From Being, part of a series by Zanele Muholi, 2007.
Scheduled to deliver opening remarks, The South African Minister of Arts and Culture, Lulu Xingwana, stormed out of a 2010 show featuring Muholi’s work depicting the everyday normality of the lives of black lesbian couples.
“It was immoral, offensive and going against nation-building.” Xingwana said, justifying her boycott of the exhibit.
Muholi rejected criticism that her images constituted a pornographic display.
“Those pictures are based on experience and issues. Where else can we express ourselves if not in our democratic country?”
She added: “Children need to know about these things. A lot of people have no understanding of sexual orientation, people are suffering in silence.””
Although same-sex marriage is legal in South Africa and the rights of gays and lesbians are guaranteed in the constitution, crimes of homophobic violence, including “corrective rape,” are rarely investigated by police.
Xingwana was soon removed from her portfolio and given new duties: Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities.
First World War postcard art by Douglas Tempest, who added a little bit of sexiness to the sexist worry that women would not return to their homes after filling jobs left by men serving in the trenches. The homophobic theme also recalls conservative anxieties about the suffragette movement.
A century later, Tempest’s work has been appropriated by feminist and queer activists to celebrate the changes feared by the artist: women pursuing careers and becoming more bold in expressing their romantic and sexual orientations.
War often brings a relaxation of moral standards, something Tempest took advantage of in this play on the meaning of censorship. The implied nudity would have been shocking in mainstream popular art prior to the weakening of Victorian prudishness.
The “surprise” of not being censored may not refer as much to the content of the post card as the freedom illustrators such as Tempest were gaining to tiptoe toward slightly salacious imagery.
Nazi propaganda leaflets attempted to revive fears about infidelity during the next war, but the new threat was American soldiers, not lonely lesbians.
On a basic conceptual level our society doesn’t want women to know that lesbianism is even a possibility. It’s seen as a threat when women assert their lesbianism, but love between women is fundamentally trivialized and the intention is to make it appear that way so that aforementioned threat never arises. I remember when I told my mama I was a homo the first thing she said was “It’s normal to think women are pretty” and “I love my female friends” in an attempt to trivialize my love for women. It was only until I asserted myself as being very much romantically involved with women in a way that was incompatible with heterosexuality that she broke out into hysterics lol. It makes me wonder how many women are living unhappy lives because lesbianism is abstracted and isolated so far away from women as a mere conceptual reality.
I once had a guy tell me I was “beautiful and should have no trouble finding a good fuck after dropping a few pounds” after I confided in him that I am a lesbian.
When Putin entered office for a third presidential term in 2012, in the wake of massive protests and declining popularity, his government wholeheartedly embraced the notion of “traditional values” as official ideology guiding both domestic and foreign policy. While a usefully vague and often undefined concept, “traditional values” are seen as encompassing patriotism, spirituality, rootedness in history, respect for authority, and adherence to heteronormative and patriarchal ideals of family and gender. In the rhetoric of the Kremlin and state-loyal media, LGBT rights, feminism, multiculturalism, and atheism are identified not only as foreign to Russia’s values, but as existential threats to the nation.
Feminists, whether activists in women’s peace movements or researchers in the academic field of feminist international relations, have long known that issues of gender and sexuality are at the heart of security. War is gendered not just in the sense that decisions to go to war are overwhelmingly made by men and that almost all the killing and other atrocities in wartime are performed by male bodies. Gender norms and gendered inequalities also shape how people are affected by war, whether we speak of men not being allowed to leave Ukraine, women being charged with the responsibility for evacuating children and elderly, or trans people whose mobility may be hindered by a mismatch between their gender and what is stated in their passport. As political scientist Iris Marion Young argued in “The Logic of Masculinist Protection,” ideas of masculinity, femininity, family, and “proper” and “improper” sexuality are vital elements of stories about who and what needs to be protected, from whom and by whom. Keeping to this script, Russian Kremlin-loyal media circulate footage of women and children in Donbas who, the story goes, are under attack from Ukrainian “Nazi” forces forced to flee to Russia.
I want every bullied teen/gay teen to know that I fucken love you. GOD loves you. I pray for your safety always and I want you to know that it is NOT your fault that people are attacking you. PLEASE KEEP SPEAKING OUT AND KEEP PUSHING ON!! Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. Psalm 27:10 You are not alone! You are not alone! I SAID IT GETS BETTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
I WILL ALWAYS FIGHT FOR YOU.
Keep your head high and push through. Never STOP FIGHTING
Below are the slides, audio, and transcripts for my talk ’“Any Sufficiently Advanced Neglect is Indistinguishable from Malice”: Assumptions and Bias in Algorithmic Systems,’ given at the 21st Conference of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, back in May 2019. (Cite as: Williams, Damien P. ’“Any Sufficiently Advanced Neglect is Indistinguishable from Malice”: Assumptions and Bias in Algorithmic Systems;’ talk given at the 21st Conference of the Society for Philosophy and Technology; May 2019)
Now, I’ve got a chapter coming out about this, soon, which I can provide as a preprint draft if you ask, and can be cited as “Constructing Situated and Social Knowledge: Ethical, Sociological, and Phenomenological Factors in Technological Design,” appearing in Philosophy And Engineering: Reimagining Technology And Social Progress. Guru Madhavan, Zachary Pirtle, and David Tomblin, eds. Forthcoming from Springer, 2019. But I wanted to get the words I said in this talk up onto some platforms where people can read them, as soon as possible, for a couple of reasons.
