“I want to ask parents when your daughter turns 10 or 12 years old, you ask, ‘Where are you going? When will you return?’ Do the parents dare to ask their sons, ‘Where are you going? Why are you going? Who are your friends?’ After all, the rapist is also someone’s son. If only parents decide to put as many restrictions on their sons as they do on their own daughters.”
India’s Modi takes on rape issue in his first Independence Day speech. (via washingtonpost)
Here is what is going on in Pakistan right now:
- The Pakistani military was already standing by during a protest against President Nawaz Sharif, because they believe the election last year which put him in power was rigged.
- Police have fired teargas and rubber bullets and real bullets on peaceful protestors.
- At least 264 people are injured.
Astronauts just found life in space, we kid you not
Russian cosmonauts have discovered something remarkable clinging to the outside of the International Space Station: living organisms.
“Results of the experiment are absolutely unique“ | Follow micdotcom
Pakistan army intervenes in political crisis.
If this doesn’t tell you that innocent men and women are being used as pawns by ISI-backed Khan and Qadri against an equally reprehensible civilian leadership that of Nawaz’s, I don’t know what will. In rudimentary terms, the most dispossessed and cheated on person in this ugly mess is the average Pakistani civilian who simply wants a better and safer tomorrow.
It’s astounding that the people of Pakistan have stood up against their government, are standing against being oppressed in 2014. BUT this isn’t being reported on any international News outlets.
They are literally killing the innocent and tear gassing their peaceful protest. How is this what people have to go through in our day and age, to get their basic human rights?
Why Media Representation Matters
Exodus: Gods and Kings features an all white cast playing Egyptians and non-white actors as slaves and thieves.
Lucy features a white, blue-eyed blonde woman who represents the peak of evolution. One black women is in the film and speaks one line.
Only 6 of the top 500 box office films of all-time feature a protagonist who is a woman of color.
Media representation matters. It matters because it’s hard to beat cultural expectations that are being fed to us in our homes, and providing the fabric of our society. It matters because it’s hard to be what you can’t see. It matters because, as David Dennis Jr wrote, “If studies have shown the way that perpetual violence in movies begets violence in America, then what about perpetual maintenance of the White savior standing over the ethnic servant/villain/imbecile? What damage is this creating for the American psyche? How am I supposed to feel when all the messiahs, last samurais, African kings and saviors are White?”
It’s like this: stories are our culture. Storytelling is a major characteristic of humanity, and we used to do it with cave paintings and now we do it with big, beautiful screens and CGI. It’s the need to see ourselves represented and where we stand in relation to the world around us. So, if you’re a woman, or a person of color, or gay, or transgender, it’s hard to see where you stand in the world when media tells you that you’re probably going to be the love interest, or the sex object, or the bystander, or the victim, or the stereotype, or the best friend, or the sidekick, or the punchline. Either way, you’re not the main character.
What happens when you’re not the main character? Your self-image diminishes. You don’t believe you have a shot at a leadership position. You have difficulty fulfilling your potential because maybe you didn’t know you had any. Your stories are missing.
The full effect of not being allowed to be a main character is illustrated by Junot Diaz: “You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all. I was like, ‘Yo, what’s wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist?’ And part of what inspired me, was this deep desire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would some mirrors so that kids like me might see themselves reflected back and not feel so monstrous for it.”
We change the course of media by writing our stories and creating our own mirrors. We change the course of media by supporting and demanding equality in every aspect of our society, particularly in media. We change the course of media by boycotting films that restrict and edit the reality of who we are and who we can be.
Saturday morning, over 1,000 people march for justice for Michael Brown.
August 30th.
This video shows Frankie, Caleb, Cody, Christine, and Derrick joking around about RAPING and hurting Victoria. This is not only a violation of their Big Brother contracts but also a violation of federal law, as it is a crime to even talk about inflicting violence or harm on another person. I don’t care who you want to win Big Brother, I don’t care who you’re a fan of. Talking about women this way is WRONG and something has to be done about it. You can play Big Brother as kindly, cruelly, dirty, or clean as you’d like, but you cannot play Big Brother threatening to take someone’s virginity against their will after getting them drunk, get “blood everywhere”, and then laugh about it. At least not without getting put on blast on the internet.
Please spread this around on Tumblr, Twitter, any other social media you have, and pass it on to any blogs you follow that are relevant. We can’t let comments like this go unnoticed.
Here’s some fantastic news for your Friday: On Thursday, the California Senate unanimously approved a new bill that defines sexual consent as a firm “yes” rather than a lack of “no.”
This is a big win for anti-rape activists, many of whom have been touting the necessity of an “affirmative consent” standard for years. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has the next month to sign the bill into law. If he does, schools across the state would be required to define consent before engaging in sexual activity as an “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement” or risk losing state financial aid funding.
“The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate, when racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to continue working on the behalf of whites at other people’s expense, whether whites know/like it or not. Racism is an insidious cultural disease. It is so insidious that it doesn’t care if you are a white person who likes black people; it’s still going to find a way to infect how you deal with people who don’t look like you. Yes, racism looks like hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another. And so on. So while I agree with people who say no one is born racist, it remains a powerful system that we’re immediately born into. It’s like being born into air: you take it in as soon as you breathe. It’s not a cold that you can get over. There is no anti-racist certification class. It’s a set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up every time we interact with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it’s hard work, but it’s the price you pay for owning everything.”
Scott Wood (X)
he motherfucking dropped the truth.
(via luvyourselfsomeesteem)