The Monument Quilt: A public healing space by and for survivors of rape and abuse. The Monument Quilt is an on-going collection of stories from survivors of rape and abuse. Written, stitched, and painted onto red fabric, our stories are displayed in city and town centers to create and demand public space to heal. The quilt resists the popular and narrow narrative of how sexual violence occurs by telling many stories, not one. The quilt builds a new culture where survivors are publicly supported, rather than publicly shamed.
In other words: no speaking of any sort because it’s probably offensive to someone somewhere one way or another
I love how this is your takeaway.
Without sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, fatphobia, transphobia and hatefulness, people can’t speak! Yes, there will be no speaking of any sort. How can we expect people to speak without them being racist, ageist, sexist, fatphobic, homophobic, transphobic and hateful? Words cannot come out from their mouths without any of those things.
I probably shouldn’t be surprised about this, but a lot of people missing the point here. the joke isn’t “terfs calling Sigourney weaver, a hot woman, unattractive” and tbh I think seeing this post and going “terfs are so stupid because Sigourney weaver is obviously gorgeous” is even potentially harmful or at least hurtful
the joke here is terfs seeing a picture of Sigourney Weaver, famous actress and cis woman, but because they were told its a picture of a trans woman they’re immediately yakking about how ‘clockable’ she is
as I stick my hand into a newly opened bag of M&Ms, a part of me I like to pretend doesn’t exist hopes to pull out the color red.
I know that inside they’re all the same sweet, cheap chocolate
that made Mars Inc. rich,
but like a weed that leaves its roots behind, something so deeply lodged inside my mind my bare hands cannot pry it loose suggests,
so quietly most of the time I forget to notice,
that red is best,
better than any other color in the bag,
for no reason other than it happens to the uninvited guest that has so rudely imprinted itself into the back of my eye, glaring like the flag at a bullfight,
and I wonder why my tastebuds cheer the color red,
red of blood,of gunshot wounds in chocolate skin undeserved,
served by those charged to protect,
the red of anger aimed at every other color,
the scream of silence as the trigger is pulled
red,
the color splashed across the headlines of CNN
when yet another life has been slammed shut before the last page, because of the color of the cover,
red,
the red of my own lips, partedas my throat tries to open and let words pass,
but finds that it is too tight,
because underneath the red on the M&M is a white candy shell,
so easily crushed
between the teeth of a nation that feeds discrimination and makes it great again,
where cruelty trumps kindness,
and walls border more than our minds,
and red, the red that catches my eye when I hang my head in shame, painted onto my nails, a concoction of corrosive chemicals that harden when exposed to the light and air,
and red,the red that I have been infected with, the disease
coursing through my veins, that seeps out when my wrists are sliced open.
Now, as I stare at the red M&M in my hand, sticky from being rubbed between my fingers,
I realize that maybe I’m only one person, but each ocean begins with a single drop. I let the red M&M fall to the floor, and watch it fade,
So many girls/women I know blame themselves when men are violent or abusive towards them. “He hit me, but I deserved it because of the way I…” or “yes he hit me but it was my own fault because I…” Here’s the thing, though. Women are never hit without a reason being given, but that reason is NEVER a good one. Yes, maybe you did something that, in a spiraling chain of events eventually ended up with him hitting you. But hitting is never an appropriate response to ANYTHING, no matter what you do. So while you may feel responsible and take the blame for it because an action of yours precipitated the abuse, you are not at fault for how he reacted. (Note: I am aware that men are the victims of domestic violence as well. However, I’m speaking from my experience as a woman)
my friend strawberry-pop, a very well known blogger on this site, mentioned her status to me and recently encouraged me to start writing on tumblr.com. what they didn’t know is that i’ve always been on and off the site. i never posted or interacted with others, but i would get on this site looking for astrology posts and s o n a s t y content ;). I never stayed up to date with the trends on this site, but eventually they got to me once they hit mainstream media.
from the top of my head, i recall in the early 2010s dubstep and raves were at its peak. in the 2000s, pop music was also at its peak. today in the 2020s hyperpop is heavily influenced by both of these genres.
in the 80s - 00s sitcoms were very popular. before sitcoms the world was in shambles. viet cong, assinated presidents, bombs and bunkers, religion and philosophies within conflict of one another; hatred and fear was in the air. on the other hand you had yippies, black activists, people of all color fighting for the better, fighting for change, fighting for freedom from the oppression of the past and the present. i ask myself, “what happened to these people?” i then recall the hippies, the ones who just wanted to be there for the hype of things. they didn’t need to be there at all, they just wanted to be there. many of these hippies went back to what they were accustomed to: status, pleasure, and oppression. they went back home to their wealthy parents and worked 9-5s.
regan era was in place, the fun and the change was shut down, this lead to chaos behind the scenes. the richest and perverted people of this earth, making dark moves underground, war on drugs infiltrating black, hispanic, and other poc communities, yippie parents neglecting their kids, the chaos continues as sitcoms make their way.
sitcoms are wholesome because they depict what a happy, normal, american family should look like. this was pure propaganda and manipulation towards gen x and millennials, and they weren’t buying it. they knew there was no such thing as a “normal” family. these kids knew veterans, they saw the hood first hand in their face, loved ones on drugs with ptsd. how can a old generation “protect” these kids?
skins UK is not a sitcom, but its a show that many people my age and older know of. I believe the popularity of this show was recognized on tumblr. the edge, the drugs, the sex, the pain, the fucks ups, were excessivly dipicted on that show. i’ve only seen about one season of skins and i already know the pain they felt at that time. generations and generations of pretending in the east, teens in the 2010s felt that. they found pleasure in the raves, they felt happiness and freedom there like the discos in the 60s-70s.
i was never there and i felt it. days as a child going on demand watching avicii and zedd, nightcore, paramore, paint it black, i felt it all.
