ThePrettiestOne

agvnotes:

THE TOAST GETS IT RIGHT EVERY DAMN TIME

floozys:

sazquatch:

laurbrarian:

sazquatch:

Sexualising professions conventionally dominated by women through ‘sexy teacher,’ ‘sexy nurse’ etc. tropes, serves to diminish women’s labour by reducing it to a sexual fantasy that exists to titillate men. This removes any reference to how difficult these professions are, and reinforces their status as ‘lesser’ careers, thus contributing to women’s work remaining underpaid and disrespected.

attn: dudes who have hit on me by calling me a “sexy librarian.”

This raises a good point. Sexualisation also contributes to sexual harassment and abuse directed towards women working in these fields, because socially constructed tropes don’t exist in a vacuum, and so influence real-life interactions, regardless of how much people try to deny it.

in the first week of my beauty course the teacher warned us that once we start wearing the beauty uniform around the school that we’ll face sexual harassment 

fuckyeahsexeducation:

• message (phone or email) the people who won and tell them what issues are important to you, and which of their stances you won’t stand for. Don’t be rude, kill them with kindness.
• Whatever their response is, share it with others. I have had some really rude replies to emails I have sent, if we get others to realize how horrible they are, they won’t be supported.
• Message the people you voted for who didn’t win. Thank them for their work and let you know you support them.
• Tell President Obama to keep fighting for reproductive justice
• Sign this petition telling President Obama to support these issues
• There are many organizations you can give money to who will work to do things like advocate for reproductive justice or health insurance or really any issue. Do some research on the issues you’re passionate about and donate.
• Talk about the importance of voting. There are many organizations that help register voters. You can work with them to help register people or help students to re-register in the state they now live in. Encourage people to go and vote and to be informed. This is especially important if you have any special elections going on in your state or city

smartgirlsattheparty:

This one never gets old.

monobeartheater:

ultrafacts:

Sources: 1 2/2/2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts

hey reminder that american stereotypes of mexico prevented be from knowing any of this and lead me to believe that mexico was a crime ridden horrible place

“A memorial erected in Vancouver sparked controversy because it was dedicated to “all women murdered by men”, which critics say implies all men are potential murderers.[79] As a result, women involved in the project received death threats[…].”

-

wikipedia page for the École Polytechnique massacre

men are violent against women, and when women point this out, they are threatened with more violence

(via fawnbro)

This is so fucking surreal.

(via clazzjassicalrockhop)

I usually make a post about the Polytechnique Massacre when the anniversary rolls around (December 6) but because people ARE talking about it again now I wanted to repeat: This man explicitly targeted women at an engineering school, NAMED feminism as the cause he was fighting against, shot 28 people at a well-known montreal engineering college, killing 14 women, 12 of whom were female engineering students. this was the year before i was born. i know people who now attend that school, i know female engineering students. 

(via catbotherer)

brucebannur:

"not all men!" but all women are bad drivers and all women are moody and all women are emotional and all women get to be painted with the same brush but don’t you dare generalise men that’s unfair!!!!!!!!

catsbeaversandducks:

The Tolga Bat Hospital: where adorable abandoned baby bats are wrapped in blankets and fed with bottles.

Normally we associate bats with being blood-thirsty, but all these cute critters want to drink is some bottled milk. About 300 bat pups are orphaned every year because their mother is ill and can’t feed them or has died from tick paralysis. These furry creatures are too injured to return to the wild and need to be nursed back to health. Pictured at the hospital, the black flying animals can be seen sucking on bottles, while they are swaddled in colourful blankets. The bats can also be seen bathing in the bathroom sink and even having their hair combed by workers at the hospital. 
The Tolga Bat Hospital in Atherton, Australia, is a community group working for the conservation of bats and their natural habitat. The volunteers care for bats who have come from hundreds of kilometres away in need for urgent care. And they also take in bats for sanctuary after they have been retired from zoos. 

