i would just like to remind everyone that only about 1/3 of eating disordered people are underweight. you can die from an eating disorder even if you are at a normal weight or overweight. you deserve help and recovery no matter what you weigh.
(via redefiningbodyimage)
It is a problem when religious symbols become widespread and therefore lose their religious significance. But the fear of dilution isn’t really an issue here — the bindi has lost whatever religious significance it once had to Hindus some time ago, and is now used mostly for decoration. Madonna and Gwen Stefani didn’t turn the bindi into a fashion statement when they adopted it in the 90s — we desi women already did so years before that.
What makes the non-South Asian person’s use of the bindi problematic is the fact that a pop star like Selena Gomez wearing one is guaranteed to be better received than I would if I were to step out of the house rocking a dot on my forehead. On her, it’s a bold new look; on me, it’s a symbol of my failure to assimilate. On her, it’s unquestionably cool; on me, it’s yet another marker of my Otherness, another thing that makes me different from other American girls. If the use of the bindi by mainstream pop stars made it easier for South Asian women to wear it, I’d be all for its proliferation — but it doesn’t. They lend the bindi an aura of cool that a desi woman simply can’t compete with, often with the privilege of automatic acceptance in a society when many non-white women must fight for it.
I understand being a little flummoxed at the rage that the bindi issue inspires in our community. The anger always seems disproportionate to the crime. But will I celebrate the “mainstreaming” of a South Asian fashion item? Nope. Not when the mainstream doesn’t accept the people who created it.
—Jaya Bedi, Beyond Bindis: Why Cultural Appropriation Matters, May 10, 2013 (via androphilia)
(via fuckyeahsouthasia)
Power Structure of Oppression
Yes. Yes. YES.
we taught this pyramid during our leadership classes this year
(Source: mycypherkeepsmoving, via youmakegandhicry)
The United States moves inexorably toward granting equality to the L.G.B., but in the process, while still pronouncing that satisfying final consonant, we often, in practice, drop the T. No federal law offers protection to transgender people from discrimination in the workplace; the population sees double the usual rate of unemployment, and ninety per cent of transgender individuals report harassment, mistreatment, or discrimination at work.
(Source: neutrois, via neil-gaiman)
this is why im not beautiful
i have stretch marks
im a fat girl with a baby face
my boobs are too large and, about three years ago, i spilled acid on them while conducting a chemical experiment and now have permanent boils that are inflamed and ugly
you can see if you look closely
i have no thigh gap and stupid love handles
i have way too much fat and way too much skin
i am not beautiful
start googling “fat acceptance movement”
and start following this tumblr: http://redefiningbodyimage.tumblr.com/ immediately!
you ARE beautiful. much much love.
There are now more Americans in jail than were in Stalin’s Gulag Archipelago
May 9, 2013There are now more Americans in jail — 6 million — than there were in Stalin’s Gulag, reports Fareed Zakaria, in a column called “Incarceration Nation.”
And it’s not just a relative population thing.
The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. How does that compare to other countries?
It’s 7-10X as high:
- Japan has 63 per 100,000,
- Germany has 90 per 100,000
- France has 96 per 100,000
- South Korea has 97 per 100,000
- Britain has 153 per 100,000
And it’s a rapidly exaggerating trend: In 1980, the U.S. only had 150 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. More than half of America’s 6 million prisoners are in jail for drug convictions, with 80% of those in jail for “possession.”
(via tumblingintosoc)
“Repeat Rape: How do they get away with it?”, Part 1 of 2. (link to Part 2)
Sources:
- College Men: Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists,Lisak and Miller, 2002 [PDF, 12 pages]
- Navy Men: Lisak and Miller’s results were essentially duplicated in an even larger study (2,925 men): Reports of Rape Reperpetration by Newly Enlisted Male Navy Personnel, McWhorter, 2009 [PDF, 16 pages]
By dark-side-of-the-room, who writes:
These infogifs are provided RIGHTS-FREE for noncommercial purposes. Repost them anywhere. In fact, repost them EVERYWHERE. No need to credit. Link to the L&M study if possible.
Knowledge is a seed; sow it.
Pretty much.
And that’s not all. 43% of college men will admit to using “coercive behavior” to have sex with a woman… which of course is also rape.
Rape culture trains sociopaths.
this is good to have. I always want these studies and I always have trouble finding them via google.
(via lati-negros)
—Marta Russell, Beyond Ramps:Disability at the End of the Social Contract (via disabledbyculture)
(via redefiningbodyimage)
We read and discussed Jeanne Flavin’s “Our Bodies, Our Crimes” in class. Flavin examines how the criminal justice system polices women’s reproductive rights and continually reinforces patriarchal gender norms.
Flavin discusses the problematic nature of reducing women’s value down to the…
