Category: Uncategorized

izanzanwin:

sunflowersweets:

I am so sick of the misinformation going around about Standing Rock. To begin with DAPL was set to go through a town called Bismarck, a town that is mostly white. The people of this town expressed concern for the pipeline leaking, and said they didn’t want it.

When the pipleline was re-routed, it was set up to go through land that belongs to the Standing Rock Sioux. For those who don’t know what I mean by “belongs to” because “Oh me oh my, this is American land,” no, it isn’t. Not all of it. There is land that belongs to different Native tribes. Including part of the land that the pipeline will be going through. This was not done with permission. How was this done? This was done by bulldozing up the graves of ancestors. (If that doesn’t bother you, read it as the graves of our veterans; the graves of our presidents’ families; the graves of your family.)

Outside of the media finally watching us for the last six months, the camps have been there before that. I know someone who was there on April 1, 2016. That’s well before the media started paying attention in August. Well before. The camps have been self-sustaining. Yes, there have been donations. Yes, donations were made in physical items, money for items, and money for legal funds. That money and those items went to keeping something beautiful alive.

People who were arrested had numbers written on their arms, they were kept in dog cages. Protectors who were peacefully in prayer had untrained dogs set on them to attack. There are photos floating around of one trainer who couldn’t keep her dog, who had blood in its mouth, under control. In sub-zero conditions in the early morning protectors were hosed down with freezing water – this includes the elderly and children. (Yes, there were children. Guess what, they were getting schooled there. Self sustaining.) Police shot bean bags, rubber bullets, and flash-bang bombs into the crowds. A woman had her arm blown to pieces because of this. 

At every point since the beginning, there has only been peace on our end. No rioting, no fire, no weapons, no alcohol, no drugs; nothing but peace. And from the end of law enforcement has been violence. Even residents had been violent, and police did nothing to them. But they sure as hell arrested people from camp for praying – a nonviolent act.

If you are not Native, you don’t get to dictate what happens on our lands. I don’t give a damn if the government does. The government is breaking a treaty right now, ignoring tribal sovereignty. Just because they do it, does not mean you get to. I don’t care how tired you are of hearing about it. We’re tired of having our lands stolen and having our rights violated. 

Please boost this. I’m tired of the propaganda being spread with the intent of bigots and settlers to erase Native voices and justify colonial violence. Also realize alot of this even beyond the pipeline, is settlers acting out of pure anti Native hatred. People don’t understand unless they have lived in the Midwest, just how deep white supremacy is there.

fluffmugger:

ceciliadavidson:

jenniferrpovey:

the-rain-monster:

jenniferrpovey:

lierdumoa:

Can we talk about how the Deadpool movie, which the media has largely referred to (in so many words) as a fuckboy’s wetdream, not only gives a female sex worker an empathetic role, but treats her and her work more respectfully than about 99% of so called feminist media?

.

At no point does the movie imply that Vanessa is tainted because she is a sex worker. At no point does the movie imply that Vanessa is unworthy of love because she is a sex worker.

At no point is Vanessa portrayed as “broken.”

At no point does the movie imply that being a sex worker makes Vanessa a bad girlfriend. At no point does Deadpool ask or expect Vanessa to sacrifice her job for their relationship.

At no point is Vanessa slut-shamed for her job, by either protagonists or villains. 

Think about that.

Denigrating sex workers is so taboo within the Deadpool movieverse that even the villains won’t do it.

We know that Vanessa experienced sexual abuse, and that it’s shaped the person she’s become and influenced the choices she’s made. The movie clearly acknowledges that sexual abuse is real, and that it is damaging, and that people who experience sexual abuse struggle to lead “normal” lives and get “normal” jobs.

But the movie never hands sexual abusers the mic.

There is no sexual abuse porn in this movie. There are no voyeuristic rape flashbacks. There are no misogynist monologues. The audience learns about Vanessa’s abusive past from Vanessa, on Vanessa’s terms, through Vanessa’s own words.

This seems like the bare minimum of dignity any female character should be granted, yet so much media fails to meet this extremely low bar.

The movie makes it very clear that Vanessa has a life outside of sex work. She does not live on a stripper pole. Sex work is something Vanessa does. Sex work is not who Vanessa is. She has an apartment. She wears pajamas. What other fictional universe can say the same? I can think of one tv show, but that’s about it, and that show’s viewership is nothing compared to Deadpool’s.

Now on the one hand, I’m not necessarily happy that Vanessa’s character arc revolves almost entirely around her romantic relationship with the lead male protagonist. But on the other hand, I find it very refreshing to see a sex worker in the media whose character arc does not revolve entirely around the fact that she is a sex worker. Hate to say it, but for sex workers in the media, being relegated to the role of love interest is actually a step up.

Most feminist media would rather pretend sex workers don’t exist than write storylines of any kind for them. 

This.

And the people who call Deadpool a fuckboy’s wet dream sure as heck didn’t watch the same movie I did.

The movie has:

A very funny moment in which the joke is on those who assume that sex workers have abusive pasts, not on the sex worker. (The comparing abuse thing gets ridiculous enough that they’re both clearly lying).

The male lead repeatedly posed in female come-on positions. This one is my favorite:

He’s even on a bearskin rug in front of a fire. The humor in this pose is “Haha, isn’t it silly to pose a character like that.” It’s designed explicitly to make people think about how commonly female characters are shown in these kinds of ridiculous poses. Going to tell me that’s not a feminist visual joke?

An under-age female character who is never sexualized. Yeah, this girl

Look at that. A practical costume, her breasts are minimized rather than emphasized. We only see Negasonic Teenage Warhead as badass, not “cute.” And she’s treated like a teenager, not a child or an adult.

Oh, and Deadpool doesn’t rescue Vanessa in the end. He throws her a weapon so she can rescue herself. Which she does, because she’s badass.

I’d actually call Deadpool a feminist movie, and an important one. Why?

Because they probably tricked an entire bunch of fuckboys into watching a feminist movie ;).

So, why was it so feminist?

Two words: Ryan and Reynolds.

Ryan Reynolds wanted to do this movie. He wanted to do this movie for years. Reynolds is basically a Deadpool cosplayer who managed to convince a movie studio to pay him a lot of money to be a Deadpool cosplayer.

Guess what Ryan Reynolds also is?

A feminist. He says he’s going to push for even more badass ladies in the sequel. (I think we’re going to see Vanessa with superpowers. They had her long enough to expose her to the agent, if not to activate it).

I’d love to see Vanessa with superpowers, and I enjoyed the hell out of Deadpool.

I forgot one, and an important one.

When we are shown the strip club Vanessa works at, it is not filmed the way movies always film strip clubs.

It’s filmed as if we were going to an office. It’s just “this is where Vanessa happens to work.” No low shot angles to show off women’s bodies, no soft porn music.

Just very…matter of fact.

Can we also bring up that Deadpool does NOT shame Negasonic’s name choice? It screams OC but he’s still supportive of it.

Of course he’s not gonna shame it, it’s the best fucking thing he’s ever heard in his life and he’s pissed at himself that he didn’t think of it first.