Via Daily Mail

gold-talisman:

tylers-incredible-demon:

insomnia-of-youtube:

Benny - Little Game

i still cant fathom the fact that a 15 yr old kid came up with a video as powerful as #LittleGame

 Tumblr I dare you to make this video go so viral that CNN has to talk about it

older-and-far-away:

mommapolitico:

mychemicalromances:

countdowntoinfinitecrisis:

Hey kids, it’s time for Rewriting History with Judge Andrew Napolitano. 

No joke, in the Texas public school system elementary students are taught that tariffs were the reason for the civil war, not slavery. We had an entire curriculum built around it.

goddamnit texas

Don’t forget that as one of the largest textbook markets, many other states have to buy Texas-approved textbooks. Not only does Texas screw up their own children, but they screw up the kids of other states as well.

I was taught this as well. In CALIFORNIA.

“Historically, Obama’s lowest ratings are higher than the lowest of any President since John F. Kennedy. That’s right. At Saint Ronnie Reagan’s lowest, he was at just 35 percent. George W. Bush once hit 19 percent. Back to the present, Congress has an approval rating of below 13 percent, yet somehow, it’s Obama’s approval ratings, at more than triple that, that makes headlines and makes congressional candidates turn tail and run.”

- The Big Lie The Media’s Telling You About Obama’s Approval Rating (via azspot).

Likewise, exit polling yesterday showed voters disliked GOP Congress more than they disliked Obama. But let’s not mess with good The Narrative; this way the stories damned near write themselves! (via lemkin)

socialjusticekoolaid:

HAPPENING NOW (11.5.14): Protesters in Ferguson join the global #MillionMasksMarch, peacefully occupying their own streets and neighborhoods. Police respond by sending out dozens of riot police to block streets in residential neighborhoods. 

The police in Ferguson truly believe they own the streets, not the residents/taxpayers of the city. We’re three months in, and they’ve only become more brazen. With the looming lack of indictment for Darren Wilson being announced next week, it’s clear that the police are prepared to suppress the people, by any means necessary. Even if you’ve stopped paying attention, NOW is the time to start tuning back in to Ferguson. A grave injustice is happening there, and it’s not just the death of Mike Brown. This November 5th remember: “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” #staywoke #farfromover

“There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard”

- The 2004 Sydney Peace Prize lecture delivered by Arundhati Roy, at the Seymour Theatre Centre, University of Sydney. (via lehaaz)

homeyra:

The situation for Women in Afghanistan is still very difficult, but it has improved a lot since 2001. And its happened because of Afghan Women. Its happened because of brave women who are doing brave things. 

Afghan Cycles- Afghan Cycles introduces the first women to ride bikes in the country, illustrating the gender and social barriers that the team is breaking, one pedal stroke at a time. Highlighting 4 of the 12 teammates, we look at their lives on and off the bike. From training on dangerous trucking highways to following them through a typical day in Kabul, the film shares the intimate story of these brave and passionate young women who feel free when they are on their bikes in an otherwise oppressive culture.

aheartmadeofglitter:

I hear people say “oh my god I hate people” all the time without backlash. everyone knows they don’t hate every single individual in humanity. they have friends and family they love and hang out with. they simply hate the greedy, corrupted, oppressive nature of some human beings.
but the minute we say something about white people or men, no one seems to understand that it’s the same concept.

asylum-art:

At Joshua Liner Gallery, New Works from Tiffany Bozic.

Artist on Tumblr

For this work, Bozic remembers a trip to Mount Lassen, California, with her husband. Recalling the experience—even though several years had passed—Bozic finally sat down to create this painting, remembering her imagination of “deep sea organisms slowly drifting up into the sky from the black current of the water.” She also notes, “I suppose the image stuck with me because it could be a metaphor for a lot of my different emotions… some light and warm, some deep and cold.” The contrasting tones and shades lend themselves to this mood, with negative dark space and dark trees emerging from the solid white snow forms. The ethereal sea shapes preside over the scene.

