Intense video captures the moment a cop refuses to use deadly force
A police officer from New Richmond, Ohio, has drawn national attention for showing that encounters between police and suspected criminals don’t always have to end in violence, even when the situation is tense.
This is how they’re SUPPOSED to act.
what is transphobia?
there’s been a lot of confusion lately around what is or isn’t transphobic, and a lot of the answers people give are messy so i thought i’d make a post directly explaining it. i hope it helps!
- preferences
- everybody has preferences based on appearance, of course, and you wouldn’t call a straight man homophobic for not being attracted to men. however, if a straight man is not attracted to women that look like men (i.e. pre-transition), then they cannot say that they are attracted to women because they’re ignoring a huge part of that demographic. they are attracted to women with vaginas, not women. to say you’re attracted to women with vaginas is not transphobic; to say you’re attracted to women and then not count women that don’t present in a feminine way is.
- if you’re a straight man and you find a fully transitioned trans woman (male to female) and wouldn’t date her because she used to have “male” genitalia, that is transphobic. as i said before, preference based on appearance is understandable. preference based on whether or not somebody used to be a different sex is not
- to sum up: preferences are okay, but if your preference is only because of the fact that they’ve transitioned, you are being transphobic. you cannot say you are attracted to women and leave trans women out. consider saying you’re attracted to biological women instead.
- language
- unfortuantely, society has a lot of transphobic terms that we use so commonly we don’t realize that they’re even harmful. the first part of this is terms that we use to refer to actual trans people. a common phrase is “tranny.” this is an extremely offensive term and we’ve only ever heard it associated with negative things. please do not refer to people who are transgender as “trannies.” some alternatives: call them by their names. we’re people too.
- if you have to reference the fact that somebody is transgender, don’t refer to them as “a transgender.” doing this is incredibly objectifying, reducing us to nothing more than the fact that we don’t allign with the gender that we were assigned. please refer as us as “people who are transgender,” or “transgender people.” the people part of it is very important to include - we are people too.
- trans girl/trans guy - these are terms people use a lot to refer to transgender people. the gender after the word trans refers to the gender the person identifies as. i’m transgender and i identify as a girl, so i’m a trans girl.
- for a list of things you might ask a trans person that are transphobic, please click here
- transmisogyny and transphobia in feminism
- transphobes are often perpetrators of another type of internalized hate - misogyny. misogyny is the belief that men are superior to women, and in the context of transgender people, transmisogyny is where transphobia is supported by misogynistic behavior
- radical feminism. a lot of radical feminists believe that trans women are not truly women because gender is a binary and therefore trans women deserve to be held to the same standards as men, and treated accordingly. while it is true that gender is socially constructed, the societal pressure put on men and women to be a certain gender is very real, and whether radical feminists like it or not, trans women like myself experience dysphoria when we’re treated like men, especially those of us that are pre-transition. feminism strives to overthrow the patriarchy and do away with all of the effects it has, and one of those effects is dysphoria occuring to trans men and women as a result of societal pressure. to call yourself a feminist and to be against trans people means that you see women as tits and a vagina, which is not only objectifying, but it is also doing exactly what sexists do, and reducing women to nothing more than their bodies. if you do this, you are being transphobic.
- violence against transgender people and your role in it
- when trans women transition, they are seen as women by otherwise transphobic people, and are therefore subject to sexism. a common term for a trans woman is a “trap,” as a lot of straight men believe that they’re being tricked into having a gay relationship, as they still see women as men. as a result, trans women, especially trans women of color, are subject to some of the highest rates of violence in the world. the average age that a trans woman lives to is 30 to 32 years old. that was the average lifespan during the dark ages. the fact that a man believed he was going to be having sex with a woman but found out the woman was transgender has literally been used to win court cases. this is engrained very deeply in our society. trans men face a lower rate of violence against them but they are subject to sexism when it’s found out that they’ve transitioned. because of this, transgender men also have a lower lifespan than cisgender people, on average.
- this is where you come in. as a cis person, you have the privilege of not having to worry about your gender, or at least not to the extreme that a trans person does. you may feel pressure, as we all do, to conform to your role, but you will not face the same kind of oppression that a trans person will for it, especially not trans women of color. that’s why it is your responsibility to ensure that trans people have a safe environment. there are many small things that you can do. as a cis person it’s your responibility to educate yourself. start here, and continue to read and be objective when you take in media. it’s not something that can be easily unlearned, and nobody is expecting you to be perfect overnight. however, we are expecting you to make the effort.
I hope this post helped!! if there’s anything that you find confusing feel free to message me and i’ll reply or add it to this post. thank you for reading!
Policies are written to woo the demographic groups most likely to vote. So opting out until policies change is by far the most self-defeating tactic. If your vote cannot be won or lost by any party, then you simply don’t matter.
The deadline for registering to vote is the 20 April 2015. After this date you are not eligible to vote and your views don’t count. Politicians will allocate the next five years tax increases and spending cuts based on the groups who did and didn’t vote. History shows non-voters get disproportionately hammered.
Don’t be a mug… REGISTER TO VOTE NOW!
Karlie Kloss Announces #KodeWithKarlie Scholarship So Teen Girls Can Learn To Code
Coding classes have made such an impact on Karlie Kloss’ life that now she wants teen girls to have the chance to take them, too. Thanks to her latest project, a handful of them will get that chance without worrying about the cost. For more on how to apply to Kloss’ scholarship go here.