Strawberry-pop was on tumblr and she saw and felt it in the moment. Strawberry-pop does a good job at keeping content up, she sees it all and she does a lot to fight back like the yippies and the misfits. empathy is their strength, they keep their composure through all the emotion. they know the feeling, they see it in me, like i see it in them.
today we continue to fight back. nothing will never be “normal.” people want to conform to normal, to suppress the pain all over again. i will fight until i see the earth bright again, until my fellow animals understand my love, until society feels my love like they know best.
- v1rtualvic
check out my friends blog, and her post on how hippies—as well as other groups—affected pop culture. not only that, but she explains the importance of fighting back against mass media, when they are fueling the injustices going on around us. i am not as good as she is when it comes to articulating my thoughts, so i appreciate this informative, yet personal post. @v1rtualvic’s energy and passion for improving society brings me hope and drives me to speak up for the voices that are silenced.
i will continue to stay on brand and add a gif :,)
Digital illustration of a indigenous woman and her child sitting on the floor. She’s looking back and is wearing a grey bodycon dress with text that reads, ‘clean water is a human right.’ Behind her, a toddler is looking at you and is wearing a green striped shirt and green pants. Between them is a water bottle labeled ‘sink water’ filled with a brown liquid.
Digital illustration of a brown fem with a purple bob. They are looking back, with the collar of their pink denim jacket lifted up. The jacket has two pins that depict a rainbow flag and trans flag and there’s stars and text that reads, ‘support abortion access.’
Health care is a human right (and that includes abortion.)
Digital illustration of a Black fem sitting in the center of a scribbled black background. They have bantu knots, purple makeup, a striped blue sweater, a plaid hot pink skirt, bright yellow socks and purple combat boots with blue shoelaces. There’s a speech bubble that says , ‘health care is a human right’ With a note that says ‘that includes abortion’
“You and your friends fill your mouths with big words–Social Justice, Freedom, Revolution–and meanwhile people waste away, they fall ill, many of them die. Speeches don’t feed people. What the people need are fresh vegetables, and a good fish broth at least once a week. I’m only interested in the kinds of revolution that start off by getting people sat at the table.”
— José Eduardo Agualusa, A General Theory of Oblivion
I spoke with students from this school prior to the rally at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and they said that not only did their principal/administration know this was going to be happening, but they had the floors washed, too, knowing students would be sitting and laying down on it.
I love to see young people organizing, and I love when their efforts are supported by the adults in their life.
The Daily Caller is a trash publication that conservatives should be ashamed of. I wish that I had something more positive to say about young conservatives, but judging from the young conservatives that work in the media, the young conservative activists I read about, and the young conservatives on Tumblr, I’m feeling pretty cynical about the future of conservatism.
An associate professor at MIT University, USA, has written a new book named Design Justice examining the way in which technology can be functional for more people within the society. The new book focuses on the correlation between technology, design, and social justice.
In the book, Design Justice: Community Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need, Sasha Constanza-Chock shared their experience as a transgender and nonbinary person, and explained how technology could help improve the experiences of others that belong to minority groups.
Highlighting the biases built into everyday objects, including software interfaces, medical devices, social media, and the built environment, Constanza-Chock examined how these biases reflect existing power structures in society. published by the MIT Press, the book offers a framework for fixing the shortcomings of technology in society, while suggesting methods of technology design that can be used to help build a more inclusive future.
‘Design justice is both a community of practice, and a framework for analysis,’ said Costanza-Chock, who is the Mitsui Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing program. ‘In the book I’m trying to both narrate the emergence of this community, based on my own participation in it, and rethink some of the core concepts from design theory through this lens.’
In one particular example, Constanza-Chock talked about how something as simple as going through airport security can become an unusually uncomfortable process. Airport’s tend to be set up with security millimetre wave scanners which are set up with binary, male or female configurations. To operate the machine, agents press a button based on their assumptions about the person entering the scanner – blue for ‘boy,’ or pink for ‘girl’. As a non-binary person, Constanza-Chock would always be flagged by the machine when travelling, prompted for a hands-on check by security officials.
‘I know I’m almost certainly about to experience an embarrassing, uncomfortable, and perhaps humiliating search… after my body is flagged as anomalous by the millimetre wave scanner,’ Constanza-Chock wrote in the book.
This is an experience familiar to many who fall outside the system’s norms, Costanza-Chock explains – trans and gender nonconforming people’s bodies, black women’s hair, head wraps, and assistive devices are regularly flagged as ‘risky’.
The book also looks at the issue of who designs technology, a subject Costanza-Chock has examined extensively — for instance in the 2018 report ‘#MoreThanCode,’ which pointed out the need for more systematic inclusion and equity efforts in the emerging field of public interest technology.
Costanza-Chock, hopes the book will interest people not only for the criticism it offers, but as a way of moving forward and deploying better practices.
‘My book is not primarily or only critique,’ Costanza-Chock said. ‘One of the things about the Design Justice Network is that we try to spend more time building than tearing down. I think design justice is about articulating a critique, while constantly trying to point toward ways of doing things better.’