In an attempt to relay her consciousness’ perspective, this body of work is a rich account of Tiffany Bozic’s incredible encounters with nature. Bozic describes the source of her inspiration as a “complex and inexplicable world.” However, with Qualia, Bozic’s world is within reach and beautifully discrete.

likehercoffee:

spoopysarcasm:

"What are you complaining about? We have to run the same distance as you, so it’s equal!"

i didnt notice the weight at first smh

old me: ah yes I remember the Great Skeleton War of 2014.
grandchildren: grandma that never happened.
old me: it was a long war.
grandchildren: grandma please stop we've talked about this.
old me: the only way to end it was to make a treaty with the skeletons.
grandchildren: grandma
old Me: and that's why humans have skeletons inside them.
grandchildren: gRANDMA PLEASE

Ben Stein: Barack Obama is the most racist president there has ever been.
Me: Twelve of the forty-three men to serve as president have owned slaves. Eight of those twelve have owned slaves while they served as President. Five of those eight personally owned more than a hundred slaves. Franklin Roosevelt forced Japanese people into concentration camps. Five US presidents have been alleged to be members of the Ku Klux Klan with varying levels of participation in their activities. George Washington made a habit of punishing his slaves for attempting to escape or general "misbehavior" by trading them for casks of wine or barrels of rum. Thomas Jefferson's horrific racism could, and probably should, be the subject of a 12-volume series of books. I'm pretty sure Andrew Jackson just straight-up liked murdering people and coming up with creative ways to murder people, especially Native Americans. Abraham Lincoln was, at the time of his election, probably the least racist president so far, but he was still pretty racist. Ulysses S. Grant famously kept trying to solve problems by expelling all Jews from the area and hoping the problem would go away on its own. "Most racist president ever" is not exactly an easy contest to win.

thepsychoticfuckingbiotic:

terrasigillata:

thepsychoticfuckingbiotic:

ijwaru:

aquus:

supermodelkendalljenner:

electricpastry:

CNN Discussion feat. Amanda Seales and Steve Santagati.

??????????

MEN ARE LITERALLY THE WORST

"Then carry a gun" are you fucking kidding me

Because the conclusion you come to is that women should arm themselves, not that we as men should stop behaving like degenerate pieces of shit. God forbid you’re asked to alter your fucking behavior. Just arm yourself instead! Fuck taking responsibility for your actions!

Men really are the fucking worst

I’d like to shoot him.

as if she wouldn’t be called a crazy black woman if she ever used it on someone harassing her lol

Right?
Marissa Alexander didn’t kill anyone.
Hmm.

seriouslyamerica:

starslicer:

nightelfdruid:

click the pictures to enlarge, 10/23/2013, shaun king speaks on the thuggification of black men

No lies told.

professor-gumby:

guardian:

As a woman, the thinner you are the fatter your paycheck will be.

The full article, linked above, is well worth reading.

A major source for their article is a new study, currently undergoing peer review, by Jennifer Shinall, assistant professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School.  Another, shorter summary of that study is available here on the Vanderbilt news site.  

Here is the link to the original, full study:  Why Obese Workers Earn Less: Occupational Sorting and Its Implication for the Legal System.

This new study, and the other information The Guardian has collated, follows on well from the details I recently posted regarding the Swedish obesity-on-earnings study which studied the impact of obesity as a teenager on later earnings.  In that I also discussed a 2011 study on later-life earning impact based on current obesity; that same study appears to be the source for some of The Guardian’s data.

Summary of Shinall’s study:

My quick summation: the reason obese women earn less is based on the type of work undertaken.  Jobs involving “personal interaction” in general pay significantly more than jobs involving “physical activity” (in other words: “office based” vs “menial” / white collar vs blue collar.)  And the study demonstrates that “personal interaction” jobs consistently favour employment of thinner women, and pay less to any heavier women that they do employ.  Further, it is demonstrated that this is not because heavier women do not want these jobs, but rather that the employers will not hire them.  These differences are found, with statistical significance, amongst women.  They are not found amongst men.

[T]he empirical results [support the] prediction [regarding] occupations emphasizing personal interaction. Morbidly obese women in particular are less likely to work in these types of occupations. And those morbidly obese women who do choose to work in such occupations encounter a wage penalty not encountered by women of other BMI classifications.