#LAST_GENERATION
So, I’m sure like everyone else, you’ve probably seen this post about Ajit Johnson’s poster series, #This_Generation. If not, feel free to take a look at it now.
The idea for making these images in response came from both the frustration I experienced after seeing the original posters and how impressed I was by little-ranting-college-boy‘s responses (you can view this as well in the linked post).
I wasn’t able to figure out how to translate all of the ideas into poster form, (most likely because I’m not an artist) so I’d recommend taking a look at little-ranting-college-boy’s comments because they delve quite a bit deeper than these blue posters do.
There’s just so much hypocrisy coming from people who cry out about how screwed today’s generation is - in doing so, they ignore their own faults, and more than anything else, their inability to adapt. The world is changing and instead of taking the time to understand the motivations of people who use technology more, they’re just dismissed as uneducated and self-absorbed. Of course, judging a person’s worth by how educated they are is disgusting, and to say that someone is self-absorbed by constantly interacting with others is more confusing than anything else.
People seem to always forget about the “social” in “social media”. You are not screaming into a void by posting on Facebook. You are not talking to a wall by tweeting. You are putting out messages for other people, actual living humans, to read and respond to. Having a conversation on Skype isn’t exactly the same as having a face to face conversation, no, but for a lot of people, it’s all they can get.
I have friends who I’ve had for years who go to schools in different cities - but these same friends are people who I talk to incredibly often thanks to, you guessed it, social media. If it weren’t for social media, pretty much my only choice would be to let those relationships rot simply because someone I care deeply about is physically separated from me. I’m also making new friends in the city I live in, of course, but there’s no reason to have to choose between the two.
For others, social media is the only form of social interaction that works for them. Whether it is due to living conditions, mental health conditions, or anything else (and the cause is very rarely our business), some people simply find social media to be a more accessible way to converse with others.
As well as friends and family, access to the near limitless resources the internet holds can be critical to people dealing with personal health, mental health, and living situation issues. The internet has some dark points to it, yes, but it has a wealth of knowledge that anyone can learn from. Whether they’re learning about things that #LAST_GENERATION teachers refused to properly explain in class, such safe sex (as seen in the example above), or riots halfway around the world no one in their country would have learned about were it not for social media, the connection the internet brings us allows for so many opportunities to learn.
I hope some people can learn from this post.
Okay so I’m trying to think objectively about the upcoming UK election. Where I don’t go about it thinking the tories are pricks, and I try to move away from not liking Labour based on What Blair Did, I try to believe things Nick says (but don’t forget 2010), give UKIP a chance that maybe it’s just the media telling me they’re a bunch of racists (but they probably are…) and giving the greens more of a chance than just the ‘hopeful dream that won’t actually ever work’.
Basically, I’m trying to be unbiased.
Just some info I strung together from a couple of independent sites. It’s not exhaustive but I’ve tried to include bits of everything from these five parties…
(Well, the truth behind this is actually my parents are threatening to vote UKIP and I’m terrified but I thought this would be a better way to talk them out of it, and that maybe some of UK tumblr might find it useful too.)
If anyone’s got any questions about the points or the sources, or even my own views, drop me an ask. and IF ANYTHING IS INCORRECT THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY COMMENTS OR ASKS OR BY PIGEON POST!
Happy voting everyone, let’s try and not ruin the UK…
UNARMED BLACK MAN FATALLY SHOT BY VOLUNTEER COP
Eric Harris, who was unarmed, died an hour later after what Tulsa, Oklahoma police officials called a “mistake.” According to several news sources, On April 2nd, the victim had reportedly tried to sell a gun to undercover cops and fled on foot as they attempted to arrest him. A video camera captured him, wearing dark shorts and a t-shirt, running up a sidewalk. Harris was quickly caught and subdued. That’s when a 73-year-old volunteer patrolman, Robert Bates, “allegedly” reached for his Taser, but grabbed “accidentally” grabbed his gun instead. According to Tulsa World, Bates, who has donated thousands of dollars worth of items to the Sheriff’s Office since becoming a reserve deputy in 2008, is a Tulsa insurance company executive. He was working undercover as a member of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Task Force. The World reported that “Bates is classified as an ‘advanced reserve,’ which means he ‘can do anything a full-time deputy can do.’”
Rather than immediately render aid, the officers held Harris down by his neck as a deputy screamed, “Fuck You! You shouldn’t have f*cking ran!”
As Eric Harris lay mortally wounded, face down on the pavement, he begged for his life. “He shot me!” Harris shouted. “He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I’m losing my breath.”
“F*ck your breath!” the officer yelled.
Capt. Billy McKelvey said the officers were not aware the suspect had been shot, despite the unmistakable sound of the gunshot noise. Bates “made an inadvertent mistake,” he said.
The New York Daily News reported that no further investigation is planned, unless requested by the sheriff’s office.
#StayWoke
useful uk general election resources
- register to vote
- why should i vote?
- voteforpolicies
- how the voting system works
- bbc election faqs
- see who is running in your constituency
- current political make-up of england including marginal/swing seats (if you’re in a swing seat your vote is more important!!)
- bbc current opinion polls