Wrist Watches Are Neat

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superqueerartsyblog:

I hear this too often aaa

misandryisalie:

If you are having a discussion about victims of rape or domestic violence and consider either

1. the reminder that men are also victims 
2. one or more men bringing up their experiences

“derailment”, you are unfit to be talking about these subjects and need to step down until you realize that literally anyone can be a victim.

If women are having a discussion about female victims and women’s experience of domestic abuse and rape, and all you can say is “What about men?” then you should step down until you realise that you are not entitled to force yourself into other people’s spaces.

thebengalcat:

Israel is rounding up and deporting Africans and will soon be putting tens of thousands of them in “detention camps”. 

Meanwhile, they invited 350 Jewish north American immigrants to the country, 127 of whom will be serving in the Israeli army.

The immigrants arrived today and were greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself at a special ceremony, a stark contrast to Israel’s treatment of Africans.

The Zionists were welcomed with open arms, while Knesset Members Miri Regev and Danny Danon called Africans “a cancer in our body” and “infiltrators”.

More than 4,800 American, Canadian and British Jews have or will be making aliyah (or ascent) this year. Immigration to the Land of Israel is one of the basic principles of the Zionist ideology. (Photos: Getty Images / Reuters)

(Source: meenerhabi)

Patrick Stewart on Violence Against Women

The actor talks about his personal experience of domestic violence at the launch of ‘Created Equal’, a new book on women’s rights.

Watching this video, I got chills around 2:16 when he says:

“If my mother had at any point [when I was young] picked up a knife or any other weapon against my father, I would have held her hand as she did it.”

In that one sentence, I realised that he had surmised how I had always felt both during and after my experience of domestic violence as a child. I cannot fully express how much I admire this man. Kudos to Patrick Stewart.

kateoplis:

Huxley vs. Orwell

Breastplate; the only signed work of Giovan Paolo Negroli (Italian, ca. 1513-1569) (x)

What a transgender woman’s Navy SEAL past could mean for the military →

The military currently bans trans service members, but a new memoir could open the policy to new scrutiny

"Debt is the weapon used to conquer and enslave societies, and interest is its prime ammunition."

—

Peter Joseph

Rarely can a person so succinctly describe an issue in one sentence, but damn he nailed it.

(Source: tldanon)

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mothernaturenetwork:

AlgaeBulb is an illuminating, oxygen-generating LED
Well, hello, microorganism-filled mood lighting. The conceptual AlgaeBulb is a mini oxygen-generator housed inside of a teardrop-shaped LED bulb.

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breakingnews:

At least 7 dead, including gunman, in Santa Monica shooting

NBC LA: A gunman killed six people and injured another five before being shot and killed by police during a rampage that ended on the Santa Monica College in California.

I wonder if this mass-shooting will garner national attention, eh?

Women In Video Games — Spolier: There's a Problem →

mynsplain:

See you talk about the heroes and all that but ignore the facts 99% of human enemies in video games are men.

And the stereotypes in video games are different for men and women but equally bad.

But here’s the real point if YOU don’t like gender stereotypes in video games the start making video games and stop complaining. Less talk more action. Saying it is an impossible field to get into is just a cop out.

99% of human enemies in video games are men.

Ignoring the massive fallacy in your argument — yes, enemies being explicitly gendered or perceived as male and then disregarded is an issue.

I have a lot of problems with this; take the last instalment of CoD for example. The opening sequence involves the player shooting dozens of male people of colour without any context.

The thing is though, even though the player is made to dehumanise and demonise these non-characters, those idolised and deified male characters still exist.

Stereotypes are equally bad.

Um, no? The fact is that the major tropes that most female characters suffer revolve around violence or severe loss of agency (or both). The male trope revolve around unrealistic expectations.

If YOU don’t like gender stereotypes in video games the start making video games and stop complaining.

Yeah, well, I am.

I’m the lead writer and a creative consultant for an indie post-apocalyptic survival game that’s going to be released around 2015 on PC.

You can bet that there aren’t going to be any gendered tropes in there too. I guess this means that I’m allowed to continue complaining?