[As to why this is:] If (as has been proved) employers are less willing to pay obese workers for certain types of occupational characteristics, then obese workers will face a wage penalty in jobs with these occupational characteristics. Obese workers, as a result, will sort out of these jobs to avoid the wage penalty. According to the empirical results presented above, this [employer-based cause] perfectly describes what is happening to heavier female workers—and in particular, to morbidly obese female workers—in occupations emphasizing personal interaction.

To put it another, much more frank way: 

if you’re a woman who is at all overweight your employer doesn’t want you meeting customers, or running a team. Or even being part of a team. They want you mopping the floor or stuffing envelopes; somewhere that no-one can see you.  

If you’re a man, it’s fine - after all, fat men are ‘jolly’ and ‘fun’, right?

[A]ccording to these results, morbidly obese men are actually more likely than normal-weight men to work in occupations that emphasize communication with supervisors and interpersonal relationships. 

Some general quotes from The Guardian article, detailing both Shinall’s study, and other studies on weight-based wage discrimination:

Being thin, it seems, is an unspoken requirement if you’re after a fatter paycheck. And the thinner you are, the better you fare, financially speaking. If you are deemed to be heavy, on the other hand, you suffer, as a 2011 study made clear. Heavy women earned $9,000 less than their average-weight counterparts; very heavy women earned $19,000 less. Very thin women, on the other hand, earned $22,000 more than those who were merely average. And yes, those results are far more visible on women’s earnings than on those of men.

When does discrimination start? Brace yourselves: long, long before you reach a BMI of 35.

In fact, one study suggested that bias against women begins showing up when they are only a few pounds above their ideal weight, although men can pile on far more pounds before it becomes a problem for them. 

A woman who is 5ft 5in, for instance, begins to experience this when she is only 13lbs above what the BMI charts deem her highest healthy weight. At that point, her BMI is still only 27, and she weighs 16[0] lbs – and is probably quite able to fit into a size 14 dress, and she’s still within the range of today’s “average” American woman.

There is almost no scenario where being overweight is an advantage for a woman – or even where it puts a woman on an even playing field relative to their overweight male counterparts. Indeed, weight discrimination seems to be on the rise. And it’s not just about what women earn, but how they spend.

(Original article had a typo on weight, saying ‘16 lbs’.  I’ve corrected this above to 160 lbs which is what I think they meant: a woman of 5’5” weighing 160 lbs would have a BMI of 26.6, which rounds up to the BMI 27 they stated.)

And no, it has nothing to do with a woman’s likely level of education. “I controlled for education in my study,” says Shinall. “What is going on is being driven by the employer side of the equation; by employer preferences.”

Note regarding race in The Guardian’s article: it’s unclear from The Guardian article whether race was a factor tested for, or whether the 2011 study providing the wage gap figures deals primarily or only with white women.  My guess is that the headline figures listed - $9k to $19k - are predominantly for white women; the study on obesity I referenced in my previous post indicated that the weight-related wage gap was lower for women of colour than for white women - which I guessed was because women of colour’s wages are so low already, and their jobs generally being of a lower tier, that weight based discrimination was a smaller overall component in their overall, very large wage gap.

thisisthinprivilege

I was a temp worker in an office once (several times, but this is a specific incident).  There was another temp at the same time.  I was fast, efficient, good at my job, and constantly finding ways to improve the systems we used.  She was thin and pretty.

Guess who went permanent as soon as the office-wide re-file was done?

note-a-bear:

fenrispenris:

source
Though we all know Wayne Brady as the upbeat comedian-turned-TV star of shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Let’s Make a Deal, the 42-year-old Emmy-award winner is now opening up to ET’s Nischelle Turner about his debilitating depression.

Brady admits he has secretly battled with depression for years and describes the harrowing emotions he’s experienced. “People are like, ‘Wayne Brady’s always happy!’” he says. “No I’m not. Because I’m human.”

