Month: December 2013

Things I read this week that I found interesting

Good afternoon, darlings. I read some things this week. Would you like to see them? As always, please do drop things in the comments which might interest me.

New insights into gendered brain wiring, or a perfect case study in neurosexism? (Cordelia Fine)- Cordelia Fine smacks down the latest “male and female brains are different” nonsense, and it’s magnificent.

Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel. (Musa Okwonga)- Bloody hell, just read this.

Three Myths about Mandela Worth Busting (Tony Karon)- …and this.

My Mandela Tweets (BlackAmazon)- …and also this.

cis women are cisgender even if gender essences aren’t real (radtransfem)- A really good conversation starter.

A few words on privilege… (Paul Bernal)- A rich white cis guy writes about privilege, and says something that isn’t awful. Really.

The Discomfort Zone (Tressie McMillan Cottom)- An excellent takedown of the “white people learning about structural racism is as bad as racism itself” narratives, framed around a recent US case.

When is it appropriate to gender things? (Milena Popova)- A PSA about gendering objects.

[untitled] (How are you I’m fine thanks)- Heartfelt cartoon about body image.

Student protests are changing tack – and facing heavy police repression (Aaron Bastani)- Aaron describes the current state of the student movement and the frightening state of policing.

The University is dead… and cop free zones! (copsoffcampus)- The case for making university campuses police-free areas.

‘Dear Vice-Chancellor’ – a porter’s resignation letter (libcom)- A porter at Sussex Uni resigns over outsourcing, with the most glorious resignation letter.

And finally, want to know how to be a feminist? These stock pictures should help.

Ira must stay.

Irina Putilova is a Russian LGBTQ activist. She fled the country and sought asylum here in the UK because the persecution of queer people and activists in Russia put her in danger.

Unfortunately, UKBA do not want Ira to be safe from imprisonment, from raids and state harassment, from attacks. Yesterday, she was taken to Yarl’s Wood–the detention centre which deported a witness to institutional sexual abuse. She risks deportation within days, and it is very likely that she will be imprisoned indefinitely if she is sent back to Russia.

Ira’s case is complex, and it is thoroughly inappropriate to fast-track sending her back into danger, even by the standard of the skewed and violent rules created by abusive xenophobes.

There are some things you can do which could help Ira and persuade the government not to send a queer person into a situation which could endanger her life. Please share her story, and make sure it is visible. Ask journalists to cover what is happening. You can also write to your MP asking them to make a statement in support of Ira–there’s a model letter here, and you can get your MP’s contact details here. Tomorrow–the 8th–there will be a solidarity demo at 6pm outside the UKBA offices at London Bridge, which you might like to attend.

And finally, remember that what is happening to Ira is sadly far from unusual. The immigration system is racist, and exploits intersecting oppressions. You might like to become active in “No Borders” work to try to end this system once and for all.

No person is illegal. Ira must stay.

Edit 9/12/13: Ira has been released! This is brilliant news, and shows how much showing support for asylum seekers can achieve.

ACAB, AJAB, &c., &c.

From last night, two horrible stories about the police, reflecting how all cops are bastards. The first involves a peaceful university occupation. Students occupied Senate House in solidarity with staff. The students were violently evicted by police–including the TSG–within a few hours. Several were arrested, and some were assaulted by police. The second story took place that same night in Soho, where the police charged in and arrested sex workers, using the excuse that the women were “handling stolen goods”.

In both of these instances, people have been harmed by police, and it looks like the filth had a busy night being utter bastards. So surely the media have been busy with their unbiased reporting?

Er, obviously not. We live in a country where journalism mostly consists of regurgitating press releases. This is fairly evident in the Evening Standard’s reporting of the Soho raids, especially when it is compared to what sex workers are saying happened on social media. Unfortunately, there doesn’t even seem to be a will to listen to what sex workers say: observe the feeble excuses coming from journalists in this thread on being called out for not bothering to cover the story.

Meanwhile, the Guardian is reporting on the Senate House eviction, and has even posted a video of some of the police violence. The video clearly shows a police officer punching a protester, so it is somewhat perplexing that the Guardian has seen fit to put scare quotes around the word “punch” in the headline.

We’ve seen it throughout Leveson, and I don’t doubt we’ll see this again and again. The media is firmly in the pockets of the police. Rather than a free press, what we have is an extension of the police press office. This grip is maintained partially through a mutually beneficial arrangement, but further because these days, journalists don’t seem interested in doing research, in listening and stepping outside of their media clique and actually criticising the establishment that serves them.

The police perpetrate violence, and the media gladly covers for them. Remember this.

Things I read this week that I found interesting

This week, a lot of the stuff I read was about the Vampire Castle. In the interest of sour-faced identitarian piety and following my priest’s desire to excommunicate and condemn, I put all that in another post. Meanwhile, here’s some other stuff.

Dumbing down feminism for the working class is tedious and offensive (Dawn Foster)- Dawn knocks it out of the park here, and says some very important things.

Monosexism: Battling the Biases of Biphobia (Erin Tatum)- A really good primer.

Intersectionality for 7 year olds (Disabled Feminism)- A really sweet story about how a woman explained intersectional feminism to her seven year old.

Your Ability to Can Even: A Defense of Internet Linguistics (Tia Baheri)- Cool piece about how we talk on the internet and I rlly enjoyed it so

Being transgender and transitioning doesn’t make me brave or courageous (Entirely Amelia)- Important piece on courage narratives.

Maybe it’s more important than you think (fearlessknits)- A personal post about the importance of queer sexuality.

Public bodies (sometimes it’s just a cigar)- An examination of how women are still seen as property.

And finally, have some ridiculous street posters.