missrep: “Women have always fought. Shaka Zulu had an all-female force of fighters. Women have been part of every resistance movement. Women dressed as men and went to war, went to sea, and participated actively in combat for as long as there have been people.” From: We Have Always Fought’: Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle and Slaves’ Narrative” by Kameron Hurley
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missrep:

“Women have always fought. Shaka Zulu had an all-female force of fighters. Women have been part of every resistance movement. Women dressed as men and went to war, went to sea, and participated actively in combat for as long as there have been people.”

From: We Have Always Fought’: Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle and Slaves’ Narrative” by Kameron Hurley

(via upworthy)

Source: missrep

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.

Visit Amnesty International to find out how you can do more, spread the word and get involved.

Feminism for Dudes: Misandry is Real (ly funny)

Please give this guy a virtual hug and high-five (aka a ‘like’) on Youtube. The hateful ‘trolls’ are unsurprisingly coming full-force on this one. It’s a shame that they are so negative but what is so incredible and beautiful about what’s going on RIGHT NOW is that more and more people - men and women - are speaking up about violence, rape, and how we treat each other. I feel so much love from so many people all around the world who’ve just had enough. I truly believe we are reaching our tipping point and I give thanks for men like this gentleman that speak up. I’m stating the obvious when I say it’s important that men be involved in the solution to ending violence against women and children. Without men actively participating in the process we as a society can never deal with violence against women and children effectively and with lasting impact. 

Are your cheap clothes, accessories and consumer goods worth it? Are they worth this?  Every time you shop, you are casting vote for what kind of world you support.  We are all a part of the problem and all responsible for the solution. Please vote wisely. Here’s some resources to find companies doing good by the world: Fashioning Change Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights Find a B Corp Eco Fashion World Salon article of sweat shops and labour practices Green America Google! “ethical clothing” “sweatshop resources” and so on. You will find a plethora of information. A Final Embrace: The Most Haunting Photograph from Bangladesh Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/05/08/a-final-embrace-the-most-haunting-photograph-from-bangladesh/#ixzz2SnqI9sl5 Many powerful photographs have been made in the aftermath of the devastating collapse of a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. But one photo, by Bangladeshi photographer Taslima Akhter, has emerged as the most heart wrenching, capturing an entire country’s grief in a single image.
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Are your cheap clothes, accessories and consumer goods worth it? Are they worth this?  Every time you shop, you are casting vote for what kind of world you support.  We are all a part of the problem and all responsible for the solution. Please vote wisely.

Here’s some resources to find companies doing good by the world:

A Final Embrace: The Most Haunting Photograph from Bangladesh

Many powerful photographs have been made in the aftermath of the devastating collapse of a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. But one photo, by Bangladeshi photographer Taslima Akhter, has emerged as the most heart wrenching, capturing an entire country’s grief in a single image.

Jackson Katz is an awesome breath of fresh air.  I have tremendous respect for men like Katz. It’s so important for men to realize that violence against women isn’t a “women’s issue”. That makes it sound like we’re talking about our periods or something… Come on people.

Jackson Katz, Phd, is an anti-sexist activist and expert on violence, media and masculinities. An author, filmmaker, educator and social theorist, Katz has worked in gender violence prevention work with diverse groups of men and boys in sports culture and the military, and has pioneered work in critical media literacy.Katz is the creator and co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, which advocates the ‘bystander approach’ to sexual and domestic violence prevention. You’ve also seen him in the award winning documentary “MissRepresentation.”

soulpancake: Tomorrow, May 8th, we are proud to release the short film The Forge. Eric Lim’s sister Tanya committed suicide. To bring creation from destruction, Eric and director Stephen Reedy used money inherited from her personal savings to create a message that honors her and serves as a piece they wished she saw when she was in a dark place. It’s a message for anybody hurting. Together, they assembled a team of friends and strangers-turned-family to create The Forge, an endeavor built for anybody hurting, preaching a message to turn destruction into creation (a concept demonstrated in the process of making the film itself).
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soulpancake:

Tomorrow, May 8th, we are proud to release the short film The Forge. Eric Lim’s sister Tanya committed suicide. To bring creation from destruction, Eric and director Stephen Reedy used money inherited from her personal savings to create a message that honors her and serves as a piece they wished she saw when she was in a dark place. It’s a message for anybody hurting. 

