Leahgates

Sexual Fluidity and the Lesbian Community

Here is the video of my conversation yesterday with Nancy Redd at HuffPost Live yesterday in which we talked about sexual fluidity and the myth of the Lesbian Until Graduation. I was joined by Brooke Sopelsa, Marcie Bianco, Myisha Cherry and
Lisa Diamond.

I wish I’d had time to include a few more statements, so I’ll just add them here.

People who want to police and act as gatekeepers to any identity (sexual or otherwise) are useless and ineffective. As Marcie brought up in the discussion, an argument used against homosexual marriage is that same-gender couples marrying somehow diminishes (“waters down”, if you will) the marriages of oppositely-gendered couples. Obviously that is a bullshit concept. So why are homosexuals so quick to adopt it when it comes to sexual identity? “If THOSE people identify as my sexuality, it damages the legitimacy of MY identity!” No. No, it really does not.

My identity as a woman is not damaged even though there are some truly terrible women out there. My identity as a cartoonist is not damaged even though there are some truly terrible cartoonists out there. An individual’s identity is their own, regardless if other people you don’t like identify as the same thing as you.

Homosexual identity has ALWAYS been under attack and disrespected as valid, long before there was a stereotype of college girls “experimenting” and the introduction of the word “bicurious”. If you removed from the world every person who’s ever experimented or “gone through a phase”, THERE WOULD STILL BE PEOPLE ATTACKING AND INVALIDATING HOMOSEXUAL IDENTITY. Don’t blame those that “experiment” or are attracted to multiple genders for other people’s homophobia. Blame the homophobes.

Biphobia is not how you combat homophobia, but it does make those that are biphobic act just as bullying and reprehensible as homophobes.

Other people do not get to define your sexual identity. There is no such thing as a REAL [sexual ID] and a FAKE [sexual ID].

Your sexual identity HAS NO IMPACT on somebody else’s sexual identity. NONE AT ALL. There is no “watering down” of identity.

There is no test, no threshold, no status quo you have to meet to identify as your sexuality. You are the ONE PERSON who knows truly and can accurately name your sexual identity.

Nobody else.

i-justreally-like-cats-okay:

CAT-robatics.

I like your gif and your defensive tumblr name

pickleandharveybulldogblog:

"I dare you to take this toy from me…DOUBLE DARE YOU I SAY!!" -Harvey

dangarang I’m gonna do it

yrouel:

BMO, via /r/glitch_art

Is this because last week’s episode of idea channel was about BMO and this week’s was about glitch art

What do you mean, “what family”? Lessee in our tree we have marvelous meatloaf and Chex Mix and homemade melange du hodgepodge and leftover fruitcake oh yes. Let’s mix them all together. Yeah!!!

Josh Norem! (love these two guys, sooo cute.) Hank & Cruiser, who say, “See? We totally match!”

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Matchingks, Pups

I’m Officer Buzz from the Department of Hiveland Security. I’m keeping at least 175 of my eyes on you, so just keep moving and don’t try anything funny.

Via Orangeaurochs.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Crawlies

bahhumpug:

Rosy has big plans for the weekend. Mostly doing more of this.

Gpoy this weekend

Ayup, the banana plants’re comin’ in good this yee-ah…

Via Rob Bixby Photography.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Primates

WASHINGTON U. – ST. LOUIS / U. TEXAS – AUSTIN (US) — Even though people say they prefer to listen to unfamiliar music, new research suggests novelty is overplayed.

With services like Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, and YouTube, we are constantly bombarded with a seemingly limitless amount of new music in our daily lives. But why do we keep coming back to that one song or album we couldn’t get enough of in college?

U. TORONTO (CAN) — To protect both men and women from HPV, more young boys need to get the vaccination, according to new research.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been linked to anal, penile, and certain types of throat cancers in men. Since the virus is also responsible for various cancers in women, vaccinating boys will play a crucial role in reducing cancer rates across the sexes.

PRINCETON (US) — New research on the public response to peanut allergies looks at how a rare, life-threatening condition can prompt far-reaching societal change.

Before 1980, peanut allergies were rarely mentioned in medical literature or the media, but starting around 1990, medical journals began discussing the seriousness of peanut allergies. And the 21st century described peanut allergies—in both medical journals and the mainstream media—as an epidemic.

U. LEEDS (UK) — A new climate model may help estimate the success—or failure—of some crops months in advance.

In about one-third of global cropland, temperature and soil moisture have a strong relationship to the yield of wheat and rice at harvest, new research shows. And, for those two key crops, the model could predict crop failures three months in advance for about 20 percent of global cropland.

“The impact of climate extremes—the kind of events that have a large impact on global production—is more predictable than smaller variations in climate, but even variations of 5 percent in yield were correctly simulated in the study for many parts of the globe,” says Professor Andy Challinor from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, who co-authored the new research paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

U. LEEDS (UK) — Scientists say they’ve figured out how plants set and maintain the angle of their lateral branches relative to gravity.

The mechanism, which has puzzled researchers, is fundamental to understanding the shape of the plants around us: explaining how, for instance, a young Lombardy poplar sends its branches up close to the vertical while an oak sapling’s spread is much flatter.

Stories of summer camp. People who love camp say that non-camp people simply don't understand what's so amazing about camp. In this program, we attempt to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between camp people and non-camp people.

malepartus:

birthdaycakesforanimals:

‘Krakatoa, a 75-pound, 7.5-foot long Komodo Dragon, celebrates his eighth birthday with fellow eight-year-olds from R.B. Hunt Elementary School at his enclosure at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in St. Augustine, Fla. The children sang Happy Birthday to the large lizard as he was presented with a meat cake topped with mice.’

with other eight year olds

Grossest class field trip possible

cooperschronicles:

Cooper checking out the local in Wales…

What if you are just at your house and you look out the window and see this face

iknowwhoholdstomorrow:

bronzebasilisk:

tojothethief:

Animals

Should be noted that the artist of all these comics, and their work can be found at http://www.birdandmoon.com/

Please remember to source when posting other’s artwork :o!

i lost it at peacock mantis shrimp and never stopped laughing
these are gold

crayonaize:

elhijodesoraya:

By: Jeremy Veach.

hello bubbas

The Atlantic Wire

Steve King Argues Western Civilization Is About Letting Steve King Be Racist The Atlantic Wire "Imagine what it would be like if this Congress — and this culture which directs this Congress — what if we decided, you're going to have limited speech. Certain things, you can't say, and we'll give you the list of words you can't utter because if ... and more »

I *really* like those socks

crawdadswelcome:

Here’s one of two strips I did for Blunderbuss, a literary magazine that just started up in New York. Lotsa good stuff is on the site, check’em out at blunderbussmag.com

lonelycoast:

 

marriedwithcinema:

buzzfeed:

Sobbing.

(via)

Wife: That’s my favorite pig! I love him; he’s smiling.