"[TW: rape culture]
And when we frame all women as being someone’s wife, mother or daughter, what are we teaching young girls?

We are teaching them that in order to have the law on their side, they need to be loved by men. That they need to make themselves attractive and appealing to men in order to be worthy of protection. That their lives and their bodily integrity are valueless except for how they relate to the men they know.

The truth is that I am someone’s wife. I am also someone’s mother. I am someone’s daughter, and someone’s sister. But those are not the things that define me, or make me valuable in this world. Those are not the reasons that I should be able to live a life free from rape, sexual assault or any kind of violent crime.

I have value because I am a person. Full stop. End of argument. This isn’t even a discussion that we should be having.

So please, let’s start teaching that fact to the young women in our lives. Teach them that you love, honour and value them because of who they are. Teach them that they should expect to be treated with integrity because it’s a basic human right. Teach them that they do not deserve to be raped because no one ever, ever, ever deserves to be raped.

Above all, teach them that they are people, too."
–

I Am Not Your Wife, Sister, or Daughter. I Am a Person

This post is soooo good at articulating why it’s so harmful to have to relate women to men through their relationships with men

(via wretchedoftheearth)

(via theyellowfeministfatale)

7th May 2013 | 6,338 notes

moralanarchism:

How Patent Trolls Kill Innovation

Which is why there should be no intellectual property laws.  Ideas aren’t scarce.  Property only needs to be protected because it is scarce. If you copy my idea I don’t lose it.  If you steal my car I now need to find a new way to get to work.  Worlds of difference.  IP laws were just created to reduce competition in the market. 

6th May 2013 | 33 notes
"Every time the news tells you that an entire city is being put “on lockdown” by police, you should keep in mind that “on lockdown” is a phrase that they have taken from the vocabulary of prison wardens, referring to a condition in which inmates are temporarily completely restricted in their movements and confined to their cells, in order to allow prison guards to conduct searches or contain and control what the inmates are doing. If the police have the power to put a city “on lockdown,” then what does that make the city? And what does it make the innocent people living in it?"
–

—Charles Johnson

Living the Lockdown Life, http://c4ss.org/content/18354

(via c4ss)

(via satans-advocate)

20th Apr 2013 | 21 notes

lgbtlaughs:

The Rainbow Crosswalks Of Sydney, Australia

A popular rainbow crosswalk has been suddenly removed from Sydney, Australia’s gay and lesbian district because the city claimed it was a traffic hazard. The crosswalk was created to honor the 35th anniversary of the gay and lesbian carnival, and supporters want to keep the crosswalk because they say it serves as a symbol of the city’s tolerance.

In response to the city removing the crosswalk, people have started creating their own rainbow crosswalks.

18th Apr 2013 | 3,636 notes