Together, they assembled a team of friends and strangers-turned-family to create The Forge, an endeavor built for anybody hurting, preaching a message to turn destruction into creation (a concept demonstrated in the process of making the film itself).

Love you, Stitch - and not like pizza.  If you’re considering having a pet -  first please think wisely and second, after thinking wisely you believe you can be lovingly responsible for many years to come to another sentient being, go to your local shelter and adopt a rescue. “People use the word ‘love’ a lot of different ways. Take me, for instance. I am often heard saying that I love my mom and dad. I am also often heard saying that I love pizza. What am I saying when I say I love my mom and dad? I’m saying that I care about them. I’m saying that I love spending time with them and that I talk to them every chance I get. I’m saying that if they needed me, I would do every humanly possible to help them. I’m saying that I always want what’s best for them. What am I saying when I say I love pizza? Am I saying that I care deeply about pizza? Am I saying that I have a relationship with pizza? Am I saying that if pizza had a problem, I would be there for the pizza? (What? Not enough pepperoni? I’ll be right there!) Of course not. When I say I love pizza, I’m just saying that I enjoy eating pizza until I don’t want any more pizza. Once I’m tired of the pizza, I don’t care what happens to the rest of it. I’ll throw it away. I’ll feed it to the dog. I’ll stick it in the back of the refrigerator until it gets all green and moldy. It doesn’t matter to me anymore. These are two very different definition of the word ‘love’. It gets confusing when people start talking about love, and especially about loving you. Which way do these people love you? Do they want what is best for you, or do they just want you around because it is good for them, and they don’t really care what happens to you? Next time someone looks deeply into your eyes and says ‘I love you’, look very deeply right back and say, ‘Would that be pizza love, or the real thing?”   - Mary Beth Bonacci
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Love you, Stitch - and not like pizza.  If you’re considering having a pet -  first please think wisely and second, after thinking wisely you believe you can be lovingly responsible for many years to come to another sentient being, go to your local shelter and adopt a rescue.

“People use the word ‘love’ a lot of different ways. Take me, for instance. I am often heard saying that I love my mom and dad. I am also often heard saying that I love pizza. What am I saying when I say I love my mom and dad? I’m saying that I care about them. I’m saying that I love spending time with them and that I talk to them every chance I get. I’m saying that if they needed me, I would do every humanly possible to help them. I’m saying that I always want what’s best for them. What am I saying when I say I love pizza? Am I saying that I care deeply about pizza? Am I saying that I have a relationship with pizza? Am I saying that if pizza had a problem, I would be there for the pizza? (What? Not enough pepperoni? I’ll be right there!) Of course not. When I say I love pizza, I’m just saying that I enjoy eating pizza until I don’t want any more pizza. Once I’m tired of the pizza, I don’t care what happens to the rest of it. I’ll throw it away. I’ll feed it to the dog. I’ll stick it in the back of the refrigerator until it gets all green and moldy. It doesn’t matter to me anymore. These are two very different definition of the word ‘love’. It gets confusing when people start talking about love, and especially about loving you. Which way do these people love you? Do they want what is best for you, or do they just want you around because it is good for them, and they don’t really care what happens to you? Next time someone looks deeply into your eyes and says ‘I love you’, look very deeply right back and say, ‘Would that be pizza love, or the real thing?”

