Tell Me More About This Assange Rape Conspiracy, It Sounds Fascinating! by Alex

Trigger Warning for description of sexual assault.

It makes me laugh my fucking face off imagining shadowy representatives of various governments sitting around brainstorming about ways to get to Julian Assange. They're all sitting there – old chinese takeout containers are strewn about, the floor around the waste paper basket (with a basketball hoop attached, natch) is littered with crumpled up ideas, all the men are well past a five o'clock shadow – then someone is like, "I've got it! We can trump up some rape charges!" And while the mood has definitely shifted, more optimistic?, they're not all sold. Could the public believe that Assange was a violent rapist? "Hear me out! It won't be the kind of attack that people usually associate with rape, he won't have left bruises or broken bones. There won't have been a knife or a darkened alley. It will be the other kind of rape, when the rapist knew their victim. No less serious, no less prosecutable, that insidious rapist who takes advantage of trust. That rapist who doesn't respect the loved ones, friends, dates, acquaintances they rape enough to ask. Enough to stop at no." By now everyone is nodding (give or take a couple still thinking a made up tax-evasion charge is the way to go), simultaneously excited by the possibility of a solution to their problem and sickened by the existence of sexual assault.

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One Thought on Julian Assange Before I Lose My Goddamn Mind and Start Weeping in a Corner Because Preserving Rape Culture is More Important Than Anything, EVER by Alex

Perhaps I am still too much of an optimist, or something, too naive maybe, but if the message of Wikileaks is that transparency must and will exist in government and military communications and operations, and freedom of speech, and democracy, and accountability, and the people vs the man, then isn't it a bit hinderance to place so much importance on Julian Assange alone? Will Wikileaks fall if he's tried and found guilty of rape? Does the organization consist only of him? I realize that he is the director and founder and editor-in-chief, but is he completely irreplaceable? Is he completely above the law? What if he was brought up on murder charges? Pedophilia? What is the line?

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Olympians to Know: Gabby Douglas by Alex

Gabby Douglas is the first African-American woman to win the all-round title in women's gymnastics. The first  Black woman in history. Amazing. The 16-year-old won gold in both the individual and team events. Watch this video of all her routines from the US Olympic team trials. She is flawless. And so super charming I want to be best friends with her. That smile!

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Olympians to Know: Damien Hooper by Alex

At the beginning of the olympics, a tweet made the rounds both on Twitter and on Tumblr that neatly dissected Britain's brutal history of colonization and the irony of so many of those colonized nations coming back to the motherland to compete:

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The Feminist Identity: An Endangered Species? by Alex Snider

What was it that Hamlet lamented? To be a feminist or not to be? Something like that. I hear you, bro. It's hard, on one hand feminism is why women (of a certain social standing, in certain areas of the world) get to do pretty sweet things like have jobs and drive and vote and use birth control and own property and have access to abortion and have the right to not be raped, even by husbands and have their own bank accounts and get divorced. But on the other hand, ugh, feminists! Such boner killers! They are the worst! YUCK.

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The Assassination of Dr Tiller and a Feminist Awakening by Alex Snider

Three years ago today, Dr George Tiller was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his church in Wichita, Kansas. He was one of three doctors in the United States that would preform late-term abortions. Before Dr Tiller was murdered, I hadn't thought much about abortion. I had friends who had had them. I knew that if I got pregnant at any point in my post-sexually active life, I wouldn't hesitate getting one myself. Beyond that though, beyond living in Canada where the right to abortion was won years ago and was fairly protected, I didn't need to think about it. I also had never thought much about late-term abortions, at the time not being entirely familiar with the terminology but if pressed I probably would have been critical of the women who needed them. 

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The Hypocrisy of the Right, Again: That Old Chestnut by Alex Snider

Hustler is disgusting. Larry Flynt is vile. This picture that was photoshopped of SE Cupp, the conservative commentator, is horrible and reprehensible. Sexualizing and dehumanizing a woman no matter what her views, is wrong. Full stop. I'm especially repulsed by the stunt because the accompanying text is chastising Cupp for her anti-choice, anti-Planned Parenthood stance. Seriously, photoshopping a dick into a woman's mouth in defence of feminist ideals, in defence of my rights is as big of a fuck you to women as any of the filth that Cupp spills on a daily basis.

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Jay Z on Marriage Equality, the Short Version: Hova Nails It Posted by Alex Snider

Jay Z is right on the money:

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BET is "Reverse Racism": Millennials Drink the Kool-aidr by Alex Snider

An article on The Nation by Jamelle Bouie looks at the survey results on how Millennials (ages 18-24) view race in America:

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RIP MCA. 1964-2012. by Rebekah Hakkenberg

“I want to say a little something that’s long overdue/ The disrespect to women has got to be through/ To all the mothers and sisters and wives and friends/ I want to offer my love and respect to the end."

