A Roundup of Body Politics, Body Image, and Body Justice News
International/Environment
-
Peru is experiencing one of the worst environmental disasters in its history — and nobody’s talking about it. Check ou the video from Mic.
- TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno has created this film featuring Filipino artists who have used paint created from water samples from Metro Manila’s most polluted rivers called “Dirty Watercolor.”
Gender&Body Image
“Over the years we’ve gotten lots of qwearies about dressing androgynous for different body types. There is hardly any information out there about dressing androgynous for anyone who isn’t skinny! This lack of representation is so damaging to people who identify as androgynous but don’t fit into the mainstream androgynous body type. The current images are majority white, female assigned at birth, with a more masculine leaning style, and we want to demonstrate that androgyny can take many different forms.” Photo: – Qwear: 9 Plus Size Cuties Share Tips For Androgynous Style- Early in May Black Girl With Long hair celebrated 30 black girls who absolutely slayed prom this year, but overlooked one thing the styling girls who suited up and their latest round up is dreamy!
Revolt
-
Bill Cosby Admits to Sex with Teenagers, Paying Off Alleged Victims in Explosive Deposition Excerpt – Finally.
- Just as cringworthy, your smart phone may being used to stalk and harass you while you consider or are actually waiting for an abortion. “Groups of right-wing activists are using location-based advertising technology to send misleading anti-abortion ads to the phones of people in abortion clinics, Rewirereported on Wednesday. Working on behalf of crisis pregnancy centers and a dubious Christian adoption agency, a Boston advertising firm is identifying and targeting smartphones sitting in medical facilities that provide abortions, hoping to persuade abortion-seeking women to reconsider.”
- My squad goals don’t involve pop feminists with hives or the any blondes who shall not be named. But Vibe hit it on the head: Squad Goals: Women Fight With Police Over New Abortion Law In Peru “A fierce crew of women fought with police in Peru while protesting a proposed change to women’s rights in Peruvian law. The proposal would commit a woman to 50 days of community service if she gets an abortion. Protesters – some of whom chose to go topless – gathered outside congress with posters before the police fired tear gas. The women also painted ‘Keiko’ on their chests to call out Keiko Fujimori, who is currently the presidential candidate for Peru, and an advocate of the law change.” “Despite these gains, much work remains for advocates. The new guidelines include some unnecessary barriers to accessing safe abortion, such as requiring a review by a committee of three physicians. They also fail to address ongoing issues relating to confidentiality. Currently, Peruvian law dictates that health-care providers must report women for the alleged crime of abortion if they suspect one has been attempted. This policy leaves women afraid of going to health facilities, and consequently increases maternal injury and death—especially among poor women. Still, the guidelines show good faith and demonstrate the government’s ongoing commitment to ensure access to abortion and further women’s rights.” Read more about this long standing battle for abortion rights on ReWire.
-
Jenny Zhang takes us back to the 90s and talks about alienationa and shame while your culture is trending on Racked. “There’s this kind of irresolvable trap that occurs when you’re too young to have any power but old enough to know that you want some. It’s the trap of being too inarticulate to have the clarity people expect you to speak with when you speak of the depressing black hole of systematic racism. What I wanted to say was how it felt to grow up in a country that indicated to me everything from the country I was born in looked good on anyone but me. This trap made me think the classmate in the hallway making fun of my Chinese last name while sporting a Chinese character tattoo above her ass, was the person I had to defeat, when, in reality, we belonged to the same world — a world that said that Chinese culture looked best as an accessory on a white person. In this world, a qipao was a garish costume on me, but a polyester cheongsam mini-dress on a white girl was adorable.” – On Blonde Girls in Cheongsams
“Earlier this month, Latino Muslims gathered to honor Cinco de Mayo at the only Spanish-speaking mosque in the country. The doors to Houston’s Centro Islamico first opened early this year with the help of IslamInSpanish, an educational non-profit organization. IslamInSpanish was founded by Colombian convert Mujahid Fletcher, who ultimately discovered the need for education about Islam in the Latino community following the tragic events of 9/11. Together, community members of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Colombian and other Latin descent celebrated the Mexican Army’s victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Traditional food dishes honoring their Latin roots were served, and decorations in vibrant colors of their country’s flags were displayed. …Even though we changed our religion, we did not change our culture,” said Magidel Morris, a Muslim convert whose red, white, and green hijab proudly represents her Mexican heritage. A total of 18 people have declared their belief in the oneness of God at the Centro Islamico since it’s opening on January 30th, 2016.” Thank you, MuslimGirl.net, I love this.
Mental Health/Mental Illness
-
“On [my] feed, I read an article from xoJane titled, “My Former Friend’s Death was a Blessing.”I had to read that title again. …When you are mentally ill, it zaps a lot of your energy. It makes you not want to get up — you assume that laying in bed might allow you to eventually die. …XoJane later deleted the article with a note saying that they’ll try to properly vet things, but it was too late. I write this as someone who has been told my death would have no effect on someone’s life, which added more fuel to my severely depressed fire. …But here’s the thing: my death would not be a blessing to the people in my life. …My death, despite my depression telling me otherwise, would not be a blessing. It would not be the loss of a burden, but the loss of a person who was severely hurt and needs love and support. To all the severely mentally ill people: suicidal thoughts are OK to think. But your death would never be a blessing. You are not a burden. You are not trash because you need help.- Death is not a Blessing You’re Just Ableist by Mickey Valentine
Art & Culture
-
If you’ve had enough of Buzzfeeders largely white “Tryguys” giving us bad childlike vibes as they try various ethnic foods, or were shamed as a child for your homemade ethnic lunches in school you should check out my new favorite new podcast is Racist Sandwhich! Chef Soleil Ho and journalist Zahir Janmohamed interview POC foodies talk food, race, gender and class in Portland aka the whitest city in the U.S. Their bi-weekly podcast from Portland, Oregon that examines the intersection is so new it hurts! The first podcast featured Bertony Faustin, Black Oregon winemaker and documentarian and the latest “Han Ly Hwang, the chef and owner of Portland’s Kim Jong Grillin food truck, joins us in the studio to talk about the Korean-American food revolution, being on Chopped, what it means to cook your own food, and the Sisyphean task of gaining parental approval.” #UGH I love this show.
- “One of the most recent additions to the LGBTQ publishing world has been the influx of transgender romances.
Most romance novelsfocus on a relationship between two people, and within most transgender romance novels at least one member of the couple is trans. They might be a trans man, trans woman, genderqueer person, or nonbinary person and identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian, queer, asexual, or heterosexual—but they are, importantly, not cisgender. Since the romance genre (and most of the publishing world) still overwhelmingly tells the stories of cisgender relationships, these stories about transgender characters falling in love and living happily ever after are complete game changers—in more ways than one.” – Happily for Now: The future of Trans Romance - After reading If LeVar Burton and Yo-Yo Ma Were Your Dads on Toast, needless to say, Nicole Chung and Karissa Chen are my new favorite people for conceiving my perfect two dads.