"Having a bad day is one thing, having a bad week is another, having a bad life … You don’t want to move, you can’t move in the darkness," he explains. "You’re like, ‘I am just going to sit right here and I want to wallow in this. As much as it hurts, I am going to sit right here because this is what I deserve. This is what I deserve, so I am going to sit here because I am that horrible of a person.’"

VIDEO: Wayne Brady Recalls His Big Break

The constant self-doubt turned into a vicious cycle.

"It starts this cycle where you tell yourself these lies … and those lies become true to you," he says. "So, you stick to your own truth you’ve set up. ‘If I am this bad, then why should any of this matter?’ I feel at that point, you end up wanting to stop the pain."

Brady reveals he hit rock bottom last June on his 42nd birthday, recalling, “I was there by myself, in my bedroom and I had a complete breakdown … Just go ahead and imagine for yourself a brother in his underwear, in his room, you got snot … and that birthday was the beginning of, ‘OK, I’ve got to make a change.’”

An event that especially hit him hard was the tragic passing of Robin Williams in August, who took his own life after a longtime struggle with depression.

Brady, who knew Williams from the comedian’s appearance on Whose Line, tweeted on the day news broke of Williams’ death.

"When he was on stage [in] full-on Robin mode — and I know this from being blessed enough to work with him — you could not touch that man," he tells ET. "He made all these people feel great. And at the same time, knowing that he had this sense of … what I make up in my mind, this low sense of self-worth, of belonging, of loneliness, of pain that all the money in the world can’t cure, all the accolades and awards, and all the love from people all over the world … all that love could still not stop that man from saying, I am in so much pain.’"

He also points out the double standard in Hollywood when it comes to admitting to depression as opposed to a drug problem.

"Nobody wants to out themselves so to speak, or if they out themselves, it’s in a very — I hate to say it — Hollywood way," he says. "It’s actually cool to go into rehab for some people. … But if someone says, ‘I’m clinically depressed,’ that sounds like someone’s making something up. It’s like, ‘Psst, you’re not depressed.’"

Brady now says he’s currently on the road to recovery, and gives a lot of credit to his ex-wife, Mandie Taketa. He says the two are still close friends, despite divorcing in 2007 after eight years of marriage. They remain committed to co-parenting their daughter Maile, now 11.

"We said we want to give her the closest experience she can have to living in the same house," he says of being neighbors with his ex. "And we’ve always lived in different homes. We just live super-close now. The fact of the matter is, I like her mom. She was down with me when nobody in the world was down with me, except my mom. There was loyalty there, there was respect, there is trust — she is my baby mama."

He also has this piece of advice for those battling with their own struggles with depression.

"It took me a while to get my stuff together to go, ‘You know what? If you’re not happy, you have to do something about it,’" he says frankly. "Just to admit that you are feeling this way is a huge step. To claim that, to say, ‘Why do I feel dark? Why do I feel unhappy? Let me do something about this.’"

Wayne Brady is one of my favorite people of all time, and I thought I might share this with some of you guys.

I’m all kinds of here for famous Black folks talking about their mental health publicly and candidly.
I’m all kinds of here for Black folks talking about their mental health publicly and candidly

theysayimpsychodiaries:

_{Chimamanda Adichie - The Danger of a Single Story (TED Talks 2009)}

Tell me again, what did you say about representation not being important?

via http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdtgd3hLS91qh9dubo1_250.gif

“[F]or the first several years the SAT was offered, males scored higher than females on the Math section but females achieved higher scores on the Verbal section. ETS policy-makers determined that the Verbal test needed to be “balanced” more in favor of males, and added questions pertaining to politics, business and sports to the Verbal portion. Since that time, males have outscored females on both the Math and Verbal sections. Dwyer notes that no similar effort has been made to “balance” the Math section, and concludes that, “It could be done, but it has not been, and I believe that probably an unconscious form of sexism underlies this pattern. When females show the superior performance, ‘balancing’ is required; when males show the superior performance, no adjustments are necessary.” “”

-

Fun fact: SAT tests predict college performance pretty well for men, but they strongly underpredict college performance for women. http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/12/20/1948550612469038.abstract

HMMMM

(via brute-reason)