- Adam Yauch

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Rant of the Day: Mommy Wars by Alex Snider

Well, now this is happening:

The so-called war on women escalated Thursday onto a new front, after a Democratic strategist and cable-television pundit declared that Ann Romney, the stay-at-home, mother-of-five wife of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, had “never worked a day in her life.”

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Thoughts on Kony 2012 and White Saviours vs. Allies by Alex Snider

I watched the Kony 2012 video this morning and I have to say the White saviour, colonial overtones made me extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention the lack of any consultation or even reference to any of the Ugandan groups who have been actively fighting against Kony for years. Even the way Invisible Children denies granting the two (!) Ugandan politicians further identification in the video. What party are they from? What role in government do they play? Why was there no mention of the president? Or of any other adult Ugandans? Why weren't Ugandans given the opportunity to speak for themselves? Why were they instead treated as props for the self-aggrandizing filmmaker and his friends? Merely showing images of nameless mutilated children, flashing them before the audience's eyes reduces and erases the children's humanity. This type of stomach-turning pity-porn is no way to bring attention to a cause. This is no way to treat those you wish to help. 

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What's Next? by Alex Snider

If American women are denied insurance to cover contraception, what's next? 

If women are called sluts and prostitutes for using birth control, what's next?

If women are forced to undergo transvaginal ultrasounds before they can have a legal abortion, what's next?

If women face criminal investigations into their miscarriages, what's next?

If fetus' are granted more rights than the women carrying them, what's next?

If women are arrested for peacefully protesting laws that challenge their right to bodily autonomy, what's next?

If single mothers are targeted by legislation that deems their situation "a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect", what's next?

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Seriously, the Tar Sands and the Northern Gateway Pipeline are Bad News by Alex Snider

The boreal forest, also known as Taiga, covers 60% of Canada stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Southern Ontario to the Arctic (and majority of Russia and northern  Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and  Japan as well as most of Northern Europe) and is the world's largest terrestrial biome. More so than even the tropical rain forests, the Taiga is the earth's greatest carbon sink meaning that the forests sequester 22% of the carbon stored on the planet's surface. This means approximately 186 billion tonnes of carbon or 27 years worth of the emissions we burned in 2003 are held in the Boreal forests, wetlands and muskeg. Obviously, if carbon emissions are held in the Taiga, they are prevented from entering the atmosphere. Basically, Boreal forests are our best friends.

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Sign Colorlines' Pledge to Drop the I-word by Alex Snider

Colorlines has a campaign going right now called Drop the I-word, that is fighting against the derogatory use of the word "illegal" in the media towards undocumented immigrants in America:

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Fuck PeTA and Their "Violence Against Women Sells" Mantra (Also, They're Racist) by Alex Snider

I know it's not any surprise that PeTA has come up with yet another offensive campaign that demeans women in the name of animal rights but I can't resists calling attention to this video that overtly promotes domestic violence as one of the benefits of a vegan diet.

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On the War on Women by Alex Snider

This doesn't happen in a vacuum. This didn't come out of nowhere. The attack on contraception, the numerous attempts to outlaw a woman's right to govern her own choices, her own body undertaken by the American government and individual States is not a fucking surprise. 

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Don't Watch the Grammys by Alex Snider

Three years ago, Chris Brown attacked his then-girlfriend Rihanna the night before the Grammys (where they were both set to perform) putting her in the hospital and him on five years of probation for assault. Brown has since made a comeback (although it is debatable whether he ever suffered any real repercussions, certainly he has always had a lot of vocal support and has shown little public contrition) with two albums (debuting at #7 and #1) and being named Billboard's Artist of the Year in 2011. 

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Dr King: "We Have Come a Long, Long Way But We Have a Long, Long Way to Go" by Alex Snider

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr Day in America and there have been many incredible things written across the internet in honour of Dr King and his life's work. I won't add more but to say that more than ever, it's important to remember that although there has been so much progress made in the United States (and Canada) in regards to race relations, there is still so much more to be done. In his own words, from his April 10th, 1957 speech, A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations, Dr King says it best:

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Sh*t People Say by Alex Snider

The viral videos Sh*t Girls Say have spawned a lot of awesome videos. Taking the original videos that mocks things that (some) women say based solely on the punchline that women are kinda dumb (my feelings on the series are summed up perfectly by this article at  She Was So Disarming), the other videos have used the format and turned it around to show the ignorance, thoughtlessness and cruelty that those with privilege from dominant groups often approach groups who have been oppressed. I love the videos because they demonstrate the power of words, the prevalence of stereotypes, the dynamics of privilege and the subtly of racism and prejudice all with humour and all under five minutes. 

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