 

- Mary Beth Bonacci

stfuapologists: fluffmugger: (source) Note how the most important facet of this story is not how she swam out and physically saved two people from drowning in a riptide at the risk of her own life, but that during the course of heroic physical activity in an outfit not designed for it, a tit slipped out. Really? A nipple? A nipple made an appearance when she was dragging her son and a woman twice her size out of strong currents? WELL HOLY SHIT, STOP THE MOTHER FUCKING PRESS nipples are the most important thing in the world of course
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stfuapologists:

fluffmugger:

(source)

Note how the most important facet of this story is not how she swam out and physically saved two people from drowning in a riptide at the risk of her own life, but that during the course of heroic physical activity in an outfit not designed for it, a tit slipped out.

Really? A nipple? A nipple made an appearance when she was dragging her son and a woman twice her size out of strong currents?

WELL HOLY SHIT, STOP THE MOTHER FUCKING PRESS

nipples are the most important thing in the world of course

Source: fluffmugger

When my faith was hanging
by the weak thread of justice
and in the whole city
the hearts of my lamps were
being torn to pieces,
when the childlike eyes of my love
were being blindfolded by law’s black kerchief,
and fountains of blood were gushing forth
from the distressed temples of my desire,
when my life was no longer anything,
nothing but the tick tock of a wall clock,
I discovered that I must,
that I absolutely had to
love madly.

- Excerpt from ‘Window’ (Panjareh) by Forugh Farrokhzad.

 

Photograph by Karen Kasmauski for National Geographic It’s World Malaria Day.  I’ve had Malaria 5 times (so far). I read somewhere that once you have it, it stays in your body. I don’t really know enough about that because it’s actually been hard finding information specifically about that…but maybe that explains why I get it so often…who knows. I would like to be enlightened if there’s a doctor in the field out there who reads this. I should have died more than once, but I didn’t. I’m very lucky. One doctor in Tanzania said I was “…a very stubborn girl. You should have been dead but you aren’t because you are so stubborn.”  I knew that trait would pay off somewhere. Stubborn or lucky - either way, I’m extremely grateful. Many people - especially children - are not as lucky. Children, with their small bodies and immature immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to severe illness and death. In fact, every minute a child dies of malaria. Globally there are an estimated 219 million cases of malaria and 660,000 malaria deaths each year, over 90% of which occur in Africa. Malaria accounts for one in six of all childhood deaths in Africa.* It’s an excrutiating experience, let alone a horrible way to die. I can’t imagine what it is like for a mother and father to watch their child die in pain and not be able to do anything to fix the situation and make their child better.  Something as simple as a mosquito net can make all the difference for these children. Please support Spread the Net, Malaria No More and Roll Back Malaria.  Their awesome sites are full of amazing resources and information, ways to get involved and spread the word. *from Spead the Net
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Photograph by Karen Kasmauski for National Geographic

It’s World Malaria Day. 

I’ve had Malaria 5 times (so far). I read somewhere that once you have it, it stays in your body. I don’t really know enough about that because it’s actually been hard finding information specifically about that…but maybe that explains why I get it so often…who knows. I would like to be enlightened if there’s a doctor in the field out there who reads this.

I should have died more than once, but I didn’t. I’m very lucky. One doctor in Tanzania said I was “…a very stubborn girl. You should have been dead but you aren’t because you are so stubborn.”  I knew that trait would pay off somewhere.

Stubborn or lucky - either way, I’m extremely grateful. Many people - especially children - are not as lucky.

Children, with their small bodies and immature immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to severe illness and death. In fact, every minute a child dies of malaria.

Globally there are an estimated 219 million cases of malaria and 660,000 malaria deaths each year, over 90% of which occur in Africa.

Malaria accounts for one in six of all childhood deaths in Africa.*

It’s an excrutiating experience, let alone a horrible way to die.

I can’t imagine what it is like for a mother and father to watch their child die in pain and not be able to do anything to fix the situation and make their child better. 

Something as simple as a mosquito net can make all the difference for these children.

Please support Spread the Net, Malaria No More and Roll Back Malaria.  Their awesome sites are full of amazing resources and information, ways to get involved and spread the word.

*from Spead the Net