So you know how bisexuals are just privileged posers and how biphobia doesn't really exist and how silly vapid bisexual people just need to stop complaining about being called sluts?

bisexual-community:

umm yeah! So just maybe you all who say that/think that should just read this instead —

Drown Them in a Sea of Noise Part 1: Bisexuality, and My Rape

It was around the end of summer 2007 going into fall. I had moved out on my own at college and for the first time in my life I was able to explore my gender, my thoughts about my sexuality, everything…

I started hanging out with new friends going out drinking . Being 22. The statistics show that most people who are raped know their attacker. I knew mine. We had hung out several times before. He and I had tons of mutual friends. He joked that my boyish gender presentation would turn off my boyfriend. I joked ”but my girl friend she loved it”. After years of hiding away the truth… I started to talk about my bisexuality.

We live in a culture where being bisexual signals sexual availability … We are not seen as intimidating as lesbians or as prudish as straight women…

… [CLIP TW] …

… I’ve seen many posts about how bisexuals have it so easy, how biphobia is relatively harmless, “sticks and stones but words will never hurt” type things. How we shouldn’t complain when media portrays bisexuals as easy or confused or a million other wrong things. That ”hot sexy Bi babes!” Can never create things as bad as what we say they do.

We live in a world where bisexuality is seen as a performance for men. Where everything a woman does is a performance for men. With the expectation of Bi women being ”more open” and more fun (read sexually available) added on top of that is it any wonder that studies have found out this?

Half of all of us. But until now nobody spoke about it. Not the women’s shelter I went to for counseling and testing. Not the LGBTA (A for “ally” here) Center at my university. No one. We are so often invisible and so so many of us suffer in silence … I had heard and seen what the queer community at large thought of bisexuals. Not queer enough, privilege grubbers . .

So I didn’t talk about it …

We need to talk about this. About WHY that stat is so high. And we need to be LOUD. So loud that our voices drown out the cries of “sit down!” Of ” stop being so angry!” Of ” wait till marriage equality passes!” We need to shriek and howl over them so that those out their in the darkness can hear us and know they are not alone and to warn those that would harm us that it will not be tolerated …

Click HERE to read full article TW: 4 you know RAPE! and also misogyny and biphobia and all that bad stuff.

Men and women are misogynistic for different reasons: men to marginalize women, and women to ingratiate themselves with the men trying to marginalize them. Neither one is justifiable, but one is oppressive and the other is a (bad) strategy to deal with that oppression. One thus sees that if the men who are misogynists weren’t, the women who are misogynists wouldn’t have any reason to be. Ergo, exhorting women to stop being misogynists so that men will stop gets it precisely backwards.

Shakesville - Feminism 101: On Women Supposedly Being Their Own Worst Enemy (via pomegranateblood)

(Source: ourawha)

Some have a difficult time with feminism. ‘Why not a human liberation movement?’ they say. The answer is that the power differences between the sexes, races, and classes are still so extreme that invoking humanism, at this time, dangerously denies that fact.

Loraine Hutchins and Lani Ka’ahumanu, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out (via thissinkingboat)

How can same-sex marriage not be gender-based classification?

Usually Marriage-equality advocates try to hide bisexual people in the proverbial closet on the grounds that somehow we (along with trans*/non-binary people) somehow weaken or confuse the issue. Instead, check out the Bisexual Marriage argument made by Sacramento CA Bi-activist Lawyer (as well as a bi mom in a same-gender marriage) Toby Adams —-

“In a legal paper I wrote I stated that gender-based discrimination is the best way to argue against DOMA & Prop 8 since
1) all Equal Protection claims must be decided under either heightened scrutiny or rational basis,
2) gender-based classifications already receive heightened scrutiny, and
3) banning same-sex marriage is gender-based discrimination which is unconstitutional when decided under heightened scrutiny. But I argued my case by comparing bisexual people in same-sex and different-sex marriages. Apparently this confused all the gay and straight people.

‘Bisexual marriage’ is perfect for advancing a sex discrimination argument because it allows us to compare persons of identical sexual orientation and see that the marriage laws are unconstitutional because they treat persons in similar situations differently on the basis of sex. This allows the argument to focus on sex discrimination rather than sexual orientation discrimination.”

Not feminism:

Oh my God, that woman is wearing make-up and high heels! She can't be a feminist. She's just adhering to the patriarchal expectations of femininity! What a traitor to her gender.
Not feminism:

I hate men! Women are so much better than men! All men are rapists and we don't need their help! Men are just there to oppress us and keep us down! Women are the superior gender.
Not feminism:

You're giving up your career to have a baby? You're being dictated to by a man! That's the wrong choice! You've slept with twenty men? Wow, way to show that you have no respect for yourself.
Feminism:

Women and men are equal. No-one should be discriminated against on the basis of their gender. Women have the right to decide how to live their life, how to dress, what to do with their body and who to love.

sexworkerproblems:

Would you like to volunteer with SWP?

BEST candidates would be people who:
- are or have been sex workers
- love to help people
- are or would like to be activists
- are self starters and work well without supervision
- have at least 15-20 minutes a week to give to SWP
- are able to commit to volunteering for at least the next 9 months
- use the internet often
- own a PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android phone

Experience blogging, typing, or creating original content not necessary! We’ll help you with it!

If you’re interested, please email us at sexworkerproblems at gmail dot com with a little about you and how you think you’ll be an asset to the SWP family.

We’re growing, and we’d love for you to join us!

betterbemeta:

so uh people who laugh at ‘tumblr feminists’ for seeing sexism everywhere

has it ever occurred to you that

sexism might actually be everywhere

and you just don’t see it because it seems normal to you?

?????

tru dat!!

supporting Marriage Equality for everyone

redupnyc:

For the past several years a coalition of people in the sex trades, allies, and community-based organizations has been working to stop police and prosecutors from using possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution and loitering for the purpose of prostitution. In this workshop, specific info about the “No Condoms as Evidence” issue will be offered as well as tactics and skills for doing advocacy: in particular, how to have effective meetings with legislators. Join Emma Caterine (Program Officer) and Audacia Ray (Founder/Director) for the scoop on NY-specific legislative process, media outreach, and grassroots lobbying. This is a FREE training.

RSVP on Facebook.

(and we’ve got four more trainings coming up over the next month if you can’t make it to this one)

10 Tips on How To Be A (Feminist) Ally to Sex Workers

australian-diaspora:

This is something that was inspired by the diatribe of bullshit I have dealt with from non sex worker feminists as of late. To be honest, I have all but given up on feminism. Feminism doesn’t want me or people like me, people who refuse to allow them to appropriate our realities in support of their own ideology. Although I am very close to discarding this identity label altogether, I am hoping that at some point feminists are going to get their shit together about sex work and stop deliberately pushing us out when we won’t play by their rules. That is why I wrote this little ten point list. This is by no means comprehensive but hopefully it is a starting point for a true pro sex worker feminism, with space for us in it.

Read More