rhrealitycheck:

Messages from Women in the World

With the powerful, personal testimonies of women at the summit, Secretary Clinton summed it all up well by saying, “Improving women’s lives is not a panacea, but it’s hard to imagine progress without giving all women and men the chance to achieve their dreams. Now we must focus on the unfinished business of girls and women’s empowerment.”

I was never told I needed a Prince Charming or anything more than what I already had in me. You have to find your own way in life. I’m not into that rescue stuff.

rhrealitycheck:

Courage on Abortion in Wichita, Kansas

The new clinic, called the South Wind Women’s Center, will not be performing late-term abortions as Dr. Tiller did. But the fact that it has opened at all is remarkable, and is a tribute to the perseverance and courage of those involved in the project, especially Julie Burkhart, a former colleague of Dr. Tiller who directs the Trust Women Foundation, which owns the clinic. Her struggle to open the facility after the murder, and now to keep it open in the face of continuing threats and acts of intimidation, and amid escalating efforts in Kansas and other Republican-led states to stigmatize and restrict abortion in defiance of Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court rulings, is both inspiring and instructive.

Thank you for your bravery and dedication.

(Source: The New York Times)

fuckyeahfeminists:

rhrealitycheck:

Legacy of Tiller’s Murder: Anti-Choice Terrorists Threaten Staff at Wichita Clinic

This is seriously terrifying. These so-called “prolifers” are saying that working at a place that provides abortions is basically having a target on your back.

If a woman wants to see the nature of a man, tell him “No.

fuckyeahfeminists:

ahvahtlom:

felixlovesyou:

takealookatyourlife:

heroicallyfound:

svetlana-del-rey:

Was she going to slap you because you never in any way made him gay in the actual books, taking zero risks/doing absolutely nothing for gay characters in literature, and only announcing your “authorial intent” afterwards for a cheap shot at looking like an ~ally~

^^^

Gay people are just normal people. We are not told about any of the Hogwarts professors love lives, other than Snape, and it would be completely out of character for Dumbledore to walk around telling everyone about his sexuality.

Did you want her to make him dress in glittery platform boots, a crop top, and decorate his office in rainbow flags to make it more obvious for you? Would that be enough of a stereotype to appease you people? Or what? Please tell me. I’d like to know how you think a gay character is supposed to be portrayed.

And did you miss the Grindelwald chapters in the ‘actual books’? Or was that also not obvious enough for you? Did Dumbledore need to whisper “always” wistfully in order for you to connect that he had romantic feelings for Grindelwald? Maybe you are American and need them to gaze longingly into each others eyes with awkward close ups of their fingers almost grazing each other that Hollywood thinks means ‘true love’. 

It didn’t fit into his relationship to Harry to ever say “I’m gay”, and so it was not stated explicitly (you might have noticed the book was told from Harry Potter’s perspective).

The point is though, that he is a homosexual, well respected, powerful, and very loved wizard- and his sexuality doesn’t matter because no one else thinks it matters. a.k.a. no one cares that he loves men, and that is wonderful. 

^ THANK

BOOM

Reblogging for last commentary because I really appreciate that. It challenges that many of us see hetereosexual as the norm. We really didn’t know about love lives of the professors in the book and yet we know that Rowling still made her characters way more whole than they were portrayed in the books (just check out the extra details in Pottermore (psst. add me: FireboltLight20324). I think Dumbledore being gay does normalize other sexual orientations within the wizarding world. This isnt to say that HP was a perfectly feminist world by any means.

(Source: cheisenberg)

I’ve never experienced that but it must be an amazing feeling to say: ‘I absolutely need you.’ Sometimes I feel like that about a cheeseburger.

Robert Pattinson (via queen-lear)

fuckyeahfeminists:

therearedemonsinsideofus:

nprfreshair:

Chris Hayes tells Terry Gross about having people pay attention to his appearance once he started appearing on television

You start noticing that people are noticing how you look and it is a profoundly alienating experience when it first happens, where you go on TV and you say something about some topic of the day and on the Internet people are like, ‘What was up with that shirt?’ ‘What was up with your hair?’ and you think, ‘Oh, that’s kind of a bummer.’ I think, actually, as a man it was a really useful, tiny sliver — a tiny, empathetic window — into what navigating the world as a woman often is, in which looks are so fore-grounded and so scrutinized and so discussed.

Chris Hayes is a man after my own heart:

1) Bulls and Cubs fan.
2) “I can’t control my gender, race or sexual orientation, I can control who we have on and what voices we introduce to viewers.”
3) Talks as fast as I do.
4) Policy over pandering
5) 

6) His book was really good

I’m gunna miss ‘Up’ without him. I don’t have time to watch shows every weeknight anymore and for some reason going through 5 hrs of DVR’ed news from the week before just doesn’t do it for me anymore.

(Source: onthemenjay)

The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz. There, he posed a question to all of the men in the room: “Men, what things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?”

Not one man, including myself, could quickly answer the question. Finally, one man raised his hand and said, “Nothing.” Then Katz asked the women, “What things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?” Nearly all of the women in the room raised their hand. One by one, each woman testified:

“I don’t make eye contact with men when I walk down the street,” said one.
“I don’t put my drink down at parties,” said another.
“I use the buddy system when I go to parties.”
“I cross the street when I see a group of guys walking in my direction.”
“I use my keys as a potential weapon.”

The women went on for several minutes, until their side of the blackboard was completely filled with responses. The men’s side of the blackboard was blank. I was stunned. I had never heard a group of women say these things before. I thought about all of the women in my life — including my mother, sister and girlfriend — and realized that I had a lot to learn about gender.

alyssathepirate:

showmeeverything:

very-sincerely-yours:

notes found in the girls bathroom on my campus

Maybe I’ll make a few to leave in the men’s bathrooms. 

—

No seriously America, read this.

(Source: jamthefish)