[Free vector image of a white, female-presenting person, from head to torso, with biometric facial recognition patterns on her face; incidentally, go try finding images—even illustrations—of a non-white person in a facial recognition context.]
All these things taken together are what made me finally go ahead and get the transcript of that talk done, and posted, because these are events and policy decisions about which I a) have been speaking and writing for years, and b) have specific inputs and recommendations about, and which are, c) frankly wrongheaded, and outright hateful.
And I want to spend time on it because I think what doesn’t get through in many of our discussions is that it’s not just about how Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or Algorithmic instances get trained, but the processes for how and the cultural environments in which HUMANS are increasingly taught/shown/environmentally encouraged/socialized to think is the “right way” to build and train said systems.
That includes classes and instruction, it includes the institutional culture of the companies, it includes the policy landscape in which decisions about funding and get made, because that drives how people have to talk and write and think about the work they’re doing, and that constrains what they will even attempt to do or even understand.
All of this is cumulative, accreting into institutional epistemologies of algorithm creation. It is a structural and institutionalproblem.
1.)You “trans” people on this app and other kids irl label every fucking cis person as “murderous” or “oppressive”
(yes there are some nice trans people on this app and theres many more nice ones irl)
2.)if you don’t want to be labeled as your sexuality stop bringing it up every topic nobody cares if your gay if anything sexuality is based on preference not who you are but if you constantly throw it in peoples faces you are going to get labeled.
3.)Discrimination is discrimination being trans doesn’t mean you can be disrespectful to bisexual people cis people asexual people etc (ive seen hate around bi and Asexuals lately its pretty fucking rude) same goes with race black people can be just as racist as whites asian people chinese etc can all be racist labeling cis white people as racist is well not only hypocritical but an asshole thing to do.
4.)And basing yourself around slurs and shit and bullying then calling it “systematical oppression” isn’t oppression nobodys keeping you from being gay (thats what isis does they kill gay people in there country) if anything nobody cant control you or your feelings or preference.
5.) Wearing vagina hats and shit like that saying “men need to die” isn’t heroism its fucking sexism and btw (ur disgusting ick) claiming “manspreading” is sexist and awful and saying its rude when they have to do it so they don’t crush there own dick. Also shave as well you look like a monkey.
6.)you can’t expect society to make privelages for you 24/7 when you aren’t willing to put in the effort and help to get the privelage (ex making polls) you all (not everybody) sit back and label and label and label to no end and complain over shit like cis people grow tf up. more people are straight then gay your sexuality isn’t illegal where you live same sex marriage might be illegal but hating thousands or millions of people blaming it on everybody when they can’t control the law or change it is just pathetic (ik this one seemed strange but hatred regardless isn’t good)
7.) by saying shit like “cis people should die uwuwu” your giving trans people a bad image and then saying stuff like”hetero people shouldn’t be alive uwuw” is your goal to get oppressed or to have freedom forever cos as long as you keep that up (its not only on this app lmao) your not going to have your privelage
8.)not everybodys going to accept you and your gonna have to learn how to stand your ground.
9.)your life isn’t a daycare 24/7 you have to get a job just like every normal person you have to learn how to cope with assholes you have to learn how to not constantly get offended when people say “ew” if anything there ew (and not everything is ew)
10.) You being any sexuality doesn’t give you the right to actually be an asshole if anything nobody should be. and just because you cant except someone for who they are oh well you lose respect. that simple treat others the way you wanna be treated if you treat others like shit your gonna be treated like shit.
11.)Idc if anythings different like sexuality race gender etc just be nice and ill be nice back :/ or disabilitys im not gonna fucking hate you because of a disability. also me have anxiety and being scared to say hello to anyone doesn’t mean im transphobic im just not good at socializing in general if anything i cant keep my head. so someone who cant say hi because of a mental illness or disability doesn’t mean there transphobic its mean they have trouble doing it and those with delusional issues like schizophrenia may act differently but you cant label them as transphobic for not giving you some type of fucking medal for being lgbtq.
I have anxiety and can’t socialize properly and i hate being labeled as an asshole for not socializing i cant control it (and if trans isn’t a mental illness then you can control it) And also i don’t pay attention to my friends sexualitys irl.
Common responses with cisphobic people and my responses
“Ur probably just transphobic lol uwuwu”
Did you just assume my gender you asshole?
“ndjdjdjdjsjsi”
R u ok?
