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A teacher, Luisa Velázquez Herrera, dismantles the myth of self-determination of sex:

“For about 16 years, I’ve taught feminist courses and workshops, and I can assure you that no one manages to answer this exercise about these assumptions, no matter how much they defend men or how queer they are. I always concede the point before starting the example:

“Okay, let’s suppose that gender is a choice, that’s what you’ve said, right? That means we can stop being women.” “They answer ‘yes’ with conviction.

“Very well, then let’s launch massive campaigns to encourage all women and all girls not to ‘perceive’ or ‘identify’ as women.” If that puts an end to rape, femicide, the exploitation of girls and women in trafficking networks, in homes, and obstetric violence, we have the solution right under our noses… “—Doesn’t that put an end to violence?

What?! So, gender isn’t a voluntary choice? Don’t we ask women what their gender is before assaulting them?”

“I swear that not a single queer person, right there in front of me, said never a word.” “I wait a few seconds, the last minute arrives, nothing, the silence persists…..”

“Okay… I’ll end the tension… feminism highlights this: patriarchal oppression isn’t based on individually perceived identities, but on women’s sexed bodies, and listen, it’s not because my body contains an ‘essence’ of oppression, it’s because men chose violence and decided what women would be in the system they founded.”

Let's suppose, finally—I say this to conclude the example—that tomorrow everyone wakes up "non-binary," dresses androgynously, and shows creativity in their appearance; rest assured that in the kitchen, in the bathrooms, carrying babies, and suffering obstetric and sexual violence, we women will still be there. That is gender.

but, the thing is

even polyester fabric was higher quality in the past

yes, not all of it, but, still, a noticeable amount of older polyester was...nicer.

yeah, it would still get picks and hold on to every bit of underarm odor, and that's on top of no-one knowing about microplastic shedding

the BLINDING difference in clothing quality between even the 1990s and the mid-2000s...not even going in to the decline in quality of clothing made in natural fibers (jeans with elastane, i'm looking at you), I've got faux-leather trousers from 1980s that are in near-mint condition, even after being hired and worn repeatedly for the past 40 years. we get donations of clothing that shows and films have bought online for contemporary shows that are disintegrating after being used on one show, for like....10 days, max.

don't even get me started on the seam allowances we used to get in clothes, because the assumption was you'd alter it at some point...

Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections? To love is to burn — to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise. They made rather pathetic ends, dear. Pathetic? To die for love? How can you say so? What could be more glorious?

that is one woman’s account. there’s 9 different women making allegations against them.

before anyone says anything: why the fuck would anyone lie about being forced to eat their own waste? is there not less personally humiliating things she could’ve lied about?

So I wanted to say you’re all being ridiculous. You consume media all the time by actual rapists. You watch movies with actors who have killed people. You read books written by racists and homophobes. All. The. Time. And it is so unimportant to you that half the time, you don’t even know.

This business with JK Rowling is a witch hunt. She follows a different kind of feminism than you do. And sometimes she’s a little rude about it. (But we don’t tone police here.) She has never put hands on anyone. She has started charities with her own money. And she is an outspoken advocate for women experiencing domestic violence.

She has expressed acceptance for LGBT people, yes including trans people. She just does not believe a person can genuinely change their sex, that some ‘inclusive’ terminology dehumanizes women and that sex segregated spaces are necessary to protect women.

There is a reason that JKR is being derided the way she is, and it’s not because she’s the worst person in the world. And if you step back, if you read her words, you’ll see why.

You’d never know that Brendon had physically abused women.

In fact, when a handful of women pointed this side of him out and cautioned people about pouring love out for an abuser…they’d be told that it’s a complicated situation, that he was a complex person, that it’s okay to mourn the person he once was and just put aside that pesky woman-beating side of him. After all, the poor sweet man was troubled.

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