Valentine’s day is just around the corner, so I decided to continue last year’s tradition and make a trans valentines card! Cards are all lino printed by hand and available in my shop rejka.bigcartel. com ❤️
“Gay people invented safe sex. We knew that the alternatives— monogamy and abstinence— were unsafe, unsafe in the latter case because most people do not abstain from sex, and if you only tell them “just say no,” they will have unsafe sex. We were able to invent safe sex because we have always known that sex is not, in an epidemic or not, limited to penetrative sex. Our promiscuity taught us many things, not only about the pleasures of sex, but about the great multiplicity of those pleasures. It is that psychic preparation, that experimentation, that conscious work on our own sexualities that has allowed many of us to change our sexual behaviors— something that brutal “behavioral therapies” tried unsuccessfully for over a century to force us to do— very quickly and very dramatically.
(…)
All those who contend that gay male promiscuity is merely sexual compulsion resulting from fear of intimacy are now faced with very strong evidence against their prejudices. For if compulsion were so easily overcome or redirected, it would hardly deserve the name. Gay male promiscuity should be seen instead as a positive model of how sexual pleasures might be pursued by and granted to everyone if those pleasures were not confined within the narrow limits of institutionalized sexuality. Indeed, it is the lack of promiscuity and its lessons that suggests that many straight people will have a much harder time learning “how to have sex in an epidemic’’ than we did. This assumption follows from the fact that risk reduction information directed at heterosexuals, even when not clearly anti-sex or based on false morality, is still predicated on the prevailing myths about sexuality in our society. First among these, of course, is the myth that monogamous relationships are not only the norm but ultimately everyone’s deepest desire. Thus the message is often not about safe sex at all, but about how to find a safe partner”
Douglas Crimp, How to Have Promiscuity in an Epidemic
honestly don’t get people who say “this is all because you didn’t vote in 2016″ cause like. people did vote. trump did lose the popular vote. that’s a p significant thing that happened, like people did go out to vote. it’s just that as it turns out, in this country, voting does jack shit
not to mention, obama did say in 2009 that he would codify roe v wade, and he was president for 8 full years. biden said that he would codify roe v wade, and he’s the president right now. and of course, roe v wade never got codified in all this time. so maybe this isn’t the fault of people not voting, and the fault of politicians who fundamentally do not give a shit about us, and simply use our rights as bargaining chips to get into power
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, I need to let people know how dangerous the healthcare privacy climate is now. As someone that works with PHI (protected health information) I want to stress that HIPAA (the law that prevents your health data from being shared) does not apply to healthcare apps. These are incredibly dangerous to use, not only because law enforcement can procure a subpoena to access this information, but because these apps can sell your health data to any third party—potentially anti-abortion activists. Anyone with a uterus should delete not only period trackers, but mental health apps, because if you have a miscarriage or seek an abortion in a state that outlaws it, your mental health history can be used against you.
I would also discourage people from using online therapy apps like BetterHelp and Talkspace. Though BetterHelp says they are HIPAA compliant, that is a lie. They have shared data with Facebook. Their most recent privacy policy update says “We may share your information in connection with an asset sale, merger, bankruptcy, or other business transaction.” Any data breach could put your information at risk. Any health app could suddenly decide to change their privacy policies without notice.
Most responsible clinicians put your health data under (many times literally) lock and key. PHI software like Epic or Cerner have numerous failsafes to prevent data leaks. This is not the case for apps. BetterHelp and healthcare apps in general do not care about this. They only care about money. Do not trust any app or healthcare provider that operates strictly online. And for your own sake, use a VPN if you’re searching for abortion providers or advice.
Pride is almost here so I think it is good to remember pride isn’t here thanks to world wide companies who “dress in rainbow” just for a month. Pride is here because trans women, butch lesbians, gay men, queer people of color and every other memeber of the LGBTQ+ community fought in the past and still fighting today. There are still a lot of things to fight for. So keep fighting until we are sure each one of us is safe and happy. Have a great pride month.
Also trans men. Because posts like this always mention trans women but not trans men. It is possible to support transfeminine people without perpetuating the myth that trans men have never been involved in our own history. Thanks.
Jamison Green, born in 1948. He was a pioneer for trans men after Lou Sullivan’s death. He’s still alive.
Robert Eads, 1945-1999. Pictured with his trans female partner, Lola. I recommend watching Southern Comfort, which follows him throughout his final year of life. His story is a beautiful one, but also a tragic example of medical transphobia.
Loren Cameron, born in 1959. A photographer and artist, who curated exceptional and groundbreaking collections of trans photography.
Willmer Broadnax, 1916-1992. A black gospel singer who never medically transitioned, but lived his entire life as a male, in public.