“WERE OPRESSED”
Ya and im hungry
“kys cishet”
Get a job pansie
“ew ur cis”
Ew ur retarded
“can cis people stop breathing already”
*holds breath for one minute* fuck i couldn’t do it for much longer but yes i can stop breathing at anytime and so can you ;)
“down with cis”
How are you “down with us” if you don’t fit in with your fucking 5th grade class then you don’t fit in with us for shits sake lifes a class and stereotype system.
“Were murdered and raped and beaten to death”
*chokes on water* sorry i was to busy to drinking to give a shit
“edgy”
Excuse me im not edgy >:[
“cringey cis”
you are down with us lmao
“can every cis person just leave”
Idk depends how many cis people are with you it may take awhile especially since your bullshit is taking up half the exit door.
“Cisphobia doesn’t exist”
And nor does your common sense or sight. Go get some contact lenses you media blinded dumbshit
“heterophobia lol whuttt”
im a heterosexual fite me bitch *comes at me telling me to kms and die cos im hetero* it exists
“You probably make fun of trans people”
Hey hey hey don’t start jumping to shit i only drank some coffee don’t try to get me awake yet although it could help
“cis people are useless”
Thats what your mom said to you when you were born poor mother little did she know she’d give birth to a humankind hating dissapointment.
“im so tired of being hurt emotionally pysically”
Im so tired of running out of hot pockets but i mean things change as long as you put the effort i buy hot pockets you stop talking shit.
What are you a fucking pervert who writes “down with cis” on a knife if i knew you irl id call a mental asylum your a sick person who deserves to die hate to say it go ahead call me a homophobic transphobic cis cunt its awful you did that honestly using your hatred cos some people hurt you against every cis person known to mankind is not how to act it may be your way to act but within society if you want to be viewed as normal and not a mentally ill gender dysphoric person then you cant do shit like that grow up get a life.
queer is such a good word. im queer as in fuck you. queer as in odd. queer as in fucked-in-the-head. queer as in i hope you choke on it. queer as in a slur i laugh at. queer as in not like you. queer as in none of your business. queer as in a line in the fucking dirt. queer as in we’re here. get used to it. queer as in this is who i am and what i am. queer as in im different and i dont fucking care. queer as in with or without you i exist and ill keep doing it. queer as in queer
queer as in lesbian. sorry u have internalized homophobia and think it’s a good thing to be fucked in the head, but some of us are normal.
the LGBT community fought to be seen as normal and beautiful for DECADES, and you’re here defacing it and disrespecting all those activists by calling all of us “odd” and “fucked in the head” and “different”. that’s fine and dandy for you, who is perfectly safe blogging on a website and saying slurs, but what about the kids who are beaten up because they’re seen as odd? the ones kicked out for being different? kids who kill themselves because they think that gay = weird? why tf would you want to push the idea that gay people are weird instead of trying to normalize it to protect helpless people?
babygirl. this post is about and me only. some people are relating to this and im glad for them, but i am queer as in odd. queer as in fucked in the head. queer as in not like you. im sorry that youre so insecure and miserable that you have nothing better to do than bitch at some random tumblr user for describing themselves with their own words
you called it “such a good word” and then equated it to being fucking insane. and then posted it to a public platform. if you’re crazy you can just say that without equating it to being a sexual minority.
god, imagine if i was like “i’m asian as in fucked in the head. asian as in crazy and not normal” lmao
babygirl im queer as in i hope you choke on it and queer as unpalatable. im a sexual and gender minority and i dont need to be nice or conforming or easy to handle.
no one said you needed to be conforming. just know that you actively make young gay lives worse by making people see us as evil and crazy :) you perpetuate homophobic hate crimes and persecution. i’m from a country that still does not have gay marriage or legal protections bc of sentiments like yours.
oh babygirl im queer as in Odd, Fucked In The Head, Unpalatable. aka NonConforming. i know reading is hard being youre used to being spoonfed bullshit, but try to think what im saying through.
babygirl im odd and deviant and im sorry youre too repressed and conformist to realize you’ll never be accepted no matter how much you piss on other queers<3
I’m not even gay you idiot, I just hate homophobes. Leave gay people alone
R.A.S : No problem, Bughead will date even if we need to straight-wash and erase one of Jughead’s most iconic characteristic
Riverdale fans : We want Choni
R.A.S : Sure thing, we will make Choni happen and they will have a pretty little screentime and a lot of moments cut
Riverdale fans : We want Falice
R.A.S : Ok you will get Falice even if it will be very rushed with little to no screentime.
Riverdale fans : We made some crazy theories and -
R.A.S : They are cannon
Riverdale fans : We want Joavin
R.A.S : sorry :)) sweety :)) but Kevin belongs with Moose who still griefs over his gf and pretty much also cheated on her two times. Also don’t forget to buy our dvd with the deleted Choni scenes you won’t see otherwise
[Free vector image of a white, female-presenting person, from head to torso, with biometric facial recognition patterns on her face; incidentally, go try finding images—even illustrations—of a non-white person in a facial recognition context.]