"

Misogyny and homophobia in rap or hip hop are not acceptable — they are incredibly harmful and do a lot of damage. However it’s important to highlight rap and hip hop’s disproportionate visibility vis-à-vis other sections of pop culture.

Condemnations are often accompanied by universalising discourses which homogenise rap and hip hop genres, which is symptomatic of the way people of colour and their creative expressions are disrespected, dehumanised and denied individuality.

It’s a pretty interesting topic because there are a lot of different structures interacting upon hip hop and rap.

For example the political economies of rap and hip hop wherein white producers and music executives have an investment in the construction of inauthentic blackness to market to white audiences — and we are all influenced by capitalist and market imperatives.

Then there are histories of emasculation around the African-American male experience which is an important context within which to consider hip hop and rap’s misogyny and homophobia — though, again, it by no means excuses either.

Intersectionality is important and we shouldn’t condone any manifestation of misogyny or homophobia or racism, and we should try not to reproduce any of them in the process of condemning another.

"

— @ulknehs, taken from a Facebook discussion on the public perception of rap and hip hop, and edited for clarity.

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Preach!

Women In Video Games — Spolier: There's a Problem →

thisisfemaleprivilege:

Video games portray women as either sex objects or damsels in distress! 

And video games portray men as either disposable or Captain America. Your point?

These portrayals are unrealistic, 2-dimensional and sexist!

[… V]ideo games are a fantasy. They’re supposed to be unrealistic to the point where people actually get a kick out of trying to make a situation in a game seem realistic.

You want to change the supply, you have to change the demand. At the moment, many video games are created by men, for men. Start buying games that you like (or deem acceptable) and become a part of the industry.

But women are barred from the industry by le misogonies [sic]!

There are some very notable women in [video games] […].

[…] It seems like most of the people complaining about misogyny in the gaming world, are people who are not a part of it. […] Don’t buy into these ‘tropes’, and they will go away.

Yes, women aren’t necessarily forced out of the industry by misogyny, but CHOOSE to apply their interests in maths, design and/or programming elsewhere.

Video games portray men as either disposable or Captain America.

Men in video games are often gendered tropes — this is a problem. The difference is that men are deified and idolised, whereas women are sexualised and objectified [image source].

Men are depicted as physically strong, usually attractive, and are usually natural leaders. See the men from God of War, Assassins Creed, Gears of War, Bioshock and Call of Duty just to name a few.

Most people would agree that these are good things to be. Women however are portrayed as objects of a male sex-fantasy.

They are the wearers of skimpy outfits whose kidnappings and deaths propel the narrative.

See Max Payne 3, Dragon Age 1 & 2, Mass Effect 1, 2 & 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Diablo 3, Bishock Infinite, and inFAMOUS — just to name a few off the top of my head.

Certainly, male gender stereotypes are a problem, but they are not the same in nature as female gender stereotypes.

Video games are a fantasy.

Video games are not excused from the context of the real world simply because they are fictional. They have antecedents and consequences just like everything else.

You want to change the supply, you have to change the demand.

The problem here is that the demand is false. Games with male protagonists receive twice as much funding on average for marketing that games with female protagonists, and that’s why they are more successful.

There are some very notable women in video games.

There being female characters that aren’t massive tropes, notably Chell from Portal, does not mean that the wide spread prevalence of misogynistic tropes (women in the freezer; damsel in distress etc) are not huge and pervasive problems.

It seems like most of the people complaining about misogyny in the gaming world, are people who are not a part of it.

You are so hopelessly wrong. No, really.

Women aren’t necessarily forced out of the industry by misogyny, but choose to apply their interests in maths, design and/or programming elsewhere.

Somewhere between 34% and 60% of all gamers are female, but this audience isn’t being represented by developers. The assertion that women “choose” to go elsewhere is simply not true.

It’s so untrue that there are a great number of companies and orgnisations offering scholarships to women to assist them through the sexist minefield that is the gaming industry.

If you’d be so kind as to remove your rationally bankrupt opinions, I’d be much obliged. Cheers.