young as 10-years old. Ciavarella was convicted of 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also ordered to repay $1.2 million in restitution. His “kids for cash” program has revealed that corruption is indeed within the prison system, mostly driven by the growth in private prisons seeking profits by any means necessary.

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What is it? I may not have an official title, but I have an idea. An idea that formed because I am tired of white people being the face of lgbt+ discussions and the community. And because, as a black lesbian, I’m sick of lesbians being an afterthought, and even then lesbians of color remaining invisible. I’ve spent a lot of time wishing there was something out there for the very real people in this community who are often ignored or forgotten. But I’m tired of only wishing, and I’m tired of waiting. So I’m creating a zine for all lesbians of color. No white lesbian or non-lesbians will be involved in the creative process or the final result. This is for us, by us, and about us. This will be a space to talk about the struggles we face, provide inspiration on ways to enact change and force to the world to see us, and to express the love we feel and the people we are. How can you help?

This project is still a baby and I’ve only just begun molding it into something that could be great. So first and foremost I’m looking for people to help make this possible.

If you’re a woman of color and a lesbian and you’re interested in being a part of the creative process (i.e. editing content, deciding what topics are discussed, tinkering with the layout), especially if you have experience creating a zine, please submit an application!

Please include:

Name

Age

Race  (Why race? Because I want to ensure this is a truly diverse team and that everyone is a woc)

Why are you interested in being a part of the creative process?

Do you have experience working on a project like this?

What are some things that you believe the zine must address or include in order to truly speak to and uplift lesbians of color?

You do not have to have any experience to apply so please submit. If you are not a lesbian of color, or are not a lesbian please feel free to reblog this post and spread the word.

How can we say “gender is a social construct” and then force the label of “cis” on women who have been raised from day one to perform a certain way as a woman, therefore eliminating any idea of free choice?

How can I even tell what I choose to do and what patriarchy has conditioned me to like, do, and feel? 

Remember, if you have ever:

Called a rape crisis hotline;

Taken refuge in a domestic violence/battered women’s shelter;

Used legal birth control;

Had a legal abortion;

Worn pants to school or in the workplace or on the street;

Been able to wear shorts or short skirts without risk of arrest or losing your job;

Been able to play sports in school;

Been able to attend a college or university;

Been able to sit in a hotel lobby without a male escort;

Had a job other than a nurse or secretary;

Had a bank account or credit card in your own name;

Used a daycare or maternity leave benefits, if you’ve had a child;

Felt you had some option in your life other than heterosexual marriage followed by children;

You can thank an evil old second waver TERF. You know, one of the nasty old ladies you hate so much.

Not being able to have children doesn't change the way I'm treated by society, or the way I was treated in the decades before the hysterectomy - because that sexism is impersonal, and the individuals and social structures enforcing it do so because I'm in the category "woman", and justify it on the grounds that because women give birth, we are naturally and inherently suited for subordinate roles.  The rationale for sexism has always been that women should be doing the unpaid labor of raising children and keeping house because as a sex we bear children.

That hierarchical social treatment begins at birth, long before the possibility of fertility matters in a practical sense - there are plenty of studies showing people treating babies differently depending on whether they believe the baby is male or female.  (And males and females are treatedly even before birth; sex-selection abortion is disproportionately used to abort female fetuses.)

You might argue that once trans women transiton, they're socially categorized as women, and treated the same.  In some cases, this might be true.  First of all, though, it's only true if and when trans women are perceived as female - trans women who don't pass are more likely to be treated as non-gender-conforming males.

Second, hysterectomy or no hysterectomy, a trans woman's life before transition was vastly different from mine.  Trans women don't grow up being told to put her hand down in class because boys wouldn't like it, but I did, and that's something many other women have in common with me.  Trans women did not have to grow up negotiating a sexist world the way I did.

And there is a need for spaces for women who do share the experience of being raised and living as female in this society to come together without the presence of people who don't share that experience.

When I went to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival during the early years I always thought I’d be back, but later the rumors started going around that there were transwomen showing up, and I decided I would not attend again. Any transwoman who shows up at Michigan is obviously a boundary violator and a misogynist of the worst sort. I don’t know what, if anything, can be done about the problem, nor do I know whether enforcing women-only would be best for the festival. However, for me intent is not enough: for me to arrange time off work, travel, and spend the money, I would really have to be going to women-only space.

I am not only in disagreement with transwomen attending the festival, and the festival  boycotts, and the lies being promoted about the festival, but I am horrified at the loud minority of cis ally women proclaiming that they will be attending the festival to dialogue about changing the born-women intent. This proselytizing has no place in women-only spaces. Of any kind. It is a boundary violation, and a reminder that it’s not only men who often have little or no respect for women’s boundaries, but other women.

It’s common to wish people who do really bad things to one of their own a “special place in hell,” but I wish women who go to born-women-only spaces to proselytize about including transwomen a special place in heaven. A place where overdressed people with Bibles “dialogue” with them about how their values and beliefs and perceptions are wrong. A place where they have to be super cautious about their self expression because it may hurt Jesus and Mary’s fee-fees. A place where there is no escape from hearing cherry-picked Bible quotes. A place where they better watch their language. A place they better not call hell, because other people have decided for them that it is heaven. It’s cis-heaven. Where there are no brownie points and no cookies and you should always remember you’re privileged to be in this heaven that others define for you.