Lucas Silveira, born in 1979. He is the first openly transgender man to have signed with a major record label. He is still alive.
Billy Tipton, 1914-1989. He did not undergo a medical transition, but raised multiple children, and had a successful musical career.
Jim McHarris, a black trans man born in 1954, who you can read more about here.
Reed Erickson, 1917-1992. You can read about his insanely important contribution to LGBT+ progress here.
Stop erasing trans male stories by leaving us out of Pride Month posts.
Trans men are not a footnote in history.
Trans men are not an afterthought.
We have always been around.
Erasure of trans men, and transmasculine people more generally, perpetuates the myth that queerness is inherently feminine. Butch lesbians, male impersonators, and trans men have always been central to LGBT+ progress and pride. I’m tired of people defaulting to anti-FTM mindsets, or at the very least, erasing trans men as their first instinct. I’m sick of the invisibility that we suffer. I’m sick of masculine lesbians, like Stormé DeLarverie, being treated as irrelevant. I feel so much solidarity with butches and lesbians who have been cut out of history, because the same thing is happening to trans men.
This Pride Month, when you see a post claiming trans women are the only ones who ever contributed to progress, remember to critically think. Remember all the work that trans men have done. Remember the masculine people, and men, who died so that we could live. Who stood alongside drag queens and trans women.
Beautiful #Ramadan tradition in the old city of #jerusalem. The callers who go from house to house in the early hours of the morning waking up each family by name for Qiyam and s7oor. They do so in a poetic form. Imagine being woken up daily in this beautiful way. This tradition has continued from generation to generation. Bless them #palestine
i reblog this every year, but this time i need to stress that this tradition, like many others in palestine, is now under threat. these callers are currently facing harassment, fines and detainment by israeli police who say the callers are no longer allowed to practice this tradition because “settlers living in the neighbourhood had complained about the noise”, even though these callers operate in predominantly palestinian muslim neighbourhoods.
Absolutely! So—just to provide some background for those unfamiliar with the tragedy—the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was an industrial disaster that occurred on March 25th, 1911 in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City. As noted by Hadassa Kosak in the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women:
“The fire probably started as a result of a lighted match dropped accidentally into a bin full of fabric scraps. It spread rapidly throughout the densely packed area of the shop. While many of the workers on the eighth floor escaped through the staircase, and those on the tenth floor escaped onto the roof, workers on the ninth floor were trapped by the fire. The employers had kept the escape exits locked to prevent theft and “stealing time,” and to keep out union organizers and prevent spontaneous walkouts. The sole existing fire escape bent in the heat and under the weight of those fleeing the fire, while the firefighters who arrived on the scene were not equipped with ladders of sufficient height. The desperate workers tried to escape by jumping onto nets, trampolines, and blankets extended below, which collapsed under the weight of many women jumping at once. Others leaped from windows, their clothes ablaze, and were killed on impact, while the rest were burned to death.”
The disaster ultimately resulted in 146 deaths. A large majority of the victims were working-class immigrant women, and roughly 70% of them (102) were Jewish.
Now, it’s worth noting that, even prior to this tragedy, a large number of the trade unionists and workers’ rights advocates active in New York at this time period were Jews, including Samuel Gompers, Emma Goldman, Rose Schneiderman, Pauline Newman, and Clara Lemlich, amongst many others. It was Lemlich who gave the impassioned speech that set off the New York Shirtwaist Strike of 1909, which saw more than 20,000 garment workers (most of them Jewish women) strike for better working conditions. While some employers ultimately agreed to meet strikers’ demands for better working conditions, the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist company refused, and also fired all workers who retained their membership in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU)—a union that was [again] founded by Jewish activists.
So, back the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and its aftermath. To quote Kosak again: “To the Jewish community, the unprecedented scope of the tragedy and its horrors were evocative of the pogroms that had been the greatest disaster to befall Jewry in modern times…The outrage and the grief galvanized the Jewish community and the progressive public into action.”
Yiddish-language newspapers spread word of the cause, and Yiddish-speaking songwriters of Tin Pan Alley wrote anthems memorialising the victims and spurring action:
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The scope of the tragedy and the community’s outrage captured national attention, and ultimately served as a catalyst for sweeping labour reforms. To quote the disaster’s entry on the Library of Congress website: “The ordeal of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, together with the labor movement that surrounded and grew from it, inspired countless workers to organize for better treatment. Together with business owners and government regulators, they forged the strong set of worker protections and workplace standards that are a crucial part of labor law in the United States today.”
To this day, the local Jewish congregations in New York still say kaddish for the victims.
Baruch Dayan Emet, and may their memories be